AlwaysOn Summit highlights

July 31, 1:37 AMTechie to Trendy ExaminerAsa Murphy

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Techie to Trendy Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

The AlwaysOn Summit kicked off Tuesday this week at the Stanford Campus in Palo Alto, CA. The two-and-a-half-day event focused on promoting the most innovative new technology companies and investment opportunities.

CEOs of the selected companies were given close to six minutes to pitch their companies to investors and the audience, during the CEO Showcase sessions. Here are the highlights from Wednesday's CEO presentations, based on purely subjective preferences, and not influenced by any monetary, promotional or other methods.

1. Modiv Media has found a way to reach grocery store shoppers at the point where they are more likely to make a purchase decision: the store isle. The company uses a handheld scanner called ScanIt, which is manufactured by Motorola. ScanIt allow shoppers to scan items as they add them into their shopping baskets, check out automatically and receive coupons from advertisers.
2. Nanosys is a company which says the promise of nanotechnology is finally being realized. The company architects material which find applications in memory storage and energy storage. There is a seemingly unlimited amount of future applications for nanotechnology, a field which was much touted a decade ago, but has still not gone mainstream.
3. Visuvi: a powerful visual search engine by a one-year-old company, which signed up its first commercial customer in March of this year. CEO Christopher Boone says the company’s image retrieval technology will find applications in medical imaging, auto-tagging, and e-commerce for commercial products. The medical applications alone sound very promising in helping doctors identify and diagnose diseases such as cancer.
4. Snap Group, a Helsinki-based company launched by a Nordic entrepreneurial trio. The company’s flagship product, Sumo Paint, lets users manipulate and edit images online. Sumo Paint is free to use to anyone with internet access. CEO Lauri Koutaniemi said yesterday that his company is now lauching a paid version of the software, called Sumo Pro.
5. Select2gether  is a company which brings a social aspect to online shopping. According to CEO Jeany Stein, the company’s platform has 2.3 million members, and is currently partnering with large retailers like Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Amazon.com and Yoox.com. Select2gether says their platform has very high shopping conversion rates, and the average visitor spends approximately 23 minutes on their site.