Coming hot off the tail-end of a much involved SXSW week (where the talk of the town was wearables, alternate-communication apps, and the internet of things); I was excited to immediately find myself in the heart of Silicon Valley, discussing a personal subject of my own curiosity: Bitcoin.
As we recall, this year has kicked off with some fierce acquisitions in the connected home and internet of things (IOT) space, namely with Google’s high profile $3.2 Billion acquisition of smart home device company, Nest. To say we were excited for the home track of REACH | The Connected Future would have been a severe understatement.
As you might recall, our first installation of REACH, was back in November and covered disruptive technology in the gaming industry. While gaming shared the stage with other industry tracks for last week’s event: REACH | The Connected Future, it was well represented through the insights of a varied panel of experts, covering a wide range of gaming’s different moving parts.
To get some up to speed, Rap Genius, as a team and company have upheld a reputation as anomalies in the tech world.
Moderated by Sean Arian, VP of Innovation, Sustainability and Emerging Technology @ the LA Chamber of Commerce, this conversation was an inside opportunity to dispel the myths surrounding the Cleantech industry. Collectively, the panel spoke on behalf of the Cleantech industry, standing firm, to state that…
Today, we have Vince Leung, co-founder and operating CTO of MentorMob. After a successful run through NYC-based Kaplan Edtech accelerator program (powered by Techstars), the team at MentorMob have been gearing up for a 2014 re-launch; same MentorMob name, but as Vince tells us, with a more community-based focus (don’t worry, a little more on that later).
The Immunity Project is a nonprofit initiative using a unique combination of crowdfunding and venture capital, along with a novel machine learning approach in devising an HIV vaccine. Since the official YC announcement and launch of their crowdfunding campaign, they’ve successfully raised an initial goal of $482,000; to fund a final immunization experiments before undergoing Phase I clinical studies.
Meet Nanxi Liu, CEO and a cofounder of Enplug. We discuss the serendipitous circumstances that brought the founding team together (one of the most unique founder stories I’ve heard to date) and move to topics surrounding the future of digital advertising.
Today, the Walt Disney Company & Techstars announce their plans to select ten startup companies for a three-month mentorship and seed-stage investment program. The LA-based program is powered by Techstars and focused on “technology-based companies focused on trnasformative media and entertainment experiences.” Applications are being accepted starting today, through April 16, 2014 for early-stage companies with innovative consumer media and entertainment product ideas. Visit www.disneyaccelerator.com for full details on applying for the program.
The Annual TechZulu Startup Forecast is one of our most anticipated events. It’s about as close as you can get to a macro-level crystal ball for the tech industry, expressed through a rapidfire string of insights from the minds of some of tech’s biggest investors, founders, and gamechangers.
