The cool thing about TechStars is that it is often surprising. The startup accelerator and seed-stage investment firm, which runs programs in four cities around the U.S., announced its newest class of Boston entrepreneurs (the fourth so far) last night. And while I’ve heard of a couple of the startups, most of them are brand new to me.
We’re looking forward to getting to know the teams as they evolve. Meantime, here’s a quick introduction to TechStars Boston’s lucky 13, with my interpretation of what each is doing (some names and approaches will probably change):
—Bison Alternatives (Web platform for raising alternative investments)
—Libboo (social/collaborative publishing)
—GymPact (mobile app for health/exercise)
—Psykosoft (creating art and music through software)
—Zagster (better bicycle rentals)
—Testive (adaptive educational testing)
—Simply Good Technologies (digital/mobile couponing)
—docTrackr (document tracking, metrics, and access control)
—Murfie (online music market)
—Mortar Data (Hadoop big data processing made easy)
—Ubersense (helping athletes through video analysis)
—Shopsy (social/personalized online shopping)
—Lessonsmith (collaborative lesson planning)
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.
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