Vena Medicalu00a0has created what they claim is the u201cworldu2019s smallest camerau201d that is designed to help with medical treatments like liver cancer and strokes by looking at patients’ blood vessels. At about the thickness of a pencil lead, Vena’s string-like catheters contain a camera and flashlight so doctors can see from inside a patient, rather than using X-rays and iodine fluid that can cause kidney issues. Theyu2019ve secured pilots with hospitals and believe there is a $5 billion market opportunity for their single-use medical device. u201cEvery patient treated is another camera used.u201d
Why we picked it: The camera is amazing to see in person, and long-term it could unlock new ways to do medical procedures. As soon as it’s fully approved, it could become a popular choice for people with kidney issues, which the company says 40 percent have problematic reactions to traditional X-ray and iodine methods.”,Veriffu00a0wants to be Stripe for online identity verification, handling the processing of drivers licenses, passports and IDs for websites. It scans both your face and ID card using video, which is harder to defraud than if you upload photos. The Estonia-based startup was forced to get serious about compliance by working with strict European banks. They did $60,000 in revenue in February, and are currently profitable. They charge ~$1 per verification.
Why we picked it: As more services and jobs move online, businesses will need a quick way to guarantee someone’s identity without doing the engineering themselves, just like they turned to Stripe to handle payments.”,Avro is building a better way to take medicine. Skin patches work by allowing the drugs to deliver through your skin, directly into your bloodstream. That meansu00a0Avrou2019su00a0skin patches eliminate the need to swallow pills and involve the GI tract.
Avro makes patches for hundreds of drugs, like Benadryl, Zyrtec, Claritin and Aerius. Avrou2019s research has shown effectiveness in terms of relieving seasonal allergies. Avro says itu2019s on track for FDA approval by Q2 of 2019.
Why we picked it: Tons of people don’t take the proper schedule of medicine because they forget or loathe to take their pills. Patches could make treatment a more seamless part of people’s day, and become a differentiator for the pharma companies that adopt Avro’s technology.”,One in five American households now have a new family member in the house named Alexa, Siri or Google.u00a0Volleyu00a0wants to build a platform for voice-based gaming on home assistant hardware. The company has the No. 1 game for Alexa and has 900,000 MAUs since they launched last April. It’s now adding more monetization opportunities with in-app purchases and subscription payments. Voice is the most natural interface for humans, and especially children.
Why we picked it: Volley has the No. 1 Alexa game and seven of the top 20, putting it way out in front in a rapidly growing market.
Read more about Volley on TechCrunch here.“,Weebly, Wix and Squarespace have grown into huge companies with their website building tools, but none focus on mobile.u00a0Universeu00a0lets users build a personal portfolio site with the same ease of editing a photo on Instagram. Users can follow other sites, which creates a bit of a Tumblr-like network of personal blogs. Users have already built 100,000 sites with the iOS app, which has expanded its functionality in recent months to let users build multi-page sites. The app currently has 2,200 paid subscribers paying an average of $3.40 per month to gain premium features on the app.
Why we picked it: Everyone who uses its mobile site builder raves about it. As people crave a direct connection with their audiences or customers instead of a mediated channel through social networks, I expect more content creators, social media stars and small businesses to want high-quality mobile sites. And for consumers, it could be the next step in self-expression after curating a picture-perfect Instagram. Oh, and it’s not the crappy event ticketing service with the same name.
Read more about Universe on TechCrunch here.“,Voiceryu00a0synthesizes ultra-realistic computer voices that can use natural emotion and inflection, and whisper or joke. Seventy percent of people prefer its voices to Amazon Alexau2019s. Voicery analyzes hundreds of human voices to train deep neural networks that power its product, rather than trying to train a computer to mimic a single specific voice. Voicery could be used to generate voice-overs, read the news, dub television shows and more. Itu2019s already gotten a letter of intent for $300,000 to make audio books. With more speech-enabled devices coming on the market every day, there could be a big market for giving different brands their own voice.
Why we picked it: Voicery’s demo showed its voices are significantly more flexible and real-sounding than most assistants. The startup could become an acquisition target for the tech titans battling to win the voice market, or equip smaller companies that can’t build the technology themselves but don’t want to be left out of this big new computing trend.
Read more about Voicery on TechCrunch here.“,Flexport showed how ripe the freight industry is for disruption.u00a0Shoneu00a0is retrofitting old cargo ships with its proprietary technology that allows them to deliver shipping containers autonomously and by remote control. There are fewer regulations out at sea, and Shone is already testing live on a ship in the Pacific. Big shipping companies are already eager to work with it to reduce staffing costs on their boats.
Why we picked it: Autonomy will progress more slowly for cars on the road, but could quickly eliminate the need for big crews of sailors to pilot ships across the world. The industry sees fierce competition, and shipping giants like Maersk are desperate to find a way to boost margins.”,Vathysu00a0is an artificial intelligence startup that makes a deep learning chip that is supposedly 10x faster than the competition — even Google. Computation accounts for 8 percent of power consumption of a chip. The rest is data movement, according to the founder. By addressing data movement, Vathys has created a much faster processor. The company already has a purchase order for $50,000.
Why we picked it: Vathys co-founder Tapabrata Ghosh is an engineering prodigy who’s been racking up patents and breakthroughs since he was a kid. Getting to market will be a challenge, but in terms of pure science prowess, this Ghosh is one to watch.”,
Autonomous cargo shipping, voice games and a camera that fits in a catheter were amongst the most impressive startups that launched yesterday at the Y Combinator Winter 2018 Demo Day 1. You can read about all 64 startups that launched in verticals like biotech and robotics, and our full coverage of all the companies from Day 2. Based on investor buzz and what interested TechCrunch’s writers, click (web) or scroll (mobile) to see our picks for Day 1’s top seven startups.
Additional reporting by Greg Kumparak, Katie Roof, Megan Rose Dickey and Lucas Matney
Josh Constine is a Venture Partner at ~$3 billion AUM early-stage VC fund SignalFire where he invests in pre-seed startups with a focus on consumer. He teaches startup pitch writing and fundraising strategy as a recurring lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School Of Business, and with accelerators like Z Fellows, Inception Studios, and Stanford ASES.
Previously, Constine was Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch where he wrote 4000 articles and was ranked the #1 most cited tech journalist in the world from 2016-2020 by Techmeme. Constine has led 300+ on-stage interviews and keynotes in 18 countries with luminaries including Mark Zuckerberg and the CEOs of Shopify, DoorDash, Snapchat, Instagram, and more. Constine graduated from Stanford University with a Master’s degree he designed in Cybersociology, and wrote his thesis in 2008 on why remixable memes would be the future of marketing. He has been quoted in the NYT and WSJ, is regularly featured on CNN for his thoughts on AI and Silicon Valley, and advises startups on PR, fundraising, and organic growth.
