And here are the Vator Splash finalists!
Straight from the Vator Splash event, we list out the top 10 startups and what they're all about
The finalists are in and they've all just showcased what they want to bring to the world at the May 2010 Vator Splash event in San Francisco, Ca. These companies were chosen mainly based on peer voting held on the Vator Splash competition page where more than 100 companies participated and well over 2,000 people voted were cast.
Serving as Internet marketing software, Arkayne helps businesses get found online. The startup's technology scans through millions of Webpages to find relationships within pages and build links, in what it describes as a 'very short period of time.' Say for example, a blogger integrates Arkayne's technology into their post, at the end of their blog post you'll see relevant links to other sites or posts within their blog---those are powered by Arkayne.
Real-time matching is what this startup is all about. YouHaveIWant is an alternative platform for buying and selling items from user to user. The company uses P2P, location-based technology that matches people based on their 'Wants' and 'Haves.' For example, say I'm looking for a new Fender guitar, I submit a 140 character message to YHIW, and if there is a match, YHIW lets me communicate with whoever may have what I want. Simple as that.
I wrote about this startup, which recently raised $500,000. DormNoise has built a platform which functions as a student-calendaring tool. The startup partners with colleges and universities to provide a centralized calendar where students can find out and share everything that's going-on on campus. The company makes money by either charging the campus per student, or an incremental revenue-sharing sponsorship model with the university.
Mindbloom has built what it calls a "Life Game." It's an online game which aims to help its users maintain a healthier life. The whole objective is to complete daily actions in your life for your tree to grow healthier and earn seeds to purchase more leaves. Some of the daily actions are things like, "drink eight glasses of water," or "clean one room in the house." Recently, the startup blogged on Vator that it's seen traffic rise 92%. Users can play alone or take advantage of the games social elements.
Panama offers a mobile broadcast platform that integrates SMS, IM and voice all together. It's main product is a voice messenger which can be downloaded as an app for the iPhone. Users can basically send little audio bytes to one another instead of the usual text message we are all familiar with. The company said Android and Blackberry versions are on the way.
Hey! You Up There! - The company is building an online video network geared towards children who love sports. It's a half hour weekly sports variety show that features studio hosts and reporters on location at arenas and sporting events. Beyond the show, Hey! You Up There! also has a Website which serves as a hub for user generated content, contests, the official TV show, and extra behind the scenes footage. The company said it presents an investment opportunity in a venture that will tap the $200 billion tween market and is three months away from its public launch. 
"Baduku.com is to review Websites, as what Twitter was to blogs…" is how the startup describes itself in short. Basically, it's an opinion engine for anything you can think of. Most of the active topics on its site have to do with pop culture, like, the goods vs the bads of American Idol or Facebok, but it has a bunch of others as well, you just have to search for them or browse through categories. The company differentiates itself from other opinion engines because instead of being a collection of disconnected opinions, it shows the overall public opinion (statistical relevancy). Baduku also has an open API so developers can integrate its micro-opinion system into their own sites. 
Udemy's tagline, "academy of you," describes it perfectly. The startup has built an open platform which lets users teach or learn online from one another. All the technology is Web-based so instructors don't need to deal with any complications in setting up their virtual classes. For example, Udemy offers a live virtual conferencing and classroom tool, which can all be used simply on the site. The company says it will focus on a specific niche: Poker education, and then move onto additional markets where it seems consumers paying.
iChange offers a platform through which individuals can receive professional counseling and support from other individuals. As it's title says, it's all about change. Right now, it's focus is on nutrition and weight loss where it helps connect users with other dietitians and support groups. The company lets users sign up for free limited access, and upgrade to several professionally-supervised programs which range from $19-$99 per month.
This startup opened announced what it's all about tonight at Vator Splash. Envolve provides Website chat that can be embedded into your site with two lines of JavaScript. The goal is to get visitors talking among each other about your content.
And lastly, Mytoopi. This company made the final top ten startups for Splash, but unfortunately couldn't make it out to the event. The company attempted to make it over to San Francisco all the way from India but sadly, hit delayed flights due to bad weather. This is a testament to the true passion of the entrepreneurs in our community. The company said it aims to be a virtual market world for Web designers to showcase, promote and sell their templates by garnering a unique community of Web designers, buyers and advertisers around the world.
Related Companies, Investors, and Entrepreneurs
Envolve
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Websites are lonely places!
Envolve is working on a new way to communicate around web content.
We are building an amazing website chat product to turn websites into social hubs.
We're almost done, look out for our launch soon!
Mytoopi
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
mytoopi is a unique website which will provide web designers across the world an opportunity to showcase their work, market, network, share, learn and lead. mytoopi is not just another website offering web template sales. It will also provide a pool of web design templates in various categories for buyers across the world, to suit their preference and requirement.
What’s more, various web service providers can advertise their services in this space too.
mytoopi aims to be a virtual market world for web designers to showcase, promote and sell their templates by garnering such a unique community of web designers, buyers and advertisers around the world.
Note: The website is in its final stage of first phase.
Udemy
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Udemy is a website that enables anyone to teach and learn online. Udemy tries to democratize online education by making it fast, easy and free to create online courses. Udemy is an open platform, so anyone can build an online course by posting videos, presentations, writing blog posts, or hosting live virtual classroom sessions.
Udemy tries to solve a simple problem: there are millions of smart people in the world (authors, speakers, coaches, trainers, subject matter experts and teachers) who want to teach over the internet. Currently, it costs $10,000 to create a website to teach, and there are thousands of instructors doing this (we've talked to them; they hate it). We provide instructors with the ability to create their own course without any up-front costs. That way, they no longer have to deal with the technology and can focus entirely on teaching.
Udemy Live is Udemy’s live virtual conferencing and classroom tool. It is entirely web-based and built on component architecture. Each component was built separately, and there is an internal API so third party developers can build components on top of Udemy’s virtual conferencing tool. The API is not currently public.
Udemy was founded by MobileCrunch writer Gagan Biyani, Eren Bali and Oktay Caglar. Eren and Oktay worked at SpeedDate.com, an online dating site that has received over $8M in funding from Menlo Ventures.
Udemy will start by focusing on a specific niche: Poker education. We will roll out Udemy to enter the $100M business of online poker education. Udemy has deals with more than 15 extremely popular poker instructors to teach on Udemy Poker over the internet. After that niche, Udemy will begin to enter additional markets in which there is a willingness to pay by consumers and a clear set of high-quality instructors interested in teaching.
BlogGlue
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
BlogGlue exists to make it simpler for bloggers to find new audiences by allowing them to get exposure on partner blogs. Check if we can promote your blog...
- You Drop In The BlogGlue Plugin Into Your Blog
- You Pick Blog Partners From Our Network
- You Publish Posts And Articles
- We Link Your Related Articles With Your Partners
- Visitors Come From Partners And Stay Longer
Hey! You Up There!
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Hey! You Up There! is creating the go-to network for kids who love sports and their "sports parents." The network delivers virtual and real-life experiences through social media and live festivals. Video is a key value driver, including user-generated content and a TV show where the kids are on-camera as much as high-profile athletes.
We present an investment opportunity in a venture that will tap the $200 billion tween market and is 3 months away from its public launch.
Content And Platforms
We will reach kids and parents through a television show, a participatory web site and major live events, all revolving around kids, sports and fun.
Television Show: Hey! You Up There! is a high‐energy half‐hour weekly sports magazine/variety show that puts tweens firmly in charge, both as studio hosts and roving reporters. They take us behind the scenes at sporting events, stadiums, and arenas - where they get to interview athletes from a kid angle, and hang with entertainers and other colorful characters that make up the world of sports. They introduce us to "super" kids in the studio, who excel as athletes, performers or difference makers. They present exercise and nutrition segments that are funny and engaging, featuring mascots, dance crews and flash mobs. They participate in games and sketches, off‐the‐wall challenges, and fun contests.
Web Site: Hey! You Up There! online is a hub that prominently features User Generated Content contributed by members, as part of the Kid Reporter contest, the Youth Mascot contest or simply out of a desire to express themselves. There will be segments from the TV show as well as web‐only content, including extended interviews, "making of" material and bloopers. Tweens will have the ability to suggest show topics and segments, to rate videos and vote for their favorite contestants. Plus all the other bells and whistles that tweens want on their site - games, leaderboards, quizzes, polls and opportunities to personalize their experience. Parents get their own dedicated section.
Live Festival: KidsGotGame! is a free family festival which serves as the exclamation point for our multifaceted, fun, kid‐centered celebration of sports. Like the television show and the web site, KidsGotGame features Athletes, Mascots, and Performers, Kid Reporters and Families ‐ bringing together everyone who loves the world of sports in a playful and participatory setting.
Baduku.com
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Baduku.com is an opinion engine that helps people make informed decisions and gauge public opinions about anything.
Baduku.com is to review websites, as what twitter was to blogs.
YouHaveIWant
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
What if there were a way that you could say what you want, and instantly be matched with someone nearby who has what you are looking for? This is exactly what YouHaveIWant does.
YouHaveIWant is a P2P, location-based, real-time exchange that matches people based on their 'Wants' and 'Haves.'
Users submit a 'want' or a 'have' in 140 characters or less, and receive alerts when we find their match. If both matches are online, users can use our instant messaging feature. Throughout the communication process, YHIW maintains their privacy.
YHIW is changing the way people buy, sell and exchange goods & services by making it a real-time, mobile, and social experience. People just say what they have or want in a sentence, and YHIW does the rest.
DormNoise
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
DormNoise is an interactive student calendar system that gives students a series of interconnected personal, student group, and campus-wide calendars to organize all of their student events, and lets them sync everything to the most popular calendar applications and smartphones.
By implementing DormNoise, colleges or universities gain access to a feature set that will dramatically improve:
1. Communication on a campus-wide basis
2. Student organization, engagement, and awareness
3. Student participation in events and student groups
Mindbloom Inc.
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Mindbloom Incorporated is a Seattle-based interactive media company that’s out to make life improvement accessible to everyone. By harnessing next-generation engagement techniques and focusing them on personal development, Mindbloom has created a new, powerful way for people to improve the quality of their lives. Utilizing behavioral science, personalized rich media, and fun social gaming techniques in their offerings Mindbloom makes the process of personal growth fun, simple and effective. To start living a healthier and more balanced life, visit: www.mindbloom.com.
iChange
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
iChange's core philosophy is that major life changes are more easily achieved with support from others. iChange has built a system through which individuals can receive professional counseling and support from other individuals when making change. The company's first offering is nutrition and weight loss, where members can work with dietitians and nutrition support groups who provide guidance, support and accountability.
CloudTalk.me
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
CloudTalk is a mobile broadcast service platform that integrates sms, IM and voice into a single platform. CloudTalk provides a suite of communication services such as phone casting, audio blogging, micro blogging, instant and large scale group communication (calling, texting, voicemail, sms voicemail).