The idea behind Navdy, a heads-up device that sits on car dashboards and allows drivers to answer calls and get navigation help without ever touching their phones, came about the obvious way. “It really started with one too many ‘oh shit’ moments in the car,” says company CEO Doug Simpson. “Fumbling around with my phone … Continue reading “Navdy Aims to Keep Phone Users’ Eyes on the Road”
Author: Elise Craig
Elise Craig covers technology, innovation and startup culture in the Bay Area. She has worked as a news producer on the breaking news desk of the Washington Post and as an assistant research editor at Wired magazine. She is also an avid freelance writer and editor and has written for Wired, BusinessWeek, Fortune.com, MarketWatch, Outside.com, and others.
Craig earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Georgetown University in 2006, and a master’s of journalism from the University of California at Berkeley in 2010.
At SeeChange, Giving Insured Patients Incentives to Stay Healthy
Before he founded SeeChange Health in 2008, CEO Martin Watson was working on new products for UnitedHealthcare Strategy, a wing of the giant healthcare network. As he looked at how the insurance sector was evolving, he thought United should start developing narrower products to help patients be more involved in their own healthcare. “Ultimately, it … Continue reading “At SeeChange, Giving Insured Patients Incentives to Stay Healthy”
Superfish Aims to Dominate Visual Search, One Product at a Time
We’re awash in images. Human beings take one billion photos every day, and websites of all stripes have billions more. But most of those images vanish into the black hole of the Internet, untagged and unsearchable. Sure, people can tag each photo with names, locations and other data, but very few take the time to … Continue reading “Superfish Aims to Dominate Visual Search, One Product at a Time”
Physician Search Tool BetterDoctor Adds Medicare Data, Raises $10M
Ari Tulla, CEO and co-founder of BetterDoctor, knows what it’s like to need a good physician in the midst of health turmoil, when patients are often at their weakest. “There is a long history of medical struggles in my family,” Tulla says. “My wife had been ill for many years. I wanted to build something … Continue reading “Physician Search Tool BetterDoctor Adds Medicare Data, Raises $10M”
Craft Kit Maker Darby Smart Takes on Supply Goliath Michaels
After Nicole Shariat Farb got married in 2011, she wanted to make the thank-you notes she sent to guests herself. Armed with inspiration from Pinterest, she headed to crafting supply store Michaels and Paper Source to pick up supplies and got to work. After investing some time and money into the cards, her final product … Continue reading “Craft Kit Maker Darby Smart Takes on Supply Goliath Michaels”
Crowdfunding: Nomad Skips VC Funding, Goes Straight to the Public
When Nomad CEO Noah Dentzel first launched his startup, an early-stage company that makes portable smartphone accessories, he turned to crowdfunding to get it off the ground. Over the course of a year or so, he ran two successful campaigns—one on Kickstarter, one on Indiegogo—and raised more than $300,000 from about 11,000 backers. Now, the … Continue reading “Crowdfunding: Nomad Skips VC Funding, Goes Straight to the Public”
Chegg’s InstaEdu Buy: Looking to Bring 24-Hour Tutoring to Students
Earlier this month, Chegg, a company that pitches itself as “the student hub,” with services like textbook rentals and job and internship help, ponied up $30 million in cash to acquire InstaEdu, an on-demand tutoring marketplace. Santa Clara, CA-based Chegg (NYSE: [[ticker:CHGG]]) already had its own product called Chegg Study, an outgrowth of an earlier … Continue reading “Chegg’s InstaEdu Buy: Looking to Bring 24-Hour Tutoring to Students”
Misfit, Pebble Partnership Brings Activity Tracking to Smartwatch
This morning, Misfit, maker of the activity-tracking device Shine, announced a partnership with Pebble, bringing its technology to the company’s namesake watch. Now, Pebble watch wearers who download the Misfit app can skip wearing a separate tracker altogether, but still record their activity, measure progress, and compete with friends. It may seem odd for a … Continue reading “Misfit, Pebble Partnership Brings Activity Tracking to Smartwatch”
Grand Rounds Raises $40 Million to Help Patients Access Specialists
For about six months, Pat Martell experienced persistent headaches. He went back and forth with his doctor about treatments, but the aspirin and amoxicillin they tried weren’t working. “The doctor was out of ideas,” he says. After an MRI, he got a call telling him to go straight to the emergency room: His doctors had … Continue reading “Grand Rounds Raises $40 Million to Help Patients Access Specialists”
Collegefeed Goes After Students, Employers in Crowded Career Sector
After graduation, Collegefeed CEO and founder Sanjeev Agarwal was in an enviable position: He was a great student with a degree from MIT and membership in a bunch of honor societies. But even for him, the 1991 job scene was a tough one. “Back then there wasn’t much online activity,” he says. “But even now, … Continue reading “Collegefeed Goes After Students, Employers in Crowded Career Sector”
Spire Takes Wearables Beyond Steps, Measuring Breaths to Track Mood
When Neema Moraveji and Jonathan Palley first started working on Spire, a wearable device that tracks movement but also measures state of mind, there were no wearables on the market. A few years later, it seems like almost everyone is clipping on a tiny device to track movement and fitness. But to Palley, the device … Continue reading “Spire Takes Wearables Beyond Steps, Measuring Breaths to Track Mood”
TaskRabbit CEO: Better Job Market Hasn’t Dampened Appeal
When Leah Busque founded TaskRabbit in Boston back in 2008 (under the name RunMyErrand), the terms “sharing economy” and “collaborative consumption” weren’t part of the tech lexicon, much less the national one. Home rental service Airbnb was founded around the same time, and car-for-hire king Uber wouldn’t even exist until the next year. Six years … Continue reading “TaskRabbit CEO: Better Job Market Hasn’t Dampened Appeal”
Love With Food CEO: Investors Finally Over Webvan
Back when I first wrote about snack subscription service Love With Food, the subscription box model was everywhere. Two years later, several companies have gone bust or pivoted away from the model—including Cravebox, WalmartLabs’ Goodies.co, Lollihop, and Foodzie—and Love With Food CEO Aihui Ong say’s she happy to be in the group of subscription startups … Continue reading “Love With Food CEO: Investors Finally Over Webvan”
Too Busy to Shop? Le Tote, Stitch Fix Help Fill Out Your Wardrobe
Shopping for new clothes is still a pain, even with all the online options out there. Paging through a whole bunch of websites isn’t a quick process, and with the exception of online chatting, there aren’t sales people to talk about fit, putting outfits together, and what might work best for particular body types. Two … Continue reading “Too Busy to Shop? Le Tote, Stitch Fix Help Fill Out Your Wardrobe”
Overhyped? Grand Rounds CEO on Big Data, Dog Delivery, & Bubbles
Owen Tripp, the CEO of Grand Rounds, likes trying to solve high-level problems. His company aims to make it easier for all patients to access specialists at the top of their fields, and to save employers money by cutting down on unnecessary procedures. Tripp has an interesting view of broader tech issues. Previously, he co-founded … Continue reading “Overhyped? Grand Rounds CEO on Big Data, Dog Delivery, & Bubbles”
The Xconomy SF Six: Beats, Fyusion, and Funding Deals
Here are the top six things we’re paying attention to in the San Francisco tech scene this week. —San Francisco-based Fyusion, a startup that develops 3D image-processing technologies, announced a $3.35 million funding round led by New Enterprise Associates and UTEC. The company recently released a mobile app called Fyuse that allows users to create … Continue reading “The Xconomy SF Six: Beats, Fyusion, and Funding Deals”
Need Writing Help? Grammarly Goes Beyond Spell Check to Offer Serious Edits
After Ukrainian engineers Max Lytvyn and Alex Shevchenko sold their first company, MyDropBox, they were left with a great team but no product. So they gave their employees a challenge: solve the most interesting problem you can think of. All of their engineers were English language learners, so “without thinking about market or monetization, they … Continue reading “Need Writing Help? Grammarly Goes Beyond Spell Check to Offer Serious Edits”
The Xconomy SF Six: Big Name Investors, Funding for Clarizen, and More
Here are the top six things we’re paying attention to in the San Francisco tech scene this week. —iRhythm Technologies, maker of technology to improve the diagnosis of heart arrhythmia, announced a $17 million Series E round led by life science investment firm Novo A/S. The company plans to use the funds in part to … Continue reading “The Xconomy SF Six: Big Name Investors, Funding for Clarizen, and More”
DocSend Goes Step Beyond Sharing With Document Analytics
B2B document sharing services are nothing new, but DocSend, a San Francisco-based startup that launched out of TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this month, could change how you work—and let you check up on the people you collaborate with. Unlike Dropbox and Box, services that simply allow sharing and file storage, DocSend applies analytics and tracking to … Continue reading “DocSend Goes Step Beyond Sharing With Document Analytics”
The Xconomy SF Six: A Bunch of Series C Rounds for the Cloud and More
Here are the top six things we’re paying attention to in the San Francisco tech scene this week: —Los Altos-based Netskope, a cloud analytics company, announced a $35 million Series C round led by Accel Partners, bringing total funding to $56.4 million. Eric Wolford of Accel will join the company’s board. —OpenDNS also announced a … Continue reading “The Xconomy SF Six: A Bunch of Series C Rounds for the Cloud and More”
Over Pizza and Chinese? Sprig Delivers Sustainable Meals on Demand
[Corrected 5/15/09, 11:50 am. See below.] When Sprig co-founders Gagan Biyani and Neeraj Berry went looking for a head chef for their newly founded healthy meal delivery startup, they received hundreds of resumes. Then they held between 60 and 80 meetings with potential candidates. They found a lot of great cooks, but no one who … Continue reading “Over Pizza and Chinese? Sprig Delivers Sustainable Meals on Demand”
HAXLR8R Demo Day 2014: Robotics and ‘Niche’ Products
In the mere two years since Sean O’Sullivan and Cyril Ebersweiler founded the Shenzhen, China-based HAXLR8R hardware accelerator, a lot has changed. Technology prices continue to fall, more and more entrepreneurs are willing to jump into hardware, and instead of streamlining to a single connected device, it seems as though consumers are willing to tote … Continue reading “HAXLR8R Demo Day 2014: Robotics and ‘Niche’ Products”
Catalog Your Memories: Moju Labs Debuts Its First App
Heads up, social media fiends. Menlo Park’s Moju Labs is launching its first product today, a photo sharing app that the company is marketing as “Instagram on steroids.” Co-founders Mok Oh and Justin Legakis believe that photos and videos are “artifacts of legacy devices”—photos can only show one stagnant moment in time, and videos are … Continue reading “Catalog Your Memories: Moju Labs Debuts Its First App”
The Xconomy SF Six: Funding for Udemy, Optimizely, & More
Here are the top six things we’re paying attention to in the San Francisco tech scene this week. –Yesterday, online teaching marketplace Udemy announced a $32 million Series C round, bringing its total funding to $48 million. Investors include Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Insight Venture Partners and MHS Capital. The company plans to use the … Continue reading “The Xconomy SF Six: Funding for Udemy, Optimizely, & More”
Looking for Motivation? Strava Aims to Connect Athletes at All Levels
If there’s a misconception about Strava, it’s that the fitness app is only for super athletes, CEO Mark Gainey says. While Strava users do include elite athletes like Olympic road race champion Marianne Vos and racing cyclist Niki Terpstra, the data shows that the customer base is really just a bunch of folks committed to … Continue reading “Looking for Motivation? Strava Aims to Connect Athletes at All Levels”
Restaurant Reservations App Table8 Snags $4.6 million, Plans NY Expansion
Table8, maker of an app that allows users to make last-minute reservations at sought-after restaurants for a fee, today announced a $4.6 million funding round led by angel investors and Concur, a business travel and expense management platform based in Bellevue, WA. Concur’s $150 million Perfect Trip Fund is dedicated to investing in companies in … Continue reading “Restaurant Reservations App Table8 Snags $4.6 million, Plans NY Expansion”
Jumio Looks to Reduce Fraud, Hassle of Mobile Transactions
As viruses like Heartbleed and security breaches like Target’s massive credit card data hack become more and more common, it’s obvious to Jumio CEO Daniel Mattes that our current online security measures just aren’t cutting it. Basic security precautions like questions about your mother’s maiden name are useless in the age of social media. “These … Continue reading “Jumio Looks to Reduce Fraud, Hassle of Mobile Transactions”
The Xconomy SF Six: Funding for Alchemist Accelerator, Doximity, & More
Here are the top six things we’re paying attention to in the San Francisco tech scene this week. –Weight Watchers International has acquired Wello, the fitness training via two-way video startup. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Wello’s team will continue to operate from San Francisco. –Earlier this week, Doximity, the social … Continue reading “The Xconomy SF Six: Funding for Alchemist Accelerator, Doximity, & More”
With New SF Office, Cengage Looks to Rival Tech Giants
Cengage Learning, the billion-dollar edtech giant that started life as Thomson Learning before it was sold off in 2007, is celebrating a brand-new office in San Francisco this week. The new facility will be a testing ground for fostering engagement and innovation in the workspace, and CEO Michael Hansen says the company expects to use … Continue reading “With New SF Office, Cengage Looks to Rival Tech Giants”
Apartment List Takes the Pain out of Finding a New Place
After college, Apartment List CEO John Kobs and his co-founder Chris Herndon both decided to buy property and become landlords. Kobs purchased some single-family homes in his Ohio hometown, while Herndon bought property in Austin, where he had attended college. Both used Craigslist to find renters, but found the popular listing site wasn’t doing much … Continue reading “Apartment List Takes the Pain out of Finding a New Place”
Get a Room: HotelTonight Helps Travelers Plan Spontaneous Trips
Big travel sites like Expedia and Priceline have been around since the dawn of the Internet age, but a local startup with a lot of venture backing is offering something different. HotelTonight allows users to snag unsold, discounted hotel rooms at the last minute, starting at 9 am the day they want to book. Instead … Continue reading “Get a Room: HotelTonight Helps Travelers Plan Spontaneous Trips”
The Xconomy San Francisco Six: Airbnb, Apple’s Acquisitions, & More
Here are the top six things we’re paying attention to in the San Francisco tech scene this week. —AdRoll, the San Francisco-based ad retargeting platform, closed a $70 million funding round lead by Foundation Capital. The San Francisco startup plans to use the funding to expand its reach on mobile devices, so that products you … Continue reading “The Xconomy San Francisco Six: Airbnb, Apple’s Acquisitions, & More”
A Changing of the Guard at Xconomy San Francisco
After four years as Xconomy San Francisco editor, Wade Roush, our new editor-at-large, is handing me the reins, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve worked as a freelancer for Xconomy for the past four years, writing stories about everything from a food subscription service to educational robots to start-ups going after the Internet of … Continue reading “A Changing of the Guard at Xconomy San Francisco”
UrbanSitter: An Uber Convenient Babysitters’ Club
CEO Lynn Perkins took UrbanSitter, a service that connects parents and babysitters, from concept to company in about three weeks. Three and a half years ago, she was taking time off from her previous job working for Joie de Vivre Hospitality—essentially buying hotels—and the mother of twins found herself constantly introducing friends to care providers. … Continue reading “UrbanSitter: An Uber Convenient Babysitters’ Club”
Robo Madness 2014 Takeaways: Jobs, Education, & Redefining Autonomy
In celebration of National Robotics Week, Xconomy brought together big hitters from across the space yesterday to chat about the future of robotics at Robo Madness, our third annual Silicon Valley robotics forum. Nearly 200 entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, and students showed up at SRI International to hear speakers from top robotics companies on both coasts. … Continue reading “Robo Madness 2014 Takeaways: Jobs, Education, & Redefining Autonomy”
Homejoy Makes Getting Your House Cleaned Easy—and Cheap
The idea for HomeJoy started with a dirty apartment. Back in the summer of 2012, CEO Adora Cheung and her brother and cofounder Aaron were both engineers, working on ideas for tech companies out of Aaron’s Palo Alto apartment. After three years in the messy space, Aaron decided to find someone else to clean it, … Continue reading “Homejoy Makes Getting Your House Cleaned Easy—and Cheap”
HeartThis: A Pinterest-Style App Focused on Fashion and Shopping
Andrew Gadson doesn’t love shopping, but that hasn’t stopped him from building HeartThis. It’s a Pinterest-style app that allows users to discover and curate products, but goes a step farther by linking directly to the stores that sell them. After all, product discovery isn’t that useful if you can’t actually buy the things you want. … Continue reading “HeartThis: A Pinterest-Style App Focused on Fashion and Shopping”
Look Out, Nest: Startups Go After Connected Devices
[Corrected 2/11/14, see below] Google’s recent purchase of Nest gave huge validation to the promise of the Internet of Things—a $3.2 billion endorsement. But if a $249 thermostat and $129 smoke and carbon monoxide detector (multiplied by all the bedrooms in your house, plus the kitchen) seem a little too inaccessible, or you’re not looking … Continue reading “Look Out, Nest: Startups Go After Connected Devices”
Hampton Creek Foods Reinvents the Egg—and Cookie Dough
Hampton Creek Foods’ products may be vegan, but that’s not the point. Founder and CEO Josh Tetrick started the company after his best friend, Joshua Balk, told him about some of the problems with eggs—high cholesterol, the cramped conditions the chickens that lay them are kept in, and the environmental impact of big agriculture. “The … Continue reading “Hampton Creek Foods Reinvents the Egg—and Cookie Dough”
Project Frog Rethinks Construction With Smart Component Buildings
For CEO Ann Hand, the hardest part about building up Project Frog, a company that creates ready-to assemble “smart buildings,” was convincing venture capitalists and customers that it was indeed possible to disrupt the long-stagnant construction industry. “You would look at construction and say, because nothing has changed in 1,000 years, it should have all … Continue reading “Project Frog Rethinks Construction With Smart Component Buildings”
Play-i’s Robots Make Programming Come Alive for Kids
For Play-i co-founder and CEO Vikas Gupta, coming up with the mission for his company—to make programming fun and accessible for every child—wasn’t the hard part of building the business. The computer scientist and veteran of Amazon and Google could see the need for better programming education, particularly as other countries started to outpace the … Continue reading “Play-i’s Robots Make Programming Come Alive for Kids”
Curious Offers Online Learning Without the Commitment of MOOCs
Before co-founding lifelong learning platform Curious, CEO Justin Kitch was hanging out at home with his kids, taking some time off. He had sold his first company, Homestead.com, to Intuit in 2007, and after a few years there, he was ready to spend some time at home. So he started doing as much as he … Continue reading “Curious Offers Online Learning Without the Commitment of MOOCs”
Sqwiggle’s Webcam Eye Gives Remote Workers a Virtual Office
Sqwiggle co-founder Matt Boyd has an interesting challenge in convincing people to get on board with his company’s online workspace platform: making sure they’re comfortable being on camera. All the time. The idea behind the product is to help people who work remotely from their computers stay in constant communication, instead of, say, having to … Continue reading “Sqwiggle’s Webcam Eye Gives Remote Workers a Virtual Office”
App Annie Delivers Tailored Analysis of the App Marketplace
[Corrected 10/18/13, see below] As the online universe has expanded and apps have taken over—and digital content of all kinds, from e-books to movies, has exploded—simple Web analytics just don’t tell companies everything they need to know about their products and the marketplace. While app stores share basics like the number of times an app … Continue reading “App Annie Delivers Tailored Analysis of the App Marketplace”
A Teletherapy Startup Works to Remove Barriers to Mental Health Care
Is the digital age sending the old therapist’s couch the way of the reference librarian, the CD, and the travel agent? Could be: several recent studies have found that therapy via the Internet is just as effective as face-to-face treatment. In 2012, a Veterans Affairs study found that teletherapy reduced patients’ psychiatric hospital admissions by … Continue reading “A Teletherapy Startup Works to Remove Barriers to Mental Health Care”
Beyond NFC: Tagstand’s Triggers Make Your Smartphone Smarter
What if you could pay your subway fare or buy a pack of gum at the newsstand just by waving your phone over a pad? Wireless manufacturers have spent years experimenting with a short-range radio standard, Near Field Communications (NFC), that allows just this—and Sony’s version of the technology has been in use in Japan … Continue reading “Beyond NFC: Tagstand’s Triggers Make Your Smartphone Smarter”
Circling the Block? ParkMe Lets Drivers Reserve Spots—At a Discount
Sam Friedman can thank Bruce Willis for the inspiration behind his parking technology company, ParkMe. Friedman and cofounder Alex Israel were straight out of college, with some spare time on their hands, when they headed to the movies to see the latest Die Hard sequel. But when they arrived at the Los Angeles area theater, … Continue reading “Circling the Block? ParkMe Lets Drivers Reserve Spots—At a Discount”
Simplee Demystifies Medical Billing for Hospitals and Consumers
After a terrible vacation, Simplee CEO Tomer Shoval quit a big corporate job to create the Mint-style medical bill payment platform. In September of 2009, Shoval was traveling in Mexico with his wife and three kids when they all got violently ill. Three months later, back in the states, the Shovals started receiving complicated invoices … Continue reading “Simplee Demystifies Medical Billing for Hospitals and Consumers”
Glooko Helps Patients Manage Diabetes Digitally
When Yogen Dalal, Sundeep Madra, and Chamath Palihapitiya founded Glooko, the diabetes management tool company, in June 2010, they had a clear goal: to liberate all the data measured by blood glucose meters. Diabetics relied on the devices to keep their insulin levels regulated, but beyond single readings, they weren’t of much use. They didn’t … Continue reading “Glooko Helps Patients Manage Diabetes Digitally”
Need a Good Mechanic? Fill Up on Recommendations at RepairPal
As the amount of time that drivers hold onto their cars increases, so does the need for repairs. Back in 1930, the average lifespan of a car was 6.75 years; today’s owners are keeping their vehicles for almost twice as long: an average of 11.4 years. And that extended relationship means that the importance of … Continue reading “Need a Good Mechanic? Fill Up on Recommendations at RepairPal”