Vote for your favorite Splash Spring 2016 Startup!

Ronny Kerr · May 11, 2016 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/4549

These eight startups will be pitching their ideas to some of the top tech VCs and entrepreneurs

Today, Vator will be holding Splash Spring 2016 in Oakland, where speakers such as Tom Griffiths (CPO & Co-founder, FanDuel), Andy Dunn (Founder & CEO, Bonobos), Nirav Tolia (Founder & CEO, NextDoor), and Mitch Kapor (Founder, Kapor Center for Social Impact) will be sharing their perspectives on entrepreneurship, venture capital, and lessons learned scaling technology companies.

In addition, we'll also be holding a startup competition, where some of the best, most innovative startups will pitch their ideas in front of top-notch VCs, angel and corporate investors, and high-tech influencers. And you have a chance to vote as well!

Voting will start around 11:55 am, May 12. To vote, go to sli.do on the Web or on a mobile device. Type in #vatorsplash and a screen will appear with a list of names and radio buttons. Select your favorite. Voting will run for about 30 minutes.

Here are the eight finalists who will be presenting later today:

CUJO is like a virtual door for your connected home. It is a smart firewall that guards all devices on your network with business-level security. Plug it into your router and control it with your iPhone or Android app. CUJO uses cloud-based service, including behavioral analysis and machine learning, to offer business-level Internet security.

The company has created a cloud-powered firewall to guard home networks against hackers and cyber criminals. While it's plug-n-play and super simple for anybody to use, it's also packed with business-level security features. CUJO retails for $99 with a $8.99/month subscription.

Prior art is the key to invalidating frivolous patents and rejecting trivial inventions. DataNovo automates prior art searching to help businesses fight patent infringement lawsuits, and assesses freedom-to-operate before pursuing potentially patentable innovations.

The company finds prior arts to every patent instantly. Prior art is anything that shows an invention is old or obvious. Companies use prior arts to invalidate frivolous patents and show that those innovations already exist long before. Companies also use prior arts (or a lack thereof) to show why their products are not obvious variations but truly cutting-edge technologies. Prior art is what stands between just an idea and true invention. It’s the holy grail in intellectual property.

Choosey foodies and indecisive diners alike will now be able to discover the best items on any restaurant menu with Dysh App. Users share photos of their hunger-inducing meals (curate #foodporn) and then rate their dishes on a 100-point scale. Dysh answers both the age-old question, "what do I order?" and the modern quandary, "where do I post it?"

Restaurant-hoppers, choosey foodies and indecisive diners alike will now be able to discover the best items on any menu thanks to the new smartphone application, Dysh. The free app, launched by Toast Labs, Inc. merges user-generated content and mobile technology to create a conversation around the food, getting straight to the plate.

The History Project (THP) is changing how our history is told by re-inventing the digital time capsule. THP has created a space between the momentary chatter of social media and the automation of cloud storage to unify our most important memories and curate them beautifully into collaborative multi-media narratives that transcend generations.

As a pinterest of emotional belongings, THP has created a space between social media and cloud storage to unify our most important memories and curate them beautifully into collaborative multi-media narratives that transcend generations. We are the opposite of snapchat and recognize that as digital content explodes there needs to be a place where the most meanigful things can be preserved forever, richly and beautifully.

Hostfully is a platform that helps hosts in the alternative lodging industry (e.g. Airbnb, HomeAway) create guidebooks that contain essential hospitality information for their guests - a "virtual concierge". Hosts share key home-sharing information, as well as local recommendations for food, shopping, entertainment and more - on mobile, web, and in print.

Hostfully opens up new sales and marketing channels for local businesses to reach tourists who are staying outside of hotels, a $100B market expected to grow 10% YOY through 2025. The host is "the last mile" to the alternative lodging tourist while they're on vacation, with enormous influence on the buying decisions of their guests. Hostfully is tapping into this opportunity.

Laugh.ly is launching the first streaming app dedicated to stand-up comedy. The app not only allows listeners to stream comedy from professional comedians (such as Chris Rock and George Carlin), it allows emerging comedians to upload and publish comedy albums of their own.

The app has acquired comedic recordings of hundreds of professional comedians. We also have direct distribution deals with the largest media publishers in comedy such as Comedy Central. No other platform has the ability to capture a significant portion of the $10b comedy market and the $15B audio advertising market. We've built a cutting-edge on-demand platform for entertainment media.

Sailo is a centralized online marketplace for boat rentals that connects people who want to rent boats to boat owners, charter operators and captains.

The company uses technology to change the fragmented $35B boat charter industry and make rentals easy and online. We take the slow, cumbersome and antiquated booking process and turns it into a seamless five minute experience. Today's consumers want to be able to select and book in minutes: with Sailo, users can search, compare and book in minutes.

ScreenMeet is creating a new category on mobile that the incumbent web conferencing vendors are not addressing. We have unbundled the killer feature of web conferencing, screen sharing, and offer it as a stand-alone app on mobile. We are first to market with mobile screen sharing. To be clear, we are NOT competing to build a better web conferencing solution for mobile, we are creating the category of screen sharing on mobile. We also enable screen sharing from computers to phone, tablets or computers instantly with no download.

This unbundling enables new opportunities and new use cases that were previously undiscovered. Today, after 3 months of commerical availability, our mobile first business consists of direct sales customers (150+) who previously did NOT have a way of sharing their app remotely with their prospects. Our desktop screen sharing business (50+ customers, 10 companies) is currently software companies that sell to SMB's and consumers.

Ronny Kerr

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Related Companies, Investors, and Entrepreneurs

Hostfully

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on April 2, 2016

Hostfully is a platform that helps hosts in the alternative lodging industry (e.g. Airbnb, HomeAway) create guidebooks that contain essential hospitality information for their guests - a "virtual concierge". Hosts share key home-sharing information, as well as local recommendations for food, shopping, entertainment and more - on mobile, web, and in print.

Hostfully opens up new sales and marketing channels for local businesses to reach tourists who are staying outside of hotels, a $100B market expected to grow 10% YOY through 2025. The host is "the last mile" to the alternative lodging tourist while they're on vacation, with enormous influence on the buying decisions of their guests. Hostfully is tapping into this opportunity.

The San Francisco-based team comes from Apple, Google, and other successful startups. Our advisory board includes travel experts from Expedia, Vegas.com, SF.Travel, and Where (in-room travel magazine). We have traveled in home shares around the world, have hosted countless guests in our homes, and know the market well.

You can watch a 2-minute explainer video here: www.hostfully.com/video

Dysh App

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on February 29, 2016

Users are encouraged to post photos of those hunger-inducing meals (i.e. curate the sort of #foodporn you might find on Instagram), and to help friends decide what to order by rating dishes on a 100-point scale. Dysh answers both the age-old question, "what do I order?" and the modern quandary, "where do I post it?"

Of course, food sharing is nothing new. But by adding a level of personalization and gamification to the process, Dysh's concept is to re-define how everyone finds and shares their favorite fare. Diners can discover the must-have menu item at a particular restaurant or simply search for the best food and drink nearby. The app is equipped with location services technology and provides custom results based on a user's exact location. No more sorting through lengthy paragraphs of unknown reviews or crossing fingers that the server will be able to recommend something they will like. Dysh puts an end to eater's remorse by putting recommendations from fellow and trusted "Taste Buds" right at their fingertips.

Download directly from: bit.ly/DyshApp

Sailo, Inc

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on March 22, 2016

Sailo is a centralized online marketplace for boat rentals that connects people who want to rent boats to boat owners, charter operators and captains.

We use technology to change the fragmented $35B boat charter industry and make rentals easy and online. We take the slow, cumbersome and antiquated booking process and turns it into a seamless five minute experience. Today's consumers want to be able to select and book in minutes: with Sailo, users can search, compare and book in minutes.

ScreenMeet

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on March 30, 2016

ScreenMeet is creating a new category on mobile that the incumbent web conferencing vendors are not addressing. We have unbundled the killer feature of web conferencing, screen sharing, and offer it as a stand-alone app on mobile. We are first to market with mobile screen sharing. To be clear, we are NOT competing to build a better web conferencing solution for mobile, we are creating the category of screen sharing on mobile. We also enable screen sharing from computers to phone, tablets or computers instantly with no download.

Extrapolating from these trends, we believe there are huge markets that previously did not participate in web conferencing that will be customers of simple to use and simple to attend screen sharing. This includes real estate agents, independent insurance agents, financial planners and lawyers.

Laugh.ly

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on March 30, 2016

Laugh.ly is launching the first streaming app dedicated to stand-up comedy. The app not only allows listeners to stream comedy from professional comedians (such as Chris Rock and George Carlin), it allows emerging comedians to upload and publish comedy albums of their own. Laugh Radio has acquired comedic recordings of hundreds of professional comedians. We also have direct distribution deals with the largest media publishers in comedy such as Comedy Central. No other platform has the ability to capture a significant portion of the $10b comedy market. We've built a cutting-edge on-demand platform for entertainment media.

We've launched and here is a snapshot of our success:

Selected by the Apple Store editors as one of the "New Apps We Love"
We peaked at 10,000 downloads, now averaging 3,000 downloads a day and just hit 50,000 installs
Average app rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars across 100+ reviews
Overtaken Seeso and Comedy Central.com in category rankings (went up to #33)
Ranked #1 in search terms Laugh, Standup, and Comedy
Average listen time per day 48 minutes (compared to Pandora's 22 minutes/day)
Day 1 retention rates are 33% without any retention marketing efforts (compared to an industry average of 20%)
Week 1 retention rates above 50% (compared to an industry average of 30%)
App store conversion is at 60% (compared to an industry average of 40%)
Our push notifications have a response rate of 11% (compared to an industry average of 3.5%)

DataNovo Inc.

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on March 19, 2016

DataNovo finds prior arts to every patent instantly. Prior art is anything that shows an invention is old or obvious. Companies use prior arts to invalidate frivolous patents and show that those innovations already exist long before. Companies also use prior arts (or a lack thereof) to show why their products are not obvious variations but truly cutting-edge technologies. Prior art is what stands between just an idea and true invention. It’s the holy grail in intellectual property.

But finding prior art is a monumental task. It’s hard because you think it’s there but you don’t know where, if it exists at all. It’s expensive because it’s time- and labor-intensive to look through decades of products and literature to find them. It’s slow because prior art searches today are still done manually, by hands and by human, which take weeks, if not months, to complete. Manual searches often lead to poor quality of prior arts. This lack of quality has led to a historical number of trivial patents issued and litigated.

Fundamentally, DataNovo aims to solve: 1) how to find the best and most relevant prior arts; and 2) how to find them quickly.

DataNovo solves these two industry-wide problems by cutting search time down to milliseconds (from weeks/months) and at a fraction of the cost (e.g., at one tenth of the traditional cost). Enter just the patent number. Using machine learning and pattern recognition, DataNovo is able to identify the key invention in each patent. Leveraging on big data and artificial intelligence, DataNovo is able to use the key invention as part of its comprehensive prior art discovery process to identify the best, most relevant prior arts available against that key invention.

With these prior arts, companies are able to challenge frivolous patents, make informed choices on potential settlement terms, or design products around those patents to avoid willful infringement.

Another feature we offer is the innovation checker. You can check if your new product is truly cutting edge. Describe your product in as few as 6 words. That is all it takes for our machine learning system to understand the product that you have. We will then show you patents that might cover that product.

With these results, you can then take steps to avoid patent infringement by designing around them. Never before do companies have this information without being sued or spending millions in patent litigation. The best part is that you don’t need to hire a patent lawyer or a professional prior art search firm to find these patents for you. The results are now available at your fingertips instantly, which saves time and cuts cost in ways never seen or done before.

CUJO

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on March 15, 2016

CUJO (www.getcujo.com). We have created a cloud-powered smart firewall to guard home networks against hackers and cyber criminals. While it's plug-n-play and super simple for anybody to use, it's also packed with business-level security features. CUJO retails for $99 with a $8.99/month subscription.

Why CUJO? Your home is your sanctuary. That's where we experience our most private moments, safeguard our most precious files, and experience peace of mind. Until now. With our homes full of connected devices we've become easy targets for criminal hackers. You read it in the news every day: baby monitors, smart TVs, tablets - all hacked. Even the FBI director now tapes his webcam so as not to be hacked at home. So ask yourself, with your home fully connected, what is the most precious experience or data that is now open to hackers? And what keeps it safe?

Why We're Different. Your Antivirus protects you against malware that was documented 60+ days ago. If a criminal is standing in front of your house and hacking your smart door, malware detection won't keep you safe. Traditional security solutions are outdated with cybercriminals creating new ways to reach into our homes every day. CUJO uses threat intelligence, machine learning, and cloud-computing to analyze your device behavior. When we see a threat - we block it. You will get a friendly notification on your CUJO app that your home is safe.

The History Project

Startup/Business

Joined Vator on March 10, 2016

The History Project (THP) is changing the way our history is captured and told by re-inventing a new form of digital time capsule. As a pinterest of emotional belongings, THP has created a space between social media and cloud storage to unify our most important memories and curate them beautifully into collaborative multi-media narratives that transcend generations. We are the opposite of snapchat and recognize that as digital content explodes there needs to be a place where the most meanigful things can be preserved forever, richly and beautifully.