More than a dozen startups were awarded on Saturday as “most promising” startups at the 2016 Silicon Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (SVIEF) in Beijing.
Here, we will introduce to you ten startups that caught our eye: SpaceVR, FreeSkies, VideoStitch, Midas Touch Lab, OSVehicle, 3DiVi, Bluejay, Kinema Systems, Silk Labs, and Paragon One.
What if you want to explore the universe like an astronaut? Would you read books to imagine how amazing Space would be, or just satisfy yourself with a movie? SpaceVR says you deserve a better experience, an immersive VR experience, with their technology.
Founded in January 2015, the startup helps users experience space firsthand like an astronaut from any mobile, desktop or VR device.
Their 360 degree camera satellites with two 4K sensors and wide field-of-view lenses will feed footage from low Earth orbit back to Earth, so that users can have a more immersive VR experience. Users will also be able to enjoy high-resolution views of phenomena like lightning storms and the aurora borealis. It costs users USD 30 per year.
Their Overview 1 satellite is scheduled to launch from in 2017.
Although the professional services network PwC says that the global drone market may worth USD 127 billion, aerial data collection at present still faces obstacles like overhead costs and a complex regulatory environment.
FreeSkies is making high-quality aerial imaging simple and accessible, by developing software for consumer drones to be able to be used in an access economy based business model. It was founded in June 2015.
Its CoPilot app allows owners of DJI Phantom 3 and Inspire 1 to visualize and plan flight paths in 3D maps.
This French startup offers video-editing software solutions, and is known for its 360 degree VR video production software suite. They can use multiple action cameras to output a live 3D video feed with ambisonic sound, which is perfect for VR headsets. Their software can help both professionals and private enthusiasts to stitch videos together.
Early this April, VideoStitch launched Orah 4i, an all-in-one 4K camera designed for high quality live streaming to online video platforms and VR headsets. Additionally, the company has developed a solution that streams 4K resolution live VR video to headsets all with the push of a button.
VideoStitch currently covers 62 countries, serving customers that range from small entertainment production houses to Fortune 500 companies.
Founded 2014, this VR and game technology company is building a physics engine and technology platform that lets players touch and interact with characters in VR.
Through combining technologies of physics simulation, biomechanical engineering, robotics and artificial intelligence, Midas Touch Lab have created life-like characters and jitter-free, high performance mechanical simulations of joints and motors.
Among Midas products are BattleRig and Pet Park. Midas claims that these are a first: BattleRig, the first 100% physically simulated robot building and combat game in VR, Pet Park, the first 100% physically simulated VR petting game respectively.
Partners of the company are mostly content providers for VR. They include internet giant Tencent and video-streaming site Youku. The company estimates a revenue of USD 103.5 million in 2018.
While open source software has enabled the proliferation of web applications, this startup aims to democratize mobility by enabling businesses to design, prototype, build, and market custom electric vehicles as well as transportation services.
OSVehicle builds a set of basic, open, customizable and modular hardware platforms for electric vehicles, with its ecosystem covering designing, manufacturing, servicing and recycling.
With requests from over 80 countries and hundreds of projects having been started on its open platform, OSVehicle envisions itself extending to different categories of vehicles, including two and three-wheelers.
Products that its customers have developed include an airdrop rescue vehicle, a beach buggy, and a connected car featuring a tablet. 13 working vehicles have been manufactured and sold via the platform up till now, and the OSVehicle sees opportunities for its current 13 customers to make a total of USD 300 million.
“OK, my head is in mobile VR, but where is my body?” If you’re asking this, 3DiVi may be here to answer just that.
This 3D intelligence company develops 3D computer vision solutions for applications in the new generation of gaming platforms, digital signage, and VR. Their main product is VicoVR, the world’s first full body tracking sensor for mobile VR. The sensor is a Bluetooth accessory that offers users a full-body VR experience with no wearable sensors or wires. Its tracking capability can be brought to mobile VR headsets, and it supports both Android and iOS system.
Other products or services of 3DiVi include NUITRACK, a 3D skeletal tracking and face and gesture recognition middleware for Android, and Seemetrix, an audience analytics service that helps identify a person’s age, gender and average attention time.
The company has brought in revenue of USD 93,000 on 400 pre-orders, and over 30 engineering samples have been shipped worldwide. It plans to start mass production in Shenzhen in 4Q 2016.
Bluejay is a mobile platform for doctors and physical therapists to engage patients in rehabilitation or physical therapy. It provides personalized prescriptions and offers over 3,500 professional rehab videos for users.
Their video contents cover neural rehab, pediatric rehab, and sports medicine.
By narrowing down the selection of exercise videos on the basis of individual conditions, the app will schedule a time and frequency for doing the exercises. Users can also consult their therapists via multimedia should any questions come up.
The company is targeting rehab markets of USD 20 billion in the US and USD three billion in China, and has launched in both countries.
Kinema Systems creates robotic manipulation solutions for industrial problems, and their initial product, Kinema Pick, is the first step towards a complete integrated solution for what has often been called the Holy Grail problem of industrial robotics – random picking.
Kinema Pick is a software solution for robotic depalletizing. It is self-training and self-calibrating with no robot training for any type of box or workcell required, thanks to its integration of 3D sensing and advanced motion planning. Additionally, it is designed for depalletization of multi stock keeping units (SKU), single SKU and random pallets, and is easy to configure using a graphical user interface.
The company sees Kinema Pick as a good fit for e-commerce, warehousing, logistics and distribution, among other things. It is noteworthy that, though not using Kinema Pick, Chinese e-commerce company JD.com is working on robotizing its warehouses, and plans to replace all its human force with robots in a few years, according to the BBC.
“The Internet of Things (IoT) is solved. Welcome to the Intelligence of Things,” says Silk Labs, a startup that was founded in last June.
The company focuses on creating thoughtful experiences with connected devices by enabling them to understand, respond to, and adapt to daily human needs, bringing devices into a responsive age by allowing users to ask “Is my baby well?” instead of “Can I see a video of my baby?” They add deep learning and intelligence to cameras, hubs, speakers and other appliances.
By making what they call an “Android” for IoT”, Silk Labs provides the software and service building blocks that brands and manufacturers can use to build a wide range of intelligent IoT devices.
Silk Labs sees itself entering a market of USD 42 billion, and it is aiming for Series A funding in Q4 2016.
Paragon One is an online training platform where American professionals help students get jobs with multinational firms. It provides an interactive combination of content, data, and people via an online platform service, and the site’s content includes a Q&A forum, a video advice library, and several blended learning online courses. Aside from this, its data section includes over 100 soft skills assessments.
Their professional network helps customers in career discovery, personal branding, and interview rehearsal, while advisors provide one-on-one or group advisory services and utilize their network of industry professionals to further advise their clients.
The company raised USD two million in seed funding, with angel investors including ex-CTO of Tencent and managing directors from Morgan Stanley.
(Top photo from www.dezeen.com)