7 Xpo Startups at XSITE on June 14 (and Looking for a Few More)

Here at Xconomy we are coming down the home stretch of preparations for our biggest annual event: XSITE 2012, on June 14 at Babson College. That’s (gasp) just over three weeks away.

XSITE 2012 is our fourth annual full-day conference and celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship—involving not just startups, but also big companies, universities, and other organizations. You can check out the updated speaker list here.

But today I want to talk about just startups. Specifically, seed-stage, pre-Series A tech companies, the kind that are under the mainstream radar, but which we have gotten to know in the course of reporting on the innovation community.

At XSITE, we traditionally feature a small group of these companies—potentially transformative ones—in an afternoon session called the “Startup Xpo,” where 10-12 companies give short pitches to our audience. It’s one of the big highlights of the day. And this year will be no exception, though we are focusing more specifically on tech/IT/software companies (no health-tech or cleantech tracks this time).

I’m pleased to announce the following speakers/companies that are confirmed for this year’s Xpo:

—Varun Chirravuri, co-founder and CEO, Laveem
—Paul Harkins, founder and CEO, NeighborPower
—Ben Jabbawy, founder and CEO, Privy
—Jonathan Kay, founder, Apptopia
—Dave McLaughlin, founder and CEO, Vsnap
—Fatma Yalcin, co-founder and CEO, Curisma
—Yifan Zhang, co-founder and CEO, Pact

The unusually perceptive among you might notice that only seven companies are listed. That’s because, well, a couple of others are pending. But it also means we’re looking for at least one more startup to round out the list. If you’d like to be considered—again, your company should be seed-stage, or early-stage bootstrapped—please drop me a note to the address below. (Don’t call me or I’ll be very unhappy. Unless you have a scoop for me. Or some Facebook stock you’re looking to dump (not).)

As for the rest of you, we are expecting quite a crowd, including plenty of out-of-town speakers and guests. You can register for XSITE here. Hope to see you there on June 14.

And this just in: Gus Weber from Polaris Ventures and Dogpatch Labs has agreed to emcee the Xpo. So we’re ready to rock and roll.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.