Convenience tech, developer assistance, and services for senior citizens were the big trends amongst the 45 startups that pitched on the record today at Y Combinator‘s Summer 2013 Demo Day. After conferring with 25 of the most prolific venture capitalists and huddling the TechCrunch team, we’ve picked the eight startups we believe have the most promise.
We got more consensus than usual that these eight startups are special. They could make us healthier, safer, and richer, while helping businesses with efficiency. Though mobile is still a focus for YC companies, financial services were popular this season, and there were plenty of “Uber for X” startups on stage.
Wayra has not one but two startup bootcamps in London: its main U.K.-based accelerator, which currently has a full cohort of 17 startups working through their programs. Plus another, smaller accelerator — operated in partnership with social entrepreneur funding organisation UnLtd, and funded jointly with the U.K. government’s Social Incubator Fund – that’s specifically for startups who are tackling social problems.
Chicago-based StyleSeek has raised $750,000 more in pre-Series A funding for its e-commerce recommendations service for lifestyle products, which is today primarily focused on men’s and women’s fashion. Though the service competes with a number of product aggregators on the market, like Wanelo, Fancy, Want, Fresh, TheFind and others, StyleSeek instead is betting on algorithms and data over social signals. The site walks new users through a “style game” in order to customize their preferences, turning the online store into a unique experience personalized to every visitor.
Engineers and developers are some of the first people to latch onto startups that succeed. And we trust them to pick Silicon Valley’s hottest new tech companies.
So does LinkedIn. The professional networking site analyzed millions of interactions between around 290,000 San Francisco/Peninsula/Silicon Valley-based engineers/devs and local companies with fewer than 500 employees.
Last year, the survey was astonishingly accurate as a success predictor — one company was acquired and five others rose to valuations of $1 billion to $5 billion.
Mucha gente sigue creyendo en la figura del emprendedor visionario, capaz de predecir el futuro y adelantarse a su era. Sin embargo esta imagen dista bastante de la realidad, y lo que sucede es que han sabido pivotar sus modelos. Para ilustrar el concepto he hecho una recopilación de los cambios de rumbo de empresas como Twitter, Instagram o Youtube.
Viableware, the creator of restaurant payment platform RAIL, has raised $6.5 million in Series B funding. Led by a group of angel investors and joined by Swiftsure Capital LLC, this round brings Viableware to a total of $7.45 million in funding.
RAIL is designed to mimic the look of a traditional restaurant bill, while providing an electronic interface for easy and secure payment. Customers can use RAIL to calculate tips, split the bill and pay in several different ways, including credit or debit card, Paypal, or by smartphone. The system keeps credit card information safe by letting users swipe themselves and doesn’t keep unencrypted card information.
The role of a lead developer and engineer within a young tech company has become increasingly important over the last five years, with their job descriptions now including a diverse set of responsibilities. Opbeat, a stealth, Danish startup founded last year, wants to help over-worked engineers and developers by offering them a hosted Control Center for web operations that can be set up in a matter of minutes.
With peer-to-peer car sharing, it is getting easier and easier to get away without owning a car in a city. But one barrier to growth of these kinds of marketplaces is the need to transfer the key.
