The document profiles several emerging technology companies to watch in 2014. It describes companies developing social commerce platforms like Poshmark, 3D printed meat like Modern Meadow, educational tablets like Amplify, ridesharing apps like Lyft, digital health tools like Asthmapolis, travel recommendation services like Peek, anti-counterfeiting tags like TruTag, legal document processing software like Relativity, digital doctor-patient apps like Augmedix, eBook subscription services like Oyster, mobile ECG devices like AliveCor, and classroom learning analytics like Learning Catalytics. The profiles highlight how these companies are innovating in their respective industries.
Companies to watch in 2014 view from silicon valley - capgemini consulting - digital transformation
1. Companies to Watch in 2014:
View from Silicon Valley
Sergi Herrero, CEO,
L’Atelier BNP Paribas USA
2. According to Vocus, by 2015, 50% of web
sales will occur via social media. Social
commerce may bring $30 billion every year
by 2015. Already, about 20% of online
shoppers say they prefer to buy products
through the Facebook page of a brand than
its website.
Poshmark is a mobile application that works
like a social network and allows you to buy
and sell fashion. Thanks to a Pinterest-like
Each year, 300 million tons of meat
is consumed worldwide. By 2050,
this amount will probably reach 500
million tons. Meat is among the most
environmentally-draining resources and
industrial farming has been criticized for
its consequences on food security, the
environment and the well-being of the
animals.
Modern Meadow has invented a
tissue engineering technique based on
Poshmark:Shop from the closets
of women all over the world
Modern Meadow:Now you can 3D
print your meat
interface, women all over the world are
able to put their closets online and thus
buy and sell their clothes. Poshmark
allows users to get inspired, choose a
style mate whom they can follow and
connect to new inspiring style icons
when they want. Poshmark is different
from other e-commerce platforms. The
Poshmark Community uploads about
$1 million worth of inventory every day,
providing users with a unique experience.
bioprinting. They are now applying this 3D
printing technology to culture leather and
meat, suppressing the need for animals.
Their approach includes cell culture,
biofabrication and bioreactors. Modern
Meadow now works in collaboration with
artists, designers and chefs to be able to
make the highest quality meat and leather.
As many as 81% of American teachers
believe tablets enhance learning.
However, access to such tools is fairly
unequal and disparities exist between
students coming from higher and lower
income families. Approximately 41% of
teachers consider those disparities to
result in learning gaps between students.
Among other things, the price of tablets is
a serious concern.
Amplify - a product from News
Corporation’s education unit - is a
Amplify:A tablet to monitor
K-12 classrooms
10-inch Android tablet designed to bring
connectivity to the classroom and to
enable blended learning. It is preloaded
with educational material for students,
such as lessons, exercises and Khan
Academy videos. With the tablet, the
teacher can monitor students’ devices,
unlock and lock specific apps and
run short tests to check if students
understood the lesson. Amplify, which
can be used for blended learning, costs
$299 and can be used by an entire school
or district for a more homogeneous
learning experience.
Companies to Watch in 2014: View from Silicon Valley
3. In 2012, 17 million cars were sold in the
U.S. This number is expected to reach
the 20 million mark by 2019. A growing
number of people are buying cars each
year and Americans have been estimated
to drive nearly 3 trillion miles annually.
However, not all of these cars are
filled to their capacity and this impacts
transportation.
Lyft is an app launched in 2012 that allows
its users to do carpooling within cities for
Lyft:Drive and share your car with
people around you
short distances, similar to taxi rides. Lyft
cars wear pink moustaches and can be
localized through a map available with the
application. So if you don’t want to pay as
much as a taxi or cannot find one, just ask
for a Lyft ride!
Companies to Watch in 2014: View from Silicon Valley
According to the Center for Disease
Control around 26 million people suffer
from asthma in the USA. Every year, the
USA spends $50 billion on medical costs.
Another $6 billion can be added to this
amount due to indirect costs resulting
from missed days of work and school.
A large part of these expenses are due
to insufficient use or misuse of asthma
inhalers.
Asthmapolis has developed a technology
that can help asthma patients
In 2012, people all over world took 6.8
billion trips. According to the ITB World
Travel Trends Report, Domestic Travel was
to grow by 2% reaching 5.77 billion trips,
while international travel was expected to
increase by 4% to 1.03 billion trips. Of all
these trips, 54% were booked over the
Internet while travel agencies accounted
for 24% of these reservations.
Peek has transformed this industry to give
it a more local and social flavor. When
people book a trip their first concern is
Asthmapolis:Track asthma symptoms
thanks to inhalators
Peek:Get local help to “book amazing
things to do”
successfully follow their treatment with
doctors being able to effectively monitor
their patients. Thanks to a little sensor
placed on the top of the inhaler and
linked to a mobile application, patients
can better control how they use their
inhalers and doctors can advise them on
proper usage. Moreover, the app is able
to collect precise data on environmental
conditions under which the patients used
their inhalers and thus improve research
in this field.
about how to get to their destination
and where to stay. However, they might
find it challenging to identify places of
interest and holiday activities. Peek has
taken the challenge to put local people in
contact with tourists in order to help them
discover places of interest while providing
them with useful travel advice so that they
have a glimpse of what the true country
looks like.
4. The human and financial consequences
of counterfeit medicines are devastating.
Every year, there are 100,000 fatalities
worldwide on account of counterfeit
medicines. The pharmaceutical industry
suffers losses of around a trillion dollars
each year. TruTag helps tackle this
enormous issue by providing a unique
edible microtag that is directly integrated
into a product’s infrastructure. Each
For every legal case, lawyers and
corporations spend countless hours
reviewing previous cases and legal
documentation, which results in huge
time and money inefficiencies. ‘Relativity’
is a new piece of software from Kcura
that helps law firms retrieve past cases
and information relevant for the purposes
of civil litigation. It enables lawyers to
optimize their time management by
using machine-learning techniques that
automate the prioritization of documents
for review. Kcura has partnered with
TruTag:Beating counterfeit
medicines with an edible microtag
Kcura and Relativity :Fraud is Big
Business
edible tag is coded and can be scanned
with a Smartphone. This data is sent to
TruTag, which then provides a variety of
product information, such as the product
strength, expiration date and country of
authorized sale. TruTag was awarded the
Technology Pioneer award at the 2014
World Economic Forum in Davos for its
role in bringing more safety to the Internet
of Things.
more than 75,000 customers worldwide,
encompassing both lawyers and
corporations. Kcura works with 95 of
the top 100 law firms in the US and has
also recently started working with the US
Department of Justice.
Companies to Watch in 2014: View from Silicon Valley
American doctors spend about 25% of
their workday dealing with administrative
errands such as reimbursement, coding
and Electronic Medical Records.
Augmedix is an early-stage company
that builds health-centric applications
for Google Glass. The app leverages the
audio and video capabilities of Google
Glass and enables doctors to digitally
recall relevant patient information as they
Augmedix:Reworking the doctor-
patient relationship with a digital app
conduct exams. Instead of spending time
on their computers to retrieve information,
doctors can now use these apps to boost
doctor-patient relationships. It is a prime
example of the foray of wearable devices
into the healthcare industry.
5. Oyster:Changing the way we read
eBooks
Companies to Watch in 2014: View from Silicon Valley
New York-based startup Oyster wants
to revolutionize the e-books business by
providing a subscription-based platform
for e-books. With sales of e-books in the
United States estimated to be worth over
$3 billion in 2012 — an increase of 44%
in just one year — e-books represent a
growing market. While several platforms
already offer e-books, the market is
clearly led by Amazon. All of the existing
services, however, have the same pay-
per-unit pricing model, except for Amazon
with its Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, which
is targeted at young children. Oyster is
a platform that offers a subscription-
based model for e-books. Oyster offers
unlimited access to its collection of
e-books for a monthly fee of just under
$10. The subscription-based model has
already received huge success for video
content with companies such as Netflix
providing on-demand movies and TV
for a subscription fee. Oyster hopes to
replicate this model for e-books and drive
it to success.
AliveCor:Tackling cardiac health issues
through mobile phone sensors
AliveCor has developed a mobile phone
case with embedded sensors that enable
patients or their doctors to obtain an
electrocardiogram (ECG) reading within
seconds. Users simply have to hold their
Smartphones horizontally and place their
fingers on the case in order to obtain
their ECG readings. They can then send
the report to their doctor or to a health
institution. The AliveCor Heart Monitor
device can be used in emergencies by
In most classrooms, discussions
and opinions form the backbone
for meaningful interactions and idea
generation. However, most students tend
to pair up with the same set of friends,
which can make idea generation and
meaningful discussions counterintuitive.
Education startup Learning Catalytics
suggests suitable pairings across
students based on their answers. This
cloud-based learning analytics and
assessment software enables teachers
to pose open-ended, critical-thinking
Learning Catalytics:Challenging the
way we learn
doctors and patients alike, as well as for
preventive monitoring. It has primarily
been created for patients who have
already suffered from a heart attack
and who can now monitor their heart
rate from home. AliveCor has already
been approved by the FDA and can be
licensed by doctors to their patients. It
will soon be available over-the-counter
across pharmacies.
questions to students. The software uses
the answers provided by the students
and then suggests suitable pairings
between students. With the Learning
Catalytics software, teachers can group
students according to opposing ideas
and opinions. The result: students are
now compelled to defend their original
idea and contribute to the discussion.
The software is accessible across all
mobile devices. The company was
recently acquired by Pearson, a leading
educational publishing company.