NEW YORK, June 12, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Wall Street Journal announced today the 24 startups chosen by Wall Street Journal editors to participate in 'WSJ Startup of the Year,' an episodic video documentary for WSJ Live, the Journal's online video platform. Premiering June 24, the series matches the 24 startups with global business leaders and influencers, and tracks their progress from startup to success over the course of five months. In conjunction with announcing the 24 startups, the Journal has also unveiled the documentary's sizzle reel and will host a panel discussion on entrepreneurship at the Northside Festival in Brooklyn tomorrow, June 13.
Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, Steve Case, Chairman of the Case Foundation, Chairman of Startup America and co-founder and former CEO of AOL, and Tory Burch, CEO and Designer of Tory Burch LLC, are among the global business leaders participating in WSJ Startup of the Year.
Ranging from the fields of health care and philanthropy to energy and education, the 24 companies were chosen from more than 500 applications. Each startup is based in the U.S., has a prototype or proof of concept in place, and less than $10 million in annual revenue. A quick look at the selected companies condensed from their own words:
- Asius Technologies: A new way to deliver sound using patented, inflatable in-ear technology that delivers a richer sound at one-quarter of the volume. asiustechnologies.com
- Brain Sentry: Targeting the more than seven million youth in the U.S. who play football, lacrosse and hockey, Brain Sentry has developed a helmet-mounted impact sensor that helps identify players that need to be assessed for concussion - helping prevent further injury or death. brainsentry.com
- Brewla: With a focus on consumer health, Brewla aims to reinvent frozen food with items derived from brewed processes. Their current product line, Brewla Bars, are all-natural ice pops with no more than 70 calories, less sugar than an apple, and naturally enhanced with vitamins and minerals. brewlabars.com
- Chute: Helps brands, publishers and agencies leverage real-time and user-generated visual content from photo-sharing tools like Instagram and Flickr. getchute.com
- Gamemaster: Creates a seamless transition between the digital and analog worlds by interactively connecting people through mobile real-life games to be played in real-time. gamemaster-inc.com
- Infina Connect Healthcare Systems: Automates manual coordination processes, enabling medical practices to send, receive and track patient referrals. Since inception, the company has served more than 4,500 physician users in 1,500 clinics in North Carolina. infinaconnect.com
- Kairos: Brings facial recognition to businesses via Kairos ID, helping retailers identify and better serve loyalty customers in-store. kairos.io
- Kenai Sports: Sportswear brand that makes clothing out of trash, including plastic bottles, cell phone cases, keyboards and organic waste, from landfills across the country. kenaisports.com
- Light Point Security: Protects enterprises from web-based malware by allowing employees to browse the web from a virtual machine in the cloud. lightpointsecurity.com
- LiveSchool: Provides schools nationwide with a system for tracking and improving school culture via an app to track behavior and other key classroom management data. whyliveschool.com
- The Muse: A career platform that helps people figure out what they want to do with their lives – and then how to get there – by surfacing job listings, career content and rich media profiles from a spectrum of retail, tech and media companies. themuse.com
- MyCityWay: A multi-national startup pioneering a new generation of self-learning, personalized mobile interfaces and apps to guide residents and visitors through their daily experiences. mycityway.com
- NanoSatisfi: Grounded by the premise that access to space should be simple and widespread, the company enables students and educators to run their own applications, games and experiments onboard a satellite. nanosatisfi.com
- PlanetReuse Marketplace: With a mission to help reduce the amount of landfill waste in the U.S. from 40% to 30% by 2020, PlanetReuse Marketplace powered by InvenQuery makes reclaimed material easier to procure to save money, serve LEED efforts and sustain the planet. marketplace.planetreuse.com
- Radiate Athletics: A sports apparel brand designed to inspire athletes to achieve optimal performance levels by showing body temperature increases during exercise through color changes in the apparel itself. radiateathletics.com
- Rebellion Photonics: Builds special chemical imaging cameras that can spot explosive gas leaks on rigs and refineries. rebellionphotonics.com
- Snaps!: Allows users to add virtual content or "snaps" to new or existing photos to connect brands and consumers more easily. snapsapp.com
- Speek: Makes simple, free and visual conference calls by creating an easy-to-remember personal link (i.e., speek.com/YourName) for calls rather than using a traditional phone number and PIN. speek.com
- SwipeSense: Aims to save 100,000 lives lost every year due to hospital-acquired infections by providing hospital staff with a portable, trackable hand sanitation device that dispenses alcohol gel with the swipe of a hand while transmitting usage data wirelessly to a web-based application. swipesense.com
- Syntellia: Revolutionizes typing on smartphones by allowing users to type on the familiar keyboard layout without needing to look at the screen. It does this through patent-pending, predictive text technology initially created for the blind. syntellia.com
- Trendalytics: A platform that helps brands and retailers understand which merchandise trends resonate with consumers in the apparel and accessories industry by monitoring over a billion online signals and leveraging proprietary algorithms to identify patterns in online search behavior and consumer engagement. trendalytics.co
- Troop ID: Digital identification technology that allows members of the military community to securely prove military service online in order to claim exclusive benefits from retailers. troopid.com
- WeDidIt: An online and mobile platform for nonprofit fundraising that provides organizations the tools they need to develop and launch engaging crowdfunding campaigns. wedid.it
- 'ZinePak: Creates small-format entertainment magazines called 'ZinePaks for celebrities, musicians and brands. zinepak.com
Dovetailing with the launch and as part of the Northside Festival, a multi-day event focused on technology, music and film, the Journal is hosting a panel focused on entrepreneurship tomorrow, June 13, in the Wythe Hotel's private screening room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Moderated by Vanessa O'Connell (@VanessaOConnell), the Journal's entrepreneurship editor and creator of The Accelerators blog, the panel features three Startup of the Year mentors: Jeff Pulver, co-founder of Vonage, David Tisch, managing partner at Box Group and co-founder of TechStars NYC, and Nancy Lublin, CEO of Do Something Inc.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the exclusive sponsor of the five-month project. Launched in 2012, NYSE's Big Startup initiative is a nationwide jobs-growth program designed to connect young companies and entrepreneurs with corporate America.
NYSE is not involved in the creation of the content, which is solely the responsibility of The Wall Street Journal news department.
WSJ Startup of the Year is produced in conjunction with New York-based production company Ish Entertainment.
To watch WSJ Startup of the Year's sizzle reel, please visit: wsj.com/startupoftheyear
About The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is America's largest newspaper by total average circulation with more than 2.3 million subscribers and 36 million global digital visitors per month. In recent years, The Journal has expanded its core content offering to include coverage of the arts, culture, lifestyle, sports, and personal health, building on its heritage as the leading source of business and financial news. Published by Dow Jones, one of the world's largest news gathering operations with 2,000 journalists in more than 50 countries, the Wall Street Journal now spans 12 editions in nine languages, engaging readers across newspapers, websites, magazines, social media, and video. The Journal holds 35 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism.
