The original English Version is below the Chinese Translation or go to Business Insider website.
新創公司很多,但只有少數有機會成為大企業,也只有少數幾家有所謂的創新點子。
Business Insider 精選幾家科技業中的startup(新創公司),並在11/8公佈了他們認為的20家最創新的科技新創公司。這些被選出來的的新創公司都擁有創新概念,絕非偷來的點子,並且有機會在位來有長期發展潛力。這一期台灣的數位雜誌也分享了這消息,我就也省了翻譯,直接將數位雜誌的文章在此分享。想要看原文的,可以在這裡看,我也列在下方。
———————-數位雜誌( 20家最創新的科技新創公司)————————————-
20家最創新的科技新創公司
數位時代網站|撰文者:許凱玲編譯發表日期:2011/11/12
世界上創業的公司何其多,但是其中僅有少數具有發展成為「產業」的潛力,具有真正「創新」的想法,BusinessInsider網站挑選出知名度較低,但是發展潛力大的科技新創公司,希望有朝一日能看到他們的創新想法成為產業領導者。
1. Codecademy:JavaScript簡單學
創辦人:Zach Sims & Ryan Bubinski
地點:紐約
資金:250萬美元(來自Union Square Ventures)
創新之處:把學JavaScript這件事變容易了,第一堂課就是教你將名字寫在引號裡,再逐漸增加難度。現在許多人都想著要創業,卻又找不到人才,在這樣的情況下,Codecademy潛力十足。
2. Kaggle:1萬7千名博士科學家網路,助你解決難題
創始人:Anthony Goldbloom
地點:舊金山
資金:第一輪融資1,100萬美元(來自Index Ventures、Khosla Ventures、SV Angel等創投業者)
創新之處:擁有1萬7千名博士科學家,包括NASA、Delloite(勤業眾信)會計師事務所和密西根大學都曾向Kaggle求助,成功解決問題。Kaggle把世界上最聰明的人聚在一起,不管是愛滋病研究,或外太空物質探索,相信可以做出一些改變這個世界的驚人創舉。
3. Skillshare:任何人都可以給幫忙上課
創辦人:Michael Karnjanaprokorn & Malcom Ong
地點:紐約
資金:370萬美元(來自Spark Capital和Union Square Ventures)
創新之處:把每個網路上的IP位址都變成單一教室,讓每個人都能成為別人的老師或學生。創辦人Karnjanaprakorn表示,老師在學校教的東西往往都是過時的、或是不相關的,真正的高手和具有經驗的人,就可以到Skillshare當別人的老師。
4. Sphero:用智慧型手機來控制玩具球吧!
創辦人:Ian Bernstein & Adam Wilson
地點:科羅拉多州
資金來源:第二輪融資500萬美元(來自Foundry Group和Highway 12 Ventures)
創新之處:Sphero曾經參加TechStars育成專案,產品可應用於寵物和軍事用途。在網球大小般的球體中,放入一個小型機器人,就可以控制球的移動,會是狗狗和貓咪的玩具,八歲大的孩子也會很喜歡,還可以想像如何運用在軍事用途。
5. Quora:保證專家、絕非白癡來回答你的問題
創辦人:Adam D’Angelo & Charlie Cheever
地點:加州帕洛阿爾托(Palo Alto)
資金來源:融資1,100萬美元(公司估計市值達8,600萬美元)
創新之處:對網路搜尋和答案有了重新的想像,創造一個問答平台,讓可信賴的專家回答網友提問,分享他們的專業知識,這也是網友在網路上能夠找到專家意見的唯一網站。
6. Dwolla:快速發展的行動支付服務,讓你徹底擺脫信用卡
創辦人:Ben Milne
地點:愛荷華州德梅因(Des Moines, Iowa)
資金:100萬美元(來自The Veridian Group和The Members Group),目前正在進行另一輪融資
創新之處:或許看起來和競爭對手Square、PayPal並沒有什麼不同,事實上並非如此。PayPal和Square都是利用信用卡進行轉帳,Dwolla則是直接連到銀行帳戶(這樣用戶永遠都不能透支,是非常好的做法),將錢轉給收款人,收款人甚至可以是沒有Dwolla帳戶的Facebook朋友。因為不是使用信用卡,所以就沒有高額交易費,不管是轉帳1美元、或是100萬美元,Dwolla每次都只收25美分。目前這家12人團隊公司,每月轉帳金額達3千萬美元至5千萬美元,業務範圍全來自愛荷華州。
7. ZocDoc:線上預約醫生
創辦人:Nick Ganju、Cyrus Massoumi、以及Oliver Kharraz
地點:紐約
資金:9,500萬美元,第三輪融資成功募資5,000萬美元(來自DST Global)
創新之處:提供簡單的線上醫生預約服務,甚至可在最後一分鐘預約,絕大多數位於紐約25歲以下的年輕人都用ZocDoc;目前已經拓展到11個城市,有70萬名用戶,預約次數達530萬次。用戶可免費服務,醫生每月需繳交250美元。
ZocDoc目前是紐約數一數二的新創公司,估計市值將近十億美元。
8. BankSimple(現改名為Simple):將所有銀行帳戶合而為一,不用再為其它帳戶付費
創辦人:Alex Payne、Josh Reich、以及Shamir Karkal
地點:紐約布魯克林(現已遷往波特蘭)
資金:今年8月融資1,000萬美元,至今募資1,300萬美元。
創新之處:如果你設立多家銀行帳戶,每家銀行都會向你收費,BankSimple的概念是將所有銀行帳戶合併成為一個,如此一來就可以減少相關費用支出。
9. TaskRabbit:依照需求提供勞工,創造就業機會和業外收入
創辦人:Leah Busque
地點:加州舊金山
資金:最近才成功融資500萬美元。
創新之處:依照雇主需要提供勞工,幫大家創造就業機會或業外收入,就像是美國年輕人會當保姆賺錢,其他人也可以在空閒時做點零工賺錢,ABC新聞表示TaskRabbit是解決美國就業危機的方法之一。
10. H. Bloom:鮮花訂購服務
創辦人:Brian Burkhart & Sonu Panda
地點:紐約
資金:募資800萬美元(包括來自Battery Ventures的470萬美元)
創新之處:由於鮮花總是很快就凋謝了,飯店等地又經常有鮮花需求,H.Bloom因此而存在。一般人也可以在H. Bloom訂鮮花,例如容易健忘的先生只要提前輸入結婚紀念日,H. Bloom會在時間到的時候自動送上美麗的花束給太太。
————–Business Inside : The 20 Most Innovative Startups In Tech—————
Very few startups have the potential to become big businesses. There are also very few with innovative ideas.
We compiled a list of our favorite tech startups and asked investors and entrepreneurs to do the same.
Some of the companies we selected are more established than others. We sided with younger, more obscure startups with big-time potential. Some were too stealth to be included.
All of them have fresh concepts with the potential to become industry leaders.
1. Company: Codecademy (Codecademy is the easiest way to learn JavaScript)
Founders: Zach Sims, Ryan Bubinski
Location: New York, NY
Funding: $2.5 million led by Union Square Ventures
Why it’s innovative: Codecademy makes learning basic JavaScript incredibly easy and fun. The first assignment teaches you to write your name in quotes and gets progressively more challenging from there.
In a world where everyone wants to be an entrepreneur and no one can find tech talent, it has huge potential.
2. Company: Kaggle(Kaggle is a network of 17,000 PhD-level people that help each other solve impossible problems
Founders: Anthony Goldbloom
Location: San Francisco, CA
Funding: $11 million Series A from Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, SV Angel, and others
Why it’s innovative: NASA, Delloite, and The University of Michigan have all turned to Kaggle’s pool of 17,000 PhD-level scientists to solve complex problems and create winning models.
It uses the collective knowledge of some of the world’s smartest people to make vast improvements in the world, from AIDs research to mapping dark matter in outer space.
3. Company: Skillshare (Skillshare lets anyone teach a class to anyone who’s willing to listen)
Founders: Michael Karnjanaprokorn and Malcom Ong
Location: New York, NY
Funding: Raised about $3.7 million to date, investors include Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures
Why it’s innovative: Skillshare wants to turn every address into a classroom and every person into a teacher or student.
“NYU is a great school, but the entire state of New York can be a great university,” Karnjanaprakorn tells us. “By the time a teacher is teaching something in school, it’s often outdated or irrelevant,” he says. “We’re having people who truly understand something and are working in the field teach people what they learned that day.”
4. Company: Sphero (Sphero is a robotic ball that can be controlled by your smartphone.
Founders: Ian Bernstein & Adam Wilson
Location: Boulder, CO
Funding: $5 million Series B in parent company, Orbotix, from Foundry Group and Highway 12 Ventures
Why it’s innovative: Sphero started as a TechStars company and opens up a world of possibilities for pets and military personnel alike.
“It’s the size of a tennis ball with a little robot inside that can be guided around,” explains Foundry Group’s Brad Feld. “It’s fabulous for dogs and cats. Give it to an eight-year-old boy or girl and they won’t let go of it. You can imagine the military applications for something like that too.”
5.Company: Quora (Quora is a Q&A site that’s answered by experts, not idiots
Founder: Adam D’Angelo, Charlie Cheever
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Funding: ~ $11 million at $86 million valuation
Why it’s innovative: Quora re-imagined Internet search and answers. It created a platform where credible industry experts are happy to respond to the average Joe and share what they’ve learned.
It’s the only place on the web where users can get advice from people they admire and respect.
6. Company: Dwolla (Dwolla is faster-growing mobile payment solution. It moves $30-50 million per month and gets rid of credit cards (and their fees) altogether.
Founders: Ben Milne
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Funding: $1 million from The Veridian Group and The Members Group in Iowa. Raising another round now.
Why it’s innovative: At a glance, Dwolla doesn’t sound different than its much bigger competitors Square and PayPal — but it is.
PayPal and Square both use credit cards for transactions. Dwolla is side-stepping credit cards altogether. It links directly to bank accounts (which is good because users can never spend more money than they have) and moves money to whoever you want, even Facebook friends who don’t have Dwolla accounts.
Because it doesn’t use credit cards, there aren’t high transaction fees. Dwolla takes 25 cents for every transaction, whether you’re moving $1 or $1,000,000. “We just really want that quarter,” Milne tells us. The 12-person startup is already moving between $30-50 million per month on its platform, all from Iowa.
7. Company: ZocDoc (ZocDoc is a way to book doctor appointments online)
Founders: Nick Ganju, Cyrus Massoumi and Oliver Kharraz
Location: New York, NY
Funding: $95 million to date; earlier this summer it raised a $50 million Series C investment from DST Global.
Why it’s innovative: ZocDoc is an easy way to book doctor appointments, even last-minute ones, online. The founders say most people under 25 in New York use its service. It’s in eleven cities and is expanding quickly with 5.3 million available appointments online and 700,000+ users. The service is free for users and costs every practice $250 per month to be listed.
It takes out the headache of calling a doctor and getting denied when you’re really sick, and it’s one of the biggest startups in New York at a near-billion-dollar valuation.
8.Company: BankSimple, as of today called “Simple” (BankSimple, now called “Simple“, merges all of your bank accounts into one and gets rid of all the fees.
Founders: Alex Payne, Josh Reich and Shamir Karkal
Location: Brooklyn, NY but relocating to Portland, OR
Funding: Raised $10 million in August and has raised ~$13 million to date.
Why it’s innovative: People keep their money in more than one place and they get charged a lot of money by every bank.
BankSimple wants to merge all accounts into one and do away with fees by splitting the net interest between all of the banks involved. It’s an amazing mobile banking solution with heaps of potential.
9. Companies: TaskRabbit (TaskRabbit is creating an on-demand workforce. It creates jobs and supplemental income.)
Founders: Leah Busque
Location: San Francisco, CA
Funding: Recently raised $5 million.
Why it’s innovative: TaskRabbit has a lot of momentum and is creating an on-demand workforce. It creates jobs and supplemental income.
Much like teenagers babysit in their free time, people can run errands in their free time and get paid.
ABC Nightly News called TaskRabbit a solution for America’s job crisis.
10. Company: H.Bloom (H.Bloom is a subscription service for flowers. It delivers to hotels and apartments, as well as to husbands who need help remembering anniversaries.)
Founders: Brian Burkhart & Sonu Panda
Location: New York, NY
Funding: $8 million to date with $4.7 million from Battery Ventures this summer.
Why it’s innovative: We aren’t fans of many e-commerce subscription companies, but we do see a lot of value in H.Bloom. Flowers die quickly and big venues like hotels and apartment buildings constantly need to have a fresh supply.
H.Bloom is also working on flower subscriptions for the every day person, like forgetful husbands who can type in special dates and have flowers sent automatically to their wives.
We hear the company wants to become vertically integrated, which gives it a lot of room to disrupt the $32 billion flower industry.
DwoWen Chang