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Technological innovation never stops. It can’t. There are always problems to solve and markets to create, as well as an endless pool of entrepreneurs willing to do both. Last year we saw startups spring up that allowed people to control gadgets with hand gestures like they were Tom Cruise in Minority Report. Others launched with hopes of changing the health care system. And we saw some get acquired for sums larger than we could fathom. So what about this year? Which startups will push the culture forward a bit? No one can know for sure, but if we had to put our money on a few, here are 10 of the startups we would bet on in 2014.
First Look Media
Year Founded: 2013
Founded By: Pierre Omidyar, Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Laura Poitras
The Internet is not short on news startups that aim to change the game. It seems one pops up every year that promises to give people news in a way they always wanted but never knew they missed. A lot of them fail. But we’re going to keep a close eye on the one eBay founder Pierre Omidyar is forming with former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, and Laura Poitras. We’re not sure exactly what their angle is, but whatever it is should make a lot of noise once launched.
Year Founded: 2013
Founded By: RockLive
It’s no coincidence that “selfie” was crowned Word of the Year by the Oxford Dictionary and an app that only allows for selfies came out in the same year. If one thing is clear, it’s that people love selfies. Shots of Me is a social network that only lets people upload photos taken using the front-facing camera on their smartphone. It may seem like a ridiculous idea, but Justin Bieber and Floyd Mayweather think it’s awesome enough to put their own money behind it.
Year Founded: 2012
Founded By: Alexandra Chong
You should pay attention to the Lulu app because if you’re on Facebook you’re probably on it. The app lets women rate men in a number of different categories and add hashtags to a guy’s profile, which in turn creates a score. Will it catch on? Who knows, but the company secured $2.5 million in funding and signed an eight-year lease on some office space in Chelsea, N.Y. We’re sure there will be some copycat apps popping up in no time.
Year Founded: 2011
Founded By: Patrick Collison, John Collison
There are a number of companies that are looking to give PayPal a run for its money. One of the most promising is the product of two Irish brothers who want to help web entrepreneurs get paid for their work. The two have been working on it since John came stateside to attend Harvard in 2009. In the three years since it’s been available to the public, Stripe has processed billions in transactions for companies big and small.
Year Founded: 2013
Founded By: Joshua Kushner
Launch in December, Oscar is hoping to do what a number of health care companies couldn’t: make health care completely transparent. Founded by the head of Thrive Capital, which has invested in a number of startups including Instagram and MakerBot, Oscar will go head-to-head against longtime insurance providers, but will allow subscribers to easily view charges and bills. It’s a very interesting time for the health care industry, and Oscar is proving to be one of the most interesting companies in the game.
Year Founded: 2012
Founded By: Kristoph Matthews
Now that the world is comfortable with the cloud storage for music, movies, photos, and documents, this San Francisco-based company wants to expand the idea to physical goods. If you’re moving and have a bunch of stuff that you don’t want to toss but don’t want to bring to your new spot, you can call Boxbee, which will then bring boxes to your house. Once you fill them up, you schedule a pickup time. Boxbee then comes, grabs your boxes and securely stores them away for you. Once stored away you can manage the boxes online and arrange to retrieve the ones you need. For those living in a city without a car, this is a godsend.
Year Founded: 2012
Founded By: Kanishk Parashar
Despite our best efforts, most of us have more than one credit card. And while it’s not a big hassle to pull out the one we wish to use at the register, wouldn’t it be much easier if they were all in once convenient place? That’s the thought behind Coin. The brainchild of engineer and founder Kanishk Parashar, Coin is a card that is as thin and small as a regular credit card, but one that can be programmed to support up to eight credit, debit, or gift cards. The first model is set to ship this summer.
Year Founded: 2012
Founded By: Chet Kanojia
If the criterion for how good a startup is how much it disrupts the market it’s entering, then Aereo is head and shoulders above everything else on this list. The New York-based startup allows subscribers to stream live broadcast TV or record the live broadcasts for later viewing. This is made possible by charging users to lease an antenna that broadcasts the television signal to their device. Not everyone is happy. In March of 2012, a group of network broadcasters sued the company for copyright infringement. A few months later a judge ruled in favor of Aereo. Some stations, like News Corp’s FOX, threatened to pull its station from the air and charge a subscription fee for it if Aereo was allowed to continue doing business. 2014 should be an interesting one for the company as it looks to expand to 22 cities in the U.S.
Year Founded: 2010
Founded By: Mark Gilbreath
It was only a matter of time before a company came along and made an Airbnb for office space. LiquidSpace did just that. If you’re a budding entrepreneur with a small staff and don’t want to commandeer three tables at a local coffee shop, use the service to book on of its 2,000 workspaces located in over 250 U.S. cities. In 2013, LiquidSpace raised $1.3 million (bringing total funding up to $12.385 million) to help keep it afloat. We’re sure 2014 will be even bigger and better for the San Francisco-based company.
Year Founded: 2013
Founded By: Chieh Huang, William Fong, Christopher Cheung, Jared Yaman
There are countless websites available that make it so you never have to physically enter a grocery store. But if you want to shop in bulk the way club retailers like Costco, BJ’s, or Sam’s Club allows you to, then you still need to leave your home. Not anymore. A new service called Boxed acts as your digital wholesale superstore, letting you cop enough toilet paper or Nutella at heavy discounts to last you until 2015. Currently only available in a handful of cities across the U.S. (most of which are on the east coast), the service only works through iOS and Android apps (there’s no web-based storefront), and offers free shipping on a lot of orders.
