"startup" entries

Databricks aims to build next-generation analytic tools for Big Data

A new startup will accelerate the maturation of the Berkeley Data Analytics Stack

Key technologists behind the Berkeley Data Analytics Stack (BDAS) have launched a company that will build software – centered around Apache Spark and Shark – for analyzing big data. Details of their product and strategy are sparse, as the company is operating in stealth mode. But through conversations with the founders of Databricks, I’ve learned that they’ll be building general purpose analytic tools that can leverage HDFS, YARN, as well as other components of BDAS.

It will be interesting to see how the team transitions to the corporate world. Their Series A funding round of $14M is being led by Andreessen Horowitz. The board will be composed of Ben Horowitz, Scott Shenker, Matei Zaharia, and Ion Stoica.

Read more…

Strata Conference in Santa Clara 2013 Startup Showcase

We asked the Startup Showcase judges three questions about the big data industry.

The Startup Showcase returns to Strata this month, with 10 startup finalists pitching our panel of judges. We’ve assembled an enviable— and somewhat intimidating— lineup of experts to help narrow down the field.

judges

In the interest of giving our finalists a head start, we asked the judges three questions about the big data industry.

Read more…

Have an idea for a health care startup?

DreamIt, UPenn, and IBC offer you an unfair advantage.

I sit down now and then with Roy Rosin at the East coast hub of health care business networking, the Gryphon Cafe in Wayne, PA. (I’m saying that only slightly tongue in cheek.) Roy was the long-time Chief Innovation Officer at Intuit and now holds that role with the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Our conversations tend to be wide ranging, but this morning he let me know that he’s been working on a partnership between Penn Medicine and Independence Blue Cross to fund a health care incubator with DreamIt Ventures in Philadelphia.

If you are working on a health-related startup this is worth your time because it’s being funded by the largest provider and payer in the region. This will give your startup access to both sides of the payer/provider equation in a meaningful way (the aforementioned “unfair advantage”). The application deadline is coming up fast on February 8. Details can be found here.

The industrial Internet from a startup perspective

3Scan is building an Internet-connected 3D microscope as a service

I don’t remember when I first met Todd Huffman, but for the longest time I seemed to run into him in all kinds of odd places, but mostly in airport waiting areas as our nomadic paths intersected randomly and with surprising frequency. We don’t run into each other in airports anymore because Todd has settled in San Francisco to build 3Scan, his startup at the nexus of professional maker, science as a service, and the industrial Internet. My colleague Jon Bruner has been talking to airlines, automobile manufacturers, and railroads to get their industrial Internet stories. I recently caught up with Todd to see what the industrial Internet looks like from the perspective of an innovative startup.

First off, I’m sure he wouldn’t use the words “industrial Internet” to describe what he and his team are doing, and it might be a little bit of a stretch to categorize 3Scan that way. But I think they are an exemplar of many of the core principles of the meme and it’s interesting to think about them in that frame. They are building a device that produces massive amounts of data; a platform to support its complex analysis, distribution, and interoperation; and APIs to observe its operation and remotely control it.

Do a Google image search for “pathologist” and you’ll find lots and lots of pictures of people in white lab coats sitting in front of microscopes. This is a field whose primary user interface hasn’t changed in 200 years. This is equally true for a wide range of scientific research. 3Scan is setting out to change that by simplifying the researcher’s life while making 3D visualization and numerical analysis of the features of whole tissue samples readily available. Read more…

Four short links: 13 June 2012

Four short links: 13 June 2012

Buffett Lessons, Crypto Startup, HTTP 451, and Fixing Academic Publishing

  1. Warren Buffett Lessons — nice anthology of quotes, reordered into almost a narrative on different topics. (via Rowan Simpson)
  2. Silent Circle — Phil Zimmermann’s new startup, encrypting phone calls for iPhone and Android for $20/month. “I’m not going to apologize for the cost,” Zimmermann told CNET, adding that the final price has not been set. “This is not Facebook. Our customers are customers. They’re not products. They’re not part of the inventory.” (via CNET)
  3. New HTTP Code for “Legally Restricted” — it’s status code 451.
  4. PeerJ — changing the business model for academic publishing: instead of charging you each time you publish, we ask for a single one off payment, giving you the lifetime right to publish articles with us, and to make those articles freely available. Lifetime plans start at just $99. O’Reilly a happy investor.

Can Future Advisor be the self-driving car for financial advice?

A startup mashes personal and government data with algorithms to provide automated advice.

Given the turmoil in financial markets and uncertainty abroad, good financial advice has never been more valuable. Startup Future Advisor looks to democratize personalized financial advice using the Internet, data and algorithms.

Where is the OkCupid for elections?

Developers are using big data to match people with candidates.

What will be the "OkCupid for elections" in 2012? Open source app OkCandidate.com offers one approach and startup ElectNext is applying data analysis with an issue-matching engine.

Stickers as sensors

GreenGoose looks to unlock the data in everyday activities.

Put a GreenGoose sticker on an object, and just like that, you'll have an Internet-connected sensor. In this interview, GreenGoose founder Brian Krejcarek discusses stickers as sensors and the data that can be gathered from everyday activities.

A young entrepreneur's perspective on Angolan innovation

Angolan entrepreneur Nyanga Tyitapeka on mobile commerce and data's potential.

Infonauta founder Nyanga Tyitapeka says Angola is on the cusp of a technology explosion. Mobile and data are overcoming low levels of literacy to change the lives of everyday Angolans.