In the time leading up to starting her next company, LearnUp co-founder Alexis Ringwald spent six months at unemployment centers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area trying to learn exactly what was holding job seekers back amid the recession.
One of the things she saw was a mismatch between the kinds of customer service and entry-level skills employers wanted to see with new and untested hires.
So she created an educational platform with short modules that job applicants can use to learn about the requirements and practices of a job before they apply. It covers interview preparation, job coaching and skills that are needed for specific positions.
Smart dog collars are nothing new — we’ve already seen the likes of Voyce and Pet-Remote offer capabilities such as health tracking and enhanced communication through vibrations. But the latest option — Buddy from Squeaker — adds a few more tricks to the mix, including LED lighting, geofencing and a food scanner.
While China and India dominate the Asian tech landscape, startups in the region’s other emerging markets are increasingly being funded and gaining noticeable traction.
It used to be a rare thing when start-ups were valued at $1 billion or more by their investors. Now it’s become so common that there are at least 131 start-ups boasting such valuations and a term — “unicorns” — to refer to the companies.
Hardware took the spotlight at today’s Y Combinator Demo Day, reflecting a major shift of the accelerator beyond the cliche mobile app startup. Out of the 50 companies from the Summer 2015 batch that demoed on the record today, 20 featured hardware. What was formally the Demo Day lunchroom has become an expo hall for all manners of robots and gadgets.
Tomorrow, another 50 or so startups will present. Soon, we’ll have our selections made for our favorites. But for now, here’s a look at all 50 that strutted the stage today:
Israel’s technology scene has produced a number of successful startups in recent years, including Waze and FireEye which were acquired and exited for $1.3B and $2.3B, respectively. US investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners and Battery Ventures have also been active in this market.
Last year, when we published a blog post identifying the 10 coolest New York City enterprise startups, few, if any, of those companies were household names. Since I wrote that piece, the companies have gone on to raise more than $100 million combined, and at least one, if not two, have their sights on an initial public offering in the not too distant future.
As an enterprise technology growth accelerator, Work-Bench keeps a close eye on what seed-stage enterprise startups are up to. Below we’ve rounded up 14 of the most promising enterprise startups that have raised less than $5 million in funding.
The annoyance of going to the doctor keeps tons of people from finding out if they need glasses or updating their prescription. But it turns out you don’t need one of those giant multi-lens machines to do an eye exam. Opternative has passed its clinical trials and today launched its $40 online eye exam.
All you need is a computer, smartphone, Wi-Fi and 25 minutes to take its test about which lines look blurrier. Within 24 hours, Opternative will review your results and send you back a prescription you can use to get glasses or contacts anywhere, including online stores like Warby Parker, or a meatspace brick-and-mortar glasses shop.
