Three start-ups to watch in Y Combinator’s latest batch – StartupSmart
Start-up incubator Y Combinator has held its 14th demo day for 65 start-ups, with many start-ups fielding investment offers following their presentations.
Considered one of the most prestigious incubators in the United States, the Y Combinator concept centers on a three-month program that culminates in a demo day.
Start-ups from around the world move to the US to participate in the program, during which time Y Combinator helps them to develop their start-up idea and refine their pitch.
The latest batch of 65 start-ups is the biggest batch to date. According to Y Combinator founder Paul Graham, many of them raised some funding for their seed rounds before the demo day.
Here are three of the standouts:
1. Shoptiques
Based in New York, Shoptiques aggregates small fashion boutiques online, and makes their unique products available to shoppers.
It opens up a new line of business for shops that do not have an online sales component.
Shoptiques takes photos of the products for the boutiques and sends an email, with prepaid packing slips, to the boutiques. It takes a cut of transactions on its site.
The company was founded by Olga Vidisheva, who researched the needs of these boutiques while completing her MBA at Harvard.
She was accepted to Y Combinator as a single, non-technical founder and was then matched with co-founders Dan and Jeff Morin, who had previously gone through Y Combinator.
2. 42Floors
42Floors provides commercial real estate search, focusing on the smaller leases that are less than 5000 square feet.
According to the company, that market is 80% of total leases and is an area that larger real estate companies don’t go after. The listings are much more detailed than what typical commercial real estate sites provide.
42Floors, which is already live in San Francisco, provides listings to agents free of charge and takes a fee on transactions. The founders previously started Y Combinator company Flightcaster.
3. 99dresses
Australian start-up 99dresses ran into financial woes earlier this year, but that hasn’t stopped founder Nikki Durkin from redeveloping her idea as a Y Combinator participant.
99dresses is an infinite wardrobe for women. Using a virtual currency, women around the world can trade clothing and accessories.
It won the Scobleizer Demo of the Day award, while 500 Startups’ George Kellerman named the company in his top 10. The start-up has also received investment from some US investors.
“The last three months in Mountain View… have been a tremendous experience for myself and the talented team we’ve assembled,” Durkin said in a statement.
“We’ve been able to hone in on our offering to women all around the world, perfect our business model and start marketing 99dresses.com.”