Business & Tech
Local Startup Among 'Most Likely to Succeed' at Launch Silicon Valley 2013
Mountain View-based Algorithms.io and Menlo Park-based Whill among area startups to impress venture capitalists and crowd.
Written by Claudia Cruz
Out of more than 300 companies who applied and from the 30 selected to participate, a Mountain View startup impressed at this year's Launch Silicon Valley 2013.
Algorithms.io, a company that delivers predictive text analytics, was voted among the six companies "most likely to succeed" at this year's forum held on Tuesday, June 4 at Microsoft in Mountain View. And with two such praises in less then two months—the last at Data 2.0 Summit in April—CEO and Co-Founder Andy Bartley felt really good.
"Where we are right where we should be," Bartley said of the six-person company. "This was a very successful forum for us. In addition to winning we had a few potential customers passed by the booth, which is good because we are still
growing the business."
This is the type of recognition—from investors—that Algorithms.io and the other startups sought to achieve at the forum.
"The whole purpose of the event is to help these companies to raise their profiles," said Chris Gill, CEO and executive director of SVForum, the non-profit that has hosted Launch Silicon Valley for the past eight years. "Our success rate is pretty high with about a 30 percent hit rate of companies that participate either raising funding, going international or being acquire. Not just those voted on but many who participate go further."
Among those who will probably go further was BugCrowd also a Launch Silicon Valley winner.
BugCrowd helps online companies against cybersecurity threats by enlisting a group to help finds vulnerabilities. While founded in Australia, BugCrowd has since moved to San Francisco for the opportunities the American market can provide.
"The Australian startup ecosystem is very active and getting bigger," said Casey John Ellis, Bugcrowd CEO and co-founder. He added that with respect to receiving funding, Aussie startups do well because there's a lot of money and wealthy people down under.
"However, the Silicon Valley tech market is more mature and in the conversations with venture capitalists you can tell they are more experience," Ellis said. "As a result the money flows faster."
That's a thought similarly shared by a Swedish angel investor who flew to the conference from Sweden with one of the startsup he backs. Lars Lindgren of Venture Securities AB shared that he doesn't travel to too many forms such as Launch Silicon Valley, perhaps one or two a year. He does so to get inspiration.
"A well connected American investor in more valuable than an European investor," Lindgren said. "I got some good contacts that we'll follow up with."
But at the end of the day, a well-backed startup can only go so far without the backing of the audience it hopes to reach. This makes the Launch Silicon Valley distinct, since the six winners were chose both by a combination of the votes from judges and the crowd.
"Investors aren’t always right," McGill said. "Frequently what the crowds thinks have more of an impact."
Next Generation Internet 1 category:
Out of more than 300 companies who applied and from the 30 selected to participate, a Mountain View startup impressed at this year's Launch Silicon Valley 2013.
Algorithms.io, a company that delivers predictive text analytics, was voted among the six companies "most likely to succeed" at this year's forum held on Tuesday, June 4 at Microsoft in Mountain View. And with two such praises in less then two months—the last at Data 2.0 Summit in April—CEO and Co-Founder Andy Bartley felt really good.
"Where we are right where we should be," Bartley said of the six-person company. "This was a very successful forum for us. In addition to winning we had a few potential customers passed by the booth, which is good because we are still
growing the business."
This is the type of recognition—from investors—that Algorithms.io and the other startups sought to achieve at the forum.
"The whole purpose of the event is to help these companies to raise their profiles," said Chris Gill, CEO and executive director of SVForum, the non-profit that has hosted Launch Silicon Valley for the past eight years. "Our success rate is pretty high with about a 30 percent hit rate of companies that participate either raising funding, going international or being acquire. Not just those voted on but many who participate go further."
Among those who will probably go further was BugCrowd also a Launch Silicon Valley winner.
BugCrowd helps online companies against cybersecurity threats by enlisting a group to help finds vulnerabilities. While founded in Australia, BugCrowd has since moved to San Francisco for the opportunities the American market can provide.
"The Australian startup ecosystem is very active and getting bigger," said Casey John Ellis, Bugcrowd CEO and co-founder. He added that with respect to receiving funding, Aussie startups do well because there's a lot of money and wealthy people down under.
"However, the Silicon Valley tech market is more mature and in the conversations with venture capitalists you can tell they are more experience," Ellis said. "As a result the money flows faster."
That's a thought similarly shared by a Swedish angel investor who flew to the conference from Sweden with one of the startsup he backs. Lars Lindgren of Venture Securities AB shared that he doesn't travel to too many forms such as Launch Silicon Valley, perhaps one or two a year. He does so to get inspiration.
"A well connected American investor in more valuable than an European investor," Lindgren said. "I got some good contacts that we'll follow up with."
But at the end of the day, a well-backed startup can only go so far without the backing of the audience it hopes to reach. This makes the Launch Silicon Valley distinct, since the six winners were chose both by a combination of the votes from judges and the crowd.
"Investors aren’t always right," McGill said. "Frequently what the crowds thinks have more of an impact."
Winners of Launch Silicon Valley 2013:
Next Generation Internet 1 category:
- Algorithms.io, predictive analytics algorithms, Mountain View, CA, http://www.algorithms.io/ is a local Bay Area company that leverages the latest in cloud computing and open source software along with proprietary technology to deliver predictive analytics as a service.
- Bugcrowd, crowdsourced bug identification, Santa Clara, CA, www.onebillsoftware.com is crowdsourced security for web and mobile applications that matches the crowd of bad guys with a crowd of curated good guys.
- FLASHiZ, mobile payments, Luxembourg, www.flashiz.com is the first mobile payment solutions in Europe using both NFC and QR codes. It payment in shops, online, paper invoices and even make peer-to-peer payments.
- WHILL, next generation personal mobility, Menlo Park, CA, http://whill.jp has relocated from Japan. It designs and creates new generation of personal mobility, sidewalk EV (Electric Vehicle), with design and function.
- E3 Clean, Nox scrubber technology, Athens, OH, www.e3cleantechnologies.com provides devices that effectively clean up smog forming NO emissions in diesel and power plant exhaust and contamination in wastewater while producing clean hydrogen fuel as a free by-product.
- OnFarm, farm decision support, Fresno, CA, www.onfarmsystems.com integrates agriculture information in a cloud-based decision and management system that enables farmers to increase yield and quality while reducing fertilizer, water, labor, and energy.
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