8th Founder Showcase (Q4 2011)

Keynote Speaker

Michael Arrington, General Partner at CrunchFund, Founder of TechCrunch, and Blogger at UNCRUNCHED.com

Michael Arrington is a General Partner at CrunchFund, a recently launched early stage VC firm with $20 million in backing. He is also the Founder of TechCrunch, a blog covering startups and technology news that he sold to Aol in 2010. A serial entrepreneur, Michael previously cofounded Achex, and founded Zip.ca and Pool.com. In 2008, Time Magazine named him as one of the world’s 100 most influential people. He now blogs at UNCRUNCHED.com.

Founder Showcase Champion

Neo is an online lender that taps financial and social data to better evaluate creditworthiness and provide more affordable car loans. While current car loans rely solely on credit scores, Neo uses a more comprehensive approach to evaluate loan affordability. This enables better rates and significant savings over traditional loan sources – specifically the 84mm Gen Y consumers with limited or no credit history (40% of the car buying population).

Runner-Up

I-DISPO is the largest community for sharing and booking appointments online. This Paris-based startup also recently secured a partnership with Bing in France to power all restaurant reservations directly on the search results page. At the event they also announced their entry into the U.S. market.

Demo Table Winner

Whit.li uses context-based pattern matching to enable companies to organize users based on compatibility to create a faster, more personalized online experience.



Finalists

  • Be Scrappy: an online marketplace that connects people who need tools for home improvement and do-it-yourself projects with lenders that have them. The startup just launched with four tool rental locations in San Francisco and will soon enable peer-to-peer rentals.
  • Client Magnet: an online service that helps SMBs drive retention by analyzing their customers and then recommending a marketing strategy based on hundreds of ready to run print, web and email campaigns.
  • Explorence: Explorence makes outdoor video games, turning your phone into a Wii and you into the controller.
  • Gushcloud: a social media platform where users get rewarded for promoting the brands they like, and companies can reach their target audience with any budget.
  • Pllop: an About.me for creative expression. It allows you to easily create touch-enabled micro-sites that work great on both tablets and desktops.
  • Say Mmm: Say Mmm makes meal planning and grocery shopping simple with a set of online tools that do the work for you. The company’s latest feature will automatically convert any recipe or recipe URL into an organized grocery list with nutritional information.
  • Takeoff: an online tool that makes it easy to collaborate during video production. It’s like Basecamp, but for video.
  • Touchbase: a private family network that builds trust by enabling sharing of things like location and status, without tracking a child’s every move.