The 34 companies covered a broad spectrum from photo- and video-sharing services to ecommerce sites to food and farming. There was also a focus on education and kids. The batch had a strong international flavor, with a number of the companies hailing from overseas. Here are some companies that caught my eye, followed by the full list of companies from this group.
PostRocket - The startup helps companies marketing on Facebook by deciphering Facebook's "Edgerank" algorithm, which determines when and whether people see posts on their Facebook News Feed. This helps companies determine not only when the best times to post are, but what type of content: image, video, link or text to post. It also helps them determine what messages are most effective in getting people to click. The founders dropped out of college to start the company.
HighScore House - The company tries to find a better way for parents to bribe kids than their allowances. Just kidding. These days, the founders say, kids are interested in more than just money, they want non-monetary things like access to media, their computer, and the like. HighScore House turns doing chores into a game. Kids earn points or "household currency" for doing chores. Then they can redeem the points for a variety of things, such as time watching TV or a new game.
SafeShepherd - Previously covered by my colleague Andy Greenberg under its previous name, SafeShepherd aggregate and shows people all of the information about them that's posted online, such as address, phone numbers, family members and the like. It then provides an easy way to opt-out of all of these services. It's an easy way for people to protect their privacy.
Farmeron - The company provides web-based tools for farmers to manage their farm production and animals, right down to the individual cow. It's not the type of industry you normally think of for web or tech startups. By monitoring equipment in a farm, the company can chart how individual animals are performing over time, and then improve income for farmers. The biggest benefit for farmers is saving time for farmers analyzing and managing all the data that comes out of their farms, says cofounder Matija Kopic. The company originally came from Croatia, where Kopic grew up on a farm.
GoVoluntr - A gaming-oriented service that helps companies provide community service programs for their employees. The service is like a social game. Employees choose to volunteer for a cause. The hours they log give them points that can be redeemed for a variety of awards or prizes. A former regional manager for Starbucks, CEO Young Han saw the benefits for Starbucks locations when employees volunteered. The startup is now testing the service with Starbucks. The gamification angle inside companies is like Keas is for health, but GoVoluntr is for volunteering.
Fitocracy - What if exercise was actually fun, not a chore? That's the idea for this startup, which makes exercise into a social game. People get points and achievements for workouts and other real-life exercise. The idea is to share achievements with friends and support each other through using the service. That's different than getting points or achievements for playing a social game. The connected health space is very crowded with a number of startups in this space.
300.mg - Organizes cloud services to aggregate work documents and tasks.
72Lux - Personalized shopping service.
BrandBoards - Live-event advertising in sports stadiums.
Brightnest - Web service for home maintenance tips and management.
Cadee - Social networking for golfers.
Central.ly - Turns Facebook pages into stores.
Chorus - Software development management tools.
ContaAzul - Web-based accounting service for Brazilian small businesses.
Contactually - Provides information about contacts in your inbox.
eSparkLearning - Educational company for elementary school children using iPads to improve learning.
Fileboard - Manage files on the iPad and connect them to services like Dropbox.
Forrst - A site for graphic designers and developers to share their work and learn new skills.
Gizmo - Service to help brands get on iPads and other devices. Has hit a $1 million run rate.
Hapyrus - A data analysis company that aims to make it cheap and fast to analyze big data.
Intercom - A customer CRM and loyalty service for web businesses that combines social media profiles of customers with CRM data. The startup has 1,500 users at 500 companies.
LookAcross - Find out when the best time is to contact sales prospects. Or pitching VCs. Sounds useful.
Love With Food - A subscription service for discovering new and interesting food.
Memetales - A children's ebook publishing platform, with a gamification twist.
MoPix - Attempting to kill the DVD, MoPix creates digital movie experiences that include outtakes, photos and other content.
PayByGroup - A service for people to split payments for things like vacation rental homes. For merchants the service helps by getting all the people who purchase a big item to become customers, instead of just the one person who typically pays on behalf of everyone else.
OneSchool - A mobile app for students that covers everything students need from courses and social networks to groups and news.
Rota Dos Concursos - Brazilian test prep service for the Brazilian civil service.
Spinnakr - Audience targeting for websites.
Switchcam - A site to watch crowd-sourced video of concerts and DJs.
Tailored - Wedding products personalized.
TalkDesk - Creates a browser-based call center for companies.
TinyReview - A photo sharing service that includes user-generated text, jokes or haikus or cat-talk.
WeddingLovely - Provides tips and vendors for wedding planning.
