Last year, a DC startup was chosen as the runner-up in the Hottest Startup in the Nation contest. Who will breakthrough in 2014?
In late February Tech Cocktail is headed back to the Nation’s Capital to showcase a fresh batch of sizzling hot DC-area startups. Join us at 1776 to interact first hand with the dozen-ish early stage companies making the biggest wave in your ‘hood.
We’ll have a gaggle of startups on hand showcasing their goods, but before the event kicks off, we want to know what you think: Who is DC’s Hottest Showcasing Startup? Let us know your thoughts by answering the poll at the end of this post (ends at 6:00pm local time on the day of the event).
The winner will be announced live at the event and will receive invitation to an upcoming Tech Cocktail Week, recognition in the editor’s note of the weekly newsletter and added press recognizing the honor of being elected DC’s Hottest Showcasing Startup.
Who is DC’s Hottest Showcasing Startup?
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- Beyonic – Cash payments are insecure, high cost and inconvenient, and despite nearly 80% penetration of mobile phones, current solutions to switch to mobile money are very high cost. We let our customers eliminate the use of cash by providing a low-cost solution to make payments straight to established mobile money networks throughout East Africa.
- EventKloud – Problem: Event marketing is a time-consuming and repetitive process. Event promoters and hosts find it difficult to engage their audience. Solution: EventKloud is an event marketing platform that allows companies to promote and track their events easily using marketing automation tools, mobile engagement, and advanced data metrics analysis. In a nutshell, when you make an event on EventKloud, we allow you to easily promote it on Facebook, Twitter, Eventbrite, etc. and we show you the data of how your event is engaging users on all of them.
- Govtribe – Understanding the federal contracting market is either expensive or cumbersome. Furthermore, it usually requires you to be sitting at your desk, in front of a web browser. Not anymore. GovTribe gives you the federal contracting market intelligence you need, directly to your mobile device.
- Gryphn – Secure communications
- Kilo – Video hasn’t really adopted the vector of touch. We believe touch video is the next step in this evolution. We have learned to expect more from and do more with our mobile devices. Kilo touch videos requires the user to actually touch and slide his finger on the screen to make the action happen. Studies show that images generate more engagement from the users than text, and videos a bit more.
- Macaw – We’ve cracked the largest problem in our industry, which is to allow designers to design in the way they’re accustomed to AND convert their design into semantic HTML and succinct, logical CSS. Adobe and others have tried for decades to make this a reality and haven’t even come close. Macaw has a completely custom engine, called Alchemy, which is built using the same logic a developer would use to achieve an unparalleled level of code quality.
- MakeMe – Achieving personal goals is hard to do and is an essential part of life. Whether it’s getting regular exercise or spending more time with our kids, we know what we want to do, but we don’t have a method to make ourselves do it. MakeMe is that method.
- MultiLevers – Too many credit cards, line of credits, loose standards adopted by institutions in today’s environment has muddied the personal finances water for individuals. This has been unfairly categorized as irresponsible behavior of consumers and hence the existing products focuses on solving this misplaced issue. Our product backed by decision sciences gets to the bottom of the problem by bringing clarity to the personal finance by cutting the clutter and noise. We are taking a three staged approach, first solving the liability management as a foundation, then creating clarity in cash flow and the last stage to introduce savings and wealth creation.
- Outroop – Home improvement contractors want your business so why are you burdened with calling them? We designed a way for homeowners to post their project and get bids from contractors within days or hours. Contractors love us too because we give them an online presence and give them new business. Save time and save the hassle with Outroop.
- The PoshPacker – The Poshpacker addresses the problem of finding safe, chic and affordable accommodations located in trendy neighborhoods where existing hotel rates are unapproachable. Customers spend 7+ hours researching and visiting various websites to take a guess in picking out a place that in the end may not live up to their expectations. We help users save time, money and disappointment from researching, booking and accessing reliable and safe budget accommodations worldwide. We think that there is an untapped need for curated directories in travel. Travelers do not have the time or desire to browse through thousands of accommodations if they already know what type of accommodation they are interested in. We think that many travelers would prefer to have a short list of what already suits their interest.
- TotalPass – Engaging old customers in new ways – turning them into loyal customers.
- YAPPERapp – Not only do App users lack quick and easy ways to find out what is going on around them, they are frustrated by the permanence and invasiveness of traditional social media. Traditional forms of social media are losing share to messaging apps because of privacy concerns and relevancy to the user in real time. Solution – Yapper lets you find out what’s going on right here and right now by connecting you to your physical community through chats that are broadcasted to anyone within a 5 block radius. The chats delete after 30 minutes of inactivity to ensure that they are relevant to location and time. Unlike competitors who share your location and personal information in order to connect you with people nearby, Yapper encourages real life interactions by connecting you through safe conversations happening nearby. Yapper allows you to see what is going on around you rather than who is around you and lets you completely dictate how you want to interact with your surroundings.