Starry is making a more powerful wi-fi for your house.
What is it: Launched in January by the former CEO of Aereo, Chet Kanojia, Starry will sell wireless equipment that will deliver super-charged internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second. That's fast enough to download a two-hour movie in a just a few seconds. Starry makes a receiver called the Starry Point that hangs out your window like an antenna. You can hook up your own wireless receiver or use its own Starry Station, a $350 device that can tell you how fast your internet is performing right from its screen.
Funding: Unknown, backed by FirstMark Capital, Tiger Global, IAC, KKR, HLVP and Quantum Strategic Partners
Website: https://starry.com/
Juicero wants to make the freshest juice you've ever tasted.
What is it: Simply described as the "Keurig for Juice", the three-year-old startup finally launched out of stealth in February. The product is a smart, Wi-Fi connected kitchen appliance that presses pouches the size of IV bags into tasty concoctions of fresh fruits and veggies. There's also no preparation, mess, or cleanup. You simply slip in the pouch, press a button, and out pours your juice. It starts at $699, a price tag that has drawn criticism about the young startup, but its investors believe the price will move lower as the company matures.
Funding: More than $100 million from Campbell Soup, GV (Google Ventures), Artis Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins, with additional funding from Two Sigma Ventures, First Beverage Group, Acre Ventures, Double Bottom Line Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Vast Ventures among others.
Website: https://www.juicero.com/
Cheddar is betting it can be the new CNBC for millennials.
What is it: Jon Steinberg, former president of BuzzFeed and CEO of Daily Mail US, founded Cheddar to present business news with a twist for millennials. Now behind a paywall, the company has short clips of its interviews for free but is hoping business-savvy 20-something will pay to have news tailored to their interests.
Funding: $3.1 million from Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew, Homebrew, and Vivi Nevo
Website: http://www.cheddar.com/
Grail wants to develop a test for cancer at the earliest possible stage.
What is it: Illumina, the maker of DNA-sequencing technology, teamed up with a group of Silicon Valley investors to develop a blood test for any kind of cancer at an earlier stage than previously possible. Using Illumina's technology, a new company called Grail will look for a way to measure circulating nucleic acids (CNAs) - bits of DNA that circulate in the blood outside blood cells. While most of our DNA is inside our cells, scientists use CNAs as a noninvasive way to test for cancer and other signs of disease. Its ambitious mission: develop a universal cancer-screening test.
Funding: $100 million from investors, including Arch Venture Partners, Bezos Expeditions, Bill Gates, and Sutter Hill Ventures. Illumina remains majority shareholder
Website: http://www.grailbio.com/
Juno wants to be a driver-friendly alternative to Uber.
What is it: The "Anti-Uber startup" Juno was founded by Talmon Marco, an entrepreneur who made a fortune when Viber, the messaging app he founded, sold to Rakuten for $900 million. Basically, Juno says that it's much friendlier to drivers than Uber and Lyft — it takes a smaller share of the profit, leaving more to drivers. So far, it's only in beta in New York City so only a small group of people have tried it.
Funding: Reportedly raising a $30 million round
Website: https://www.gojuno.com/
Otto's self-driving trucks could revolutionize the industry.
What is it: Self-driving trucks might hit the streets before self-driving cars. A team made up of former employees hailing from Google, Apple, and Tesla is developing sensors and software to retrofit trucks into autonomous fleets. Otto's kits can turn any "dumb" truck built after 2013 into a "smart" driverless vehicle - for a ticket price of $30,00o, according to Wired.
Funding: Unknown
Website: http://ot.to/
Simple Habit wants to help stressed-out millennials.
What is it: After burning out after selling her first startup, Yunha Kim wants to help other over-worked millennials de-stress through the one thing that worked for her: meditation. Simple Habit isn't an app that's all about chakras or sitting in the dark for 30 minutes to meditate. Its five-minute sessions are for young professionals on the go, the busy and skeptical people like Kim who thought meditation would never work for them. Apple has already featured Simple Habit as one of its "New Apps We Love" in May.
Funding: Unknown
Website: http://www.simplehabitapp.com/
Comparably can show you how much you're being paid compared to your peers.
What is it: Most people want to know if they're being paid fairly, but don't know how to find out. Comparably, a new Glassdoor-style competitor, brings transparency to both pay and culture in the workplace. Workers can anonymously report their salary, experience level, company size, location, and other factors. In return, the site shows you where you rank compared your peers with the same position and experience level.
Funding: $6.5 million from lead investor Crosslink Capital and included investment from Upfront Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Alpha Edison, Crosscut Ventures, Ludlow Ventures, Cornerstone OnDemand, 500Startups, Pritzker Group, Rincon Venture Partners, Accelerator Ventures, BAM Ventures and David Sacks.
Website: https://www.comparably.com/
Zipline's drones parachute blood and medicine to remote Rwandan cities.
What is it: For the last five years, the Zipline team has been secretly working on its life-saving mission. In April, the company revealed its project to the world: a drone that could deliver up to 3 pounds of blood or medicine. And it's not just an idea — the company is scheduled to start making drops to health clinics in Rwanda in July in partnership with the government.
Funding: $18 million from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, and others
Website: http://flyzipline.com/product/
Nanit is a super-powered baby monitor.
What is it: Computer vision and parenting are normally two things that don't go together, but Nanit is a new smart baby camera that combines the two. The camera watches your baby sleep, giving you not only an eye into the crib but also data about how your baby sleeps. It tracks things like how long it takes your infant to fall back asleep or a heat map of where they love to sleep in the crib.
Funding: $6.6 million from Upfront Ventures as well as RRE, 645 Ventures, Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Flex, and Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures.
Website: https://www.nanit.com/
Truebill wants to stop you from getting ripped off on subscriptions.
What is it: After realizing he was paying $40 a month for an unwanted Gogo internet subscription, Yahya Mokhtarzada decided to make sure no one else got ripped off by a sneaky subscription again. As people move toward having more and more subscriptions (Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, your gym) you should be well aware which ones you're signed up for. His solution was Truebill, a startup that scans your monthly credit card bills and then helps you cancel the subscriptions you don't want.
Funding: $350,000 from Y Combinator, Facebook's David Marcus, and others
Website: https://www.truebill.com/
Winnie wants to be the Yelp for parents.
What is it: Yelp is great for finding good restaurants or coffee shops, but a list of the best coffee spots changes if your new priority is finding somewhere that's stroller-friendly. Part Yelp, part Foursquare, Winnie helps parents find locations that meet their needs — whether that's a changing table in the restroom or just a quiet area to nurse — and lets them share the story of their visit when they check into the spot.
Funding: Small "pre-seed" amount
Website: https://winnielabs.com/
Ritual is making a better vitamin.
What is it: There's plenty of vitamins out there, but Katerina Schneider realized after taking a closer look that too many of them have out-dated formulations. For example, most people get enough Vitamin C in their diets that it's not necessary to always have, Schneider told Tech Crunch. Instead, her new startup, Ritual, sources its ingredients from different parts of the world and puts together the best blend of only what's necessary.
Funding: $1.3 million from Upfront Ventures, FF Angel, Rivet Ventures, and Troy Carter
Website: http://ritual.com/
Recharge lets you rent hotel rooms by the minute for whenever you need a rest.
What is it: Not every office comes with a nap pod, so a four-person San Francisco startup, Recharge, is giving people the chance to find some quiet during the day. By partnering with hotels, the startup charges people $0.66 per minute or $40 for an hour to get a private room so you can nap, take a shower after a run, or just find a quiet place when you need a break. And while there have been some questions about whether it would just be used for hookers or pre-game ragers, the startup has a built in rating system to make sure those types of guests stay out of the app.
Funding: $2.3 million from Binary Capital and including Floodgate, entrepreneur Rick Marini, Eniac VC, Expansion VC, entrepreneur-investor Scott Banister and early Google engineer Harry Cheung
Website: https://recharge.co/
Lola is a new kind of a travel agent.
What is it: Founded by Paul English, one of the cofounders of Kayak, Lola is lifting the travel agent industry into the 21st century. Lola works as a chat app to connects travelers to a team of travel consultants who can take care of every step of the planning process. The app utilizes a combination of AI technology and an experienced staff to provide travelers with an alternative to many of the DIY travel websites out there today.
Funding: $20 million from investors including General Catalyst and Accel Partners
Website: https://www.lolatravel.com/
Pearl will help turn your "dumb car" into a cutting-edge model.
What is it: Launched out of stealth with dozens of ex-Apple engineers, Pearl is making products that can turn your old car into a high-tech model. Its first product is a license plate frame that connects to your phone, giving you a back-up camera if your car doesn't come with one. It's a pricey $500 to start, but the company says that the frame will improve over time and do a lot more than just let you see what's behind you when backing up.
Funding: $50 million
Website: https://pearlauto.com/
KnuEdge wants to one up Google and Intel.
What is it: KnuEdge should barely be considered a startup. Compared to the relative youth of the companies on our list, KnuEdge has been around for the last 10 years — spending the entire time in top secret stealth mode. In June, former NASA administrator Dan Goldin reemerged to reveal what he has been working on for the past decade: KnuEdge, a top-secret startup based in San Diego, with a mission to one-up Google, AMD, and Intel with the "fundamental invention" of the next-generation computer processor.
Funding: $100 million from unknown investors
Website: https://www.knuedge.com/
