8 Most Innovative Startups of 2017

1. Zero Mass Water The Arizona-based startup says it can pull up to five liters of drinkable water a day from the air using a super absorbent material. The solar-powered system is in use in Jordan and Mexico and hit U.S. markets in late 2017.

2. Descartes Labs Spun out of Los Alamos National Lab, this startup analyzes satellite photos of Earth to make predictions. Its A.I. projects everything from mosquito breeding patterns in Africa to American corn yields--which it nailed within 1 percent last year. 

3. Lemonade The startup wants to upend the model for home insurance. A predetermined fraction of your premium goes to charity instead of to the company’s bottom line. A.I.-based underwriting and claims adjusting help keep policy costs low.

4. SkyCool Systems Spun out of Stanford, SkyCool invented a system that beams heat into space. When applied to a new building's air conditioning system, SkyCool says it can reduce costs by up to 70 percent. 

5. Lucid VR Lucid’s point-and-shoot camera knocks down the barriers to creating virtual reality content. There's no tripod or other equipment needed, and it runs $499, so just about anyone can create immersive 180-degree, 3-D movies.

6. Scoutible The startup wants to remake the hiring process--using a video game. With 20 minutes of game play, the company’s A.I. measures candidates on traits such as empathy and risk aversion, letting companies focus on those who are a fit.

7. Vicis The Seattle-based startup turned the football helmet inside out: The soft part is now on the outside. The Zero1 was rated the safest helmet by the NFL in April, and nearly 100 pro players have strapped it on this season.

8. Blue River Technology Thanks to computing "vision," this startup's farming machines can determine exactly where to spray herbicides. By focusing only on the plants that need them, the company says farmers can cut their fertilizer usage by up to 90 percent

50 startups that will boom in 2018, according to VCs

• Julie Bort
 

2018 is almost upon us and so it is once again time to predict which startups will take the tech industry by storm next year.

Who better to ask than the startup experts, the VCs that watch the industry, guide the startups, hear their pitches, and invest in them?

We reached out to a number of top VCs and asked them which startups will boom in 2018. We invited participation from investors from a variety of backgrounds and investing philosophies. This includes some of the top VCs in the Valley (Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Bessemer, Greylock Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia).

We included VCs of note who specialize in seed and early rounds (8VC, Bloomberg Beta, BBG Ventures — which backs startups with at least one female founder.) We also asked some top VCs from the startup nation Israel (JVP, OurCrowd) and VCs that have been known for picking hits (like IVP's Somash Dash).

We asked them to name a company they've backed that's on track to have a great 2018. After all, they believed in those companies so much they invested. But we also asked them to name another startup they think is cool that they don't have any financial interest in.

As startup lovers, they gave us this list chock full of amazing up-and-comers creating tech for businesses, gamers, personalized health, robots, high-tech money, new forms of super computers, and even outer space.

Reid Hoffman at Greylock Invested: Nauto

Nauto: An artificially intelligent dashcam for vehicles

Company name: Nauto

VC: Reid Hoffman at Greylock

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $173.9 million

What it does: Nauto makes a cloud-based, artificially intelligent, networked camera for vehicles. It helps to identify dangers to drivers, provides feedback at the end of trips, and also analyzes the cause of accidents to reduce false liability claims.

Why it's hot: "Soon, driving will become a networked and highly collaborative activity — cars on the road will benefit from what other cars have learned. Nauto is rethinking transportation safety by using AI, and founder Stefan [Heck] is seeking to completely redefine the transport grid," says Hoffman. 

Heck is a 20-year transportation veteran who is a research fellow and teacher at Stanford, and a member of the Energy Transformation Collaborative (ETC). 

Rigetti Computing CEO Chad Rigetti

Rigetti Computing: A startup taking on quantum computing

Company name: Rigetti Computing 

VC: Reid Hoffman at Greylock

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $69.5 million

What it does: Rigetti Computing is developing technology to help usher in a new kind of powerful computer known as quantum computing.

Why it's hot: “Quantum computing is going to be a very large industry and the promise of a large quantum computer is incredibly powerful. Companies like Microsoft, Google and Intel have experimented with quantum computers, but Rigetti Computing is taking a unique approach. The startup is building a business from scratch to build a quantum computing chip," says Hoffman.

Rigetti Computing was also named among the "51 enterprise startups to bet your career on in 2018."

Pindrop: Stopping voice fraudsters

Company name: Pindrop

VCs: Martin Casado at Andreessen Horowitz and Somesh Dash at IVP

Relationship: both VCs are investors

Funding: $122.8 million

What it does: Pindrop is used by call centers to analyzes a person's voice and detect fraud. It can even determine if a voice is real or generated by a computer. 

Why it's hot: "Voice as a way to interact with computer systems is becoming more and more pervasive, whether we’re talking to Alexa at home or interacting with an automated system online," Casado says, adding that voice fraud has been a huge hole in security until now.

"They are detecting unprecedented amounts of phone fraud and saving leading financial institutions tens of millions of dollars annually," says Dash.

Pindrop also recently nabbed legendary former Cisco CEO John Chambers as an investor and board member.

Relativity Space

Relativity Space: 3D printing rockets

Company name: Relativity Space

VC: Martin Casado at Andreessen Horowitz

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $8.4 million

What it does: Relativity Space is an automated rocket building factory making low-cost rockets to bring down the cost of transporting things into space.

Why it's hot: "Relativity Space 3D prints rockets ships! No kidding, it’s amazing," Casado says. "And they’ve managed to build the world's largest 3D printer with relatively little funding.  I’ve been tracking the micro-satellite trend, in which small satellites are being designed and deployed for a fraction of the cost of traditional satellites. There is a similar disruption going on in the rocket arena, and I think Relativity is an absolute highlight of that."

Reflektive

Reflektive: Ongoing employee performance feedback

Company name: Reflektive

VC: Somesh Dash at IVP

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $41.6 million

What it does: Reflektive offers performance review software that is integrated into other productivity apps like Outlook, Slack, Gmail.

Why it's hot: "Enables managers to have a real-time checklist of performance goals and objectives for each of their direct reports. For employees it gives them a running record," says Dash. "The company is poised to breakout in 2018."

MoveWith cofounder, CEO Holly Shelton

MoveWith: World-class fitness classes on your phone

Company name: MoveWith

VC: Eurie Kim at Forerunner Ventures

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $3.8 million

What it does: MoveWith is a personal fitness app that delivers audio workouts from well-known coaches. It includes classes for your body (running/cycling/Barre), mind (Yoga) and soul (meditation/talks).

Why it's hot: "Growing 100%+ per month," says Kim. "It brings together all the pieces that you need to actually reach your health goals — tailored, branded workout programs across all activity levels, integrated meditation programs that balance out physical workouts ... MoveWith is today’s modern gym, totally personal, totally digital."

Zume Pizza: Robots making pizza

Company name: Zume Pizza

VC: Eurie Kim at Forerunner Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $48 million

What it does: Uses robotics in the kitchen to make the pizza and automation on the delivery truck to cook the pizza so it arrives at your door piping hot. Seen as a harbinger of a new type of smart food delivery industry.

Why it's hot: "Robots making pizza? How is that not cool?! Memes aside, the team has an ultimate goal to make fresh, locally sourced food at prices that are affordable to all by reimagining the way fast food is made and delivered," Kim says. 

Earny CEO Oded Vakrat

Earny: Automatic refunds

Company name: Earny

VC: Michael Jones CEO at Science

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $2.5 million

What it does: Earny is a service that seeks out refunds automatically in the event of a price drop through both retailer and credit card price protection.

Why it's hot: "Earny helps users take advantage of price protection policies offered by major stores and credit card issuers that often go unclaimed due to the headaches of submitting adjustment claims," says Jones.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse

Ripple: Using blockchain to make payments globally

Company name: Ripple

VC: Michael Jones CEO at Science 

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $93.6 million

What it does: Ripple is a network that uses blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin, to allow banks and payments processors to securely send money directly to one another globally, with a middleman. Former AOL and Yahoo exec Brad Garlinghouse is CEO.

Why it's hot: "We’re seeing a sharp rise in blockchain-enabled startups, and with good reason. They’re convenient, they’re secure —  and while early adopters have already noticed — I forecast that the rest of society will follow," Jones says.

Avery Rosin, Principal at Lead Edge Capital Invested (2 options): Duo and Toast

Duo Security: Making passwords more secure

Company name:Duo Security

VC: Avery Rosin, Principal at Lead Edge Capital

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $121.5 million

What it does: Duo is a cloud service that offers password management services and makes sure devices are virus-free before they connect to the corporate network.

Why it's hot: "Duo just reached a valuation over $1 billion with their latest growth financing that we co-led, after first investing in the business nearly three years ago," says Rosin.

The company is growing fast, has made a name for itself with health care, tech and other big enterprises, and earlier this year hired Josh Yavor, form Former Head of Corporate Security for Facebook.  

Nick Galbreath, CTO cofounder Signal Sciences

Signal Sciences: Helping developers and security folks collaborate

Company name: Signal Sciences

VC: Avery Rosin at Lead Edge Capital

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $26.7 million

What it does: Signal Sciences helps protect websites and apps from hackers by helping developers and security teams collaborate better.

Why it's hot: "The team comes from Etsy, where they experienced the pain points first-hand and decided to build something to solve it. Signal Sciences identifies which parts of applications are being targeted and helps remediate security issues," says Rosin. "They are one of the emerging enterprise software businesses in Los Angeles and definitely one to watch in 2018."

Hudl Contenders

Hudl: Pro-level analysis for athletes at every level

Company name: Hudl

VC: Miles Clements at Accel

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $108.9 million

What it does: Performance analysis software for athletes and coaches at every level. Athletes upload video for analysis, highlight reels, and more. 

Why it's hot: "Hudl was bootstrapped in Lincoln, Nebraska, by former college roommates who built the early version of the product while working as graduate assistants for the Huskers football team. Today, Hudl's platform is used by more than 6 million athletes and 150,000 teams across 30 sports, from little league to elite organizations like Manchester United, the New England Patriots, and Team USA basketball," says Clements.

Hudl has become so popular it's set to launch an original show called Hudl Contenders as part of Facebook's new video production studio.

JustWorks CEO and founder Isaac Oates

JustWorks: Better HR for small businesses

Company name: JustWorks

VC: Miles Clements at Accel

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $53 million

What it does: Small business HR software like payroll, benefits, compliance, and other HR tasks.

Why it's hot: "JustWorks is a smart, modern spin on the traditional PEO [professional employer organization] business model. It pools small businesses together to give them the buying power of a large enterprise while removing back-office complexity and focusing on the types of benefits that matter to a younger workforce," says Clements. 

DeepMap

Deepmap: Special maps for self-driving cars

Company name: Deepmap

VC: Vas Natarajan at Accel

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $32 million

What it does: One day soon, all of our cars will drive themselves, but first, they need to know where they're going. Deepmap offers high-definition maps for autonomous vehicles and uses onboard sense to "see" the road and predict what's around the corner.

Why it's hot: "Autonomous vehicles won't operate with just any mapping system — they need a high-fidelity and multi-dimensional understanding of their location if they're to safely navigate," Natarajan says.

Plus, Deepmap is founded by a team that hails from Google Earth, Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Baidu Maps.

Remix

Remix: Better public transit

Company name: Remix

VC: Vas Natarajan at Accel

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $12 million

What it does: Remix helps city planners design better transit systems. They can plan routes and immediately understand the cost or demographic impact of a proposed change. 

Why it's hot: "Remix is building a planning platform for cities to visualize and plan their transit systems. It's a great example of a tech company having a real civic impact — and building a thriving and sustainable business while doing so," says Natarajan.

Smash.gg

Smash.gg: Helping eSports organizers plan and execute tournaments and events

Company name: Smash.gg

VC: Amit Kumar at Accel

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $14 million

What it does: Smash.gg is software that helps eSports organizers plan and execute their tournaments and events.

Why it's hot: eSports has become "a $500 million industry with viewership that has surpassed major sporting events like the Superbowl and NBA championship, and billions of players globally," Kumar says. Yet organizers were putting on events with spreadsheets, pen and paper. Smash.gg gives these organizers better software tools for this rapidly growing industry.

Dia&Co cofounders Lydia Gilbert, Nadia Boujarwah

Dia&Co: Fashion for real women

Company name: Dia&Co 

VC: Amit Kumar at Accel

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $20 million

What it does: Dia&Co is an online shopper service selling clothing and accessories to women who wear plus-sized apparel.

Why it's hot: "Dia&Co may be one of the best exemplifies of the next-generation of enduring consumer brands; they've paired fanatical execution with a deep understanding of their customers' pain points," says Kumar. "They were able to hone in on tremendous market demand that's been traditionally underserved by both legacy retail businesses and conventional startups."

Narvar founder CEO Amit Sharma

Narvar: Ecommerce software for after the sale

Company name: Narvar 

VC: Brian O' Malley at Accel 

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $34 million

What it does: Narvar provides software for tracking shipping and return options for over 400 top commerce sites, including 50% of the Internet Retailer 100 and 250 million customers per year.

Reason: "As Amazon has raised the game for online commerce, traditional retailers must evolve their customer communication strategy to win," O'Malley says. "This conversation is moving from phone to email and now to messaging. Narvar is leading the way in this increasingly important channel for communication."

That silver cylinder is Molekule's pollutant destroying air purifier

Molekule: Cleaning up pollution with nanotechnology

Company name: Molekule

VC: Brian O’Malley at Accel

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $13.4 million

What it does: Molekule sells an air purifier using nanotechnology that breaks down and wipes out pollutants on a molecular level.

Why it's hot: "Unlike traditional systems that attempt to block unhealthy particles, Molekule actually destroys those particles. As air quality deteriorates, tens of millions of people now suffer from asthma or severe allergies. Staying inside isn’t a great solution as indoor air is actually 5x more polluted than outdoor. Molekule is the first company to have a cure versus just a pain killer," O'Malley says.

Handshake founder CEO Garrett Lord

Handshake: A LinkedIn for college students

Company name: Handshake

VC: Eric Feng at Kleiner Perkins

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $34 million

What it does: Handshake is a recruiting and career network for college students and young alumni.

Why it's hot: “Handshake’s growth in their university market has been phenomenal. They are now the recruiting platform of record to more than 450 colleges, 6 millions students, and hundreds of thousands of employers," Feng says.

Roblox MeepCity

Roblox: A gaming world by kids for kids

Company name: Roblox 

VC: Eric Feng at Kleiner Perkins and Josh Elman at Greylock

Relationship: No relation. VCs just think it's cool.

Funding: $99.2 million 

What it does: Roblox is an online game for kids that attracts over 64 million monthly active players. Kids use it to create 3D worlds and play in them together.

Why it's hot: "A few years ago, if you were to research what were the most popular video games for kids, you’d inevitably come across 'Minecraft.' Today when you do that same research, you’ll inevitably come across 'Roblox.' It’s not just amazingly popular, but it’s gotten to that point off purely organic growth, which is even more impressive," says Feng.

"'Roblox' is the largest user-generated online gaming platform with over 29 million games created by users and over 64 million active players from across the globe," says Elman.

Lola founders Alex Friedman (left) and Jordana Kier

Lola: A cool brand for feminine products

Company name: Lola

VC: Susan Lyne at BBG Ventures

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $11.2 million

What it does: LOLA is a subscription service for 100% organic cotton feminine products delivered right to the customer's door.

Why it's hot: "Whoever thought that a cool brand could be built around feminine care products? Jordana Kier and Alex Friedman have done just that with LOLA," says Lyne. "By combining product transparency and convenience with straight talk about periods, they've won a growing base of enthusiasts and inspired a slew of instagram hashtags." 

Personalized shampoo from Function of Beauty

Function of Beauty: Personalized shampoo

Company name: Function of Beauty

VC: Susan Lyne at BBG ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $9.6 million

What it does: Function of Beauty uses machine algorithms to make personalized shampoo for each customer, based on their preferences and hair type.

Why it's hot: "Function of Beauty emerged from Y combinator as a promising beautytech concept: unique shampoo and conditioner formulations for every customer's hair. But it's the execution that turned it into a hugely successful launch," says Lyne. "Every bottle carries the customer's name — because with a possible 12B combinations, this one is truly yours. Wish we were on their cap table."

Business Insider's Avery Hartmans recently tried the products and liked them.

Citizen: Warning ordinary people of 911 situations

Company name: Citizen

VC: Mike Vernal at Sequoia

Relationship: Investor 

Funding: $12.16 million

What it does: Citizen is an app that shows you 911 incidents in your neighborhood in realtime. It was formerly known as "Vigilante," but after a popular but controversial start, it revamped itself so as not to imply it was trying to prevent crime. 

Why it's hot: "Today, there's information flying through the air that has a direct impact on your safety, but very few people have the ability to access it. Citizen helps you stay safe with instant notifications and live broadcasts of incidents reported to 911. It's one of the few apps that I think should be running on everyone's phone," says Vernal.

Aurora Innovation is using an Audi Q7, pictured here, to collect data

Aurora Innovation: Self-driving car geniuses set out on their own

Company name: Aurora Innovation

VC: Mike Vernal at Sequoia

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $6.11 million

What it does: Aurora Innovation is the secretive startup founded by autonomous vehicle veterans from Google (Chris Urmson), Tesla (Sterling Anderson), and Uber (Drew Bagnell) that received a permit in August to test self-driving cars on California roads.

Why it's hot: "Autonomous vehicles could be the biggest economic shift since the Internet. Today, transportation is about 10% of GDP and has a direct impact on another 50% of GDP," says Vernal. "There are a number of talented teams working on this space, but Chris and the team at Aurora stand out as one of the very best."

Knotel CEO Amol Sarva

Knotel: Taking on WeWork

Company name: Knotel

VC: Roy Bahat at Bloomberg Beta

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $25 million

What it does: Knotel is a WeWorks competitor offering co-working spaces that prides itself on its flexibility with leases. It's been growing and now controls more than 500,000 square feet in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and San Francisco. 

Why it's hot: "Knotel delivers a new experience for business leaders looking for on-demand headquarters and flexible leases," says Bahat. “The corporate real estate industry hasn’t innovated at the same pace as today’s startups, and that’s an issue when it comes to creating environments people actually want to work in.”

Guild Education cofounders Brittany Stich (left), Rachel Carlson

Guild Education: College degrees for more working Americans

Company name: Guild Education

VC: Roy Bahat at Bloomberg Beta and Byron Deeter at Bessemer Venture Partners

Relationship: Deeter is an investor. Bahat has no relation, just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $31.5 million

What it does: The company helps large employers like Chipotle, Taco Bell, and DaVita offer college education and tuition reimbursement to employees. 

Why it's hot: "They help the world’s largest employers offer college education and tuition reimbursement as a work benefit to the 64 million working-age adults who don’t have a college degree," says Deeter.

"We talk about where the onus of responsibility lies in preparing Americans for future workplaces, and Guild is an example of an organization that's stepped up," says Bahat.

Periscope Data: Granting super powers to data analysts

Company name: Periscope Data

VC: Ethan Kurzweil at Bessemer VP

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $34.5 million

What it does: A big data analytics tool that helps data analysts easily work with the data and find insights.

Why it's hot: "Gives data scientists and business analysts super powers in terms of fast access to data and insights. Very impressive team of ex-Googlers," says Kurzwell.

Carta founder CEO Henry Ward

Carta: Transparent stock options

Company name: Carta

VC: Ethan Kurzweil at Bessemer VP

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $67.8 million

What it does: Carta is an SEC-registered transfer agent that manages equity in private companies. It digitizes any paper stock certificates and stock options, warrants, and derivatives so that people can easily track who owns what at a startup.

Why it's hot: "Carta simplifies equity ownership for all constituents — a previously highly complex and not well-understood area which is no longer opaque and painful," says Kurzwell.

Toast

Toast: Software that runs restaurants

Company name: Toast

VC: Kent Bennett at Bessemer VP and Avery Rosin at Lead Edge Capital

Relationship: Investors 

Funding: $134 million

What it does: Toast is a mobile app for restaurants that handles everything from taking orders at tables to food ordering and loyalty programs.

Why it's hot: Toast is growing so fast it landed at No. 3 on the Deloitte Fast 500. "This is an incredible product loved by several thousand restaurants," says Bennet.

Wag: The dog-walking app

Company name: Wag

VC: Kent Bennett at Bessemer VP

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $8.9 million

What it does: Wag helps dog owners find trusted, certified dog walkers.

Why it's hot: "On first blush it may seem silly, but the ~40 million US households with lovable canines also have a twice daily problem that if not addressed leads to a very smelly situation. Owners can’t always get home for a walk and that’s where Wag comes in," says Bennet.

uBiome: Building the world's largest microbes database

Company name: uBiome 

VC: Kimmy Scotti at 8VC

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $27 million

What it does: uBiome is working on the world's largest microbiome database. Microbiome are the bacteria living in our bodies, many of them are the friendly ones that help keep us healthy.

uBiome uses its database to offer insurance-reimbursed medical tests through doctors that detect and measure bacteria and viruses. The tests include SmartGut for the belly, and SmartJane for the vagina. 

Why it's hot: uBiome's tests offer patients information "not available in any test on the market," says Scotti, adding that  the new field of Microbiome science has "revolutionary" implications for health, nutrition, cosmetics, and agriculture, and that uBiome is led by some of "the top scientists in the industry."

Celmatix cofounder Piraye Yurttas Beim

Celmatix: Personalized medical insights for women

Company name: Celmatix 

VC: Kimmy Scotti at 8VC

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $47.1 million

What it does: Celmatix uses big data and genomics to give women personalized recommendations about their reproductive health. In January it launched the first-ever genetic screen for markers that may impede fertility.

Why it's hot: "Celmatix stands apart for solving a big-picture problem: the lack of access to personalized insights into our reproductive health," says Scotti.

ServiceTitan CEO Ara Mahdessian

ServiceTitan: Software for home service pros

Company name: ServiceTitan

VC: Michael Brown at Battery Ventures and Byron Deeter at Bessemer

Relationship: Investors

Funding: $99 million

What it does: ServiceTitan provides mobile, cloud-based software for home service businesses including plumbing, HVAC, and electrical companies.  

Why it's hot: "Companies like ServiceTitan, targeting workers, often blue-collar, who do their jobs outside corporate offices, will lead the next large wave in software innovation," says Brown. That's because such workers make up 60% of the workforce but don't yet use the latest office and collaboration tech, he adds.

Crew: The app for hourly workers

Company name: Crew

VC: Michael Brown at Battery Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $24.9 million

What it does: Crew serves the millions of people in the hourly workforce that do not have a corporate email address. 

Why it's hot: "Crew provides a messaging and communications platform for mobile workers, typically in often ‘forgotten’ industries like construction, retail, field services, hospitality, and many more," says Brown, adding that it's like Slack or WhatsApp but "with special features like scheduling and shift swapping."

Vayyar: Turning smartphones into 3D-imaging devices

Company name: Vayyar

VC: Scott Tobin at Battery Ventures

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $34 million

What it does: Vayyar makes 3D-imaging sensors that can "see through" objects, liquids, and materials. Its tech is used in breast cancer screenings, detecting water leakage, food safety monitoring, and more.

Why it's hot: "Vayyar sensors can make every cellphone or tablet into a full 3D imaging system. Its sensors quickly and easily look into objects, analyze the makeup of materials, and track changes and movements," says Tobin. 

Keybase: A free app to encrypt your communications

Company name: Keybase

VC: Scott Tobin at Battery Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $10.8 million

What it does: Keybase is a free app that lets people encrypt messages, chats, and file sharing across mobile phones and computers.

Why it's hot: Imagine Slack, only private and encrypted. "Headed by the founders of OkCupid and SparkNotes, Keybase is focused on providing crypto-technologies to everyone in the world," says Tobin.

Mira Labs' Prism AR headse

Mira Labs: AR content generated by your smartphone

Company name: Mira Labs

VC: Cyan Banister at Founder’s Fund

Relationship: Investor 

Funding: $2.5 million

What it does: Mira Labs is creating an augmented reality headset that taps into the power of your smartphone to see and interact with holographic images overlaid on the real world.

Why it's hot: "Mira is developing a low-cost headset, the Prism, that uses a smartphone app to generate high quality AR content," says Banister.

Omni: Store and rent out your unused stuff

Company name: Omni

VC: Cyan Banister at Founder’s Fund

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $14.8 million

What it does: Omni provides a storage room for your stuff, and lets you rent it out to others, or find other items you'd like to rent.

Why it's hot: "There are a number of companies working on storage solutions, but Omni is the first to layer on your social graph. You can borrow and rent out items through their marketplace. I’ve personally stored over 100 items," says Banister.

Zebra Medical Vision: AI medical scans in the cloud

Company name: Zebra Medical Vision

VC: John Medved at OurCrowd

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $20 million

What it does: Zebra applies artificial intelligence to medical image scanning, helping to search each scan for conditions that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. And it charges a flat fee of $1 per scan.

Why it's hot: "Zebra is empowering radiologists with its revolutionary AI1 offering," says Medved. "They just struck a deal with Google to offer AI medical image scanning via its cloud."

OverOps: Giving programmers straight answers

Company name: OverOps (formerly Takipi)

VC: Jon Medved at OurCrowd

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $49.5 million

What it does: OverOps tells developers when and why their code fails, helping them with troubleshooting and prioritizing which problems to work on and why.

Why it's hot: With OverOps, "companies can ship products more rapidly and with more confidence, and developers can spend their time shipping code instead of fixing it," Medved says.

Coda founders Alex DeNeui (left) Shishir Mehrotra

Coda: Creating a new kind of document

Company name: Coda

VC: John Lily at Greylock 

Relationship: Investor

Funding:$60 million

What it does: Coda was founded by a former YouTube and Microsoft alum, Shishir Mehrotra, and former Googler Alex Deneui. They are creating a new type of document that combines the flexibility of a word document with the power of a spreadsheet and the functions of an app.

Why it's hot: "There has been an explosion of productivity tools, but we are still doing the majority of our work on the same technology built two decades ago. In this networked age, we need tools that are collaborative and open – Coda is just that, allowing teams to build a doc as powerful as an app," says Lily.

John Lily at Greylock Not invested: Sigma Computing

Sigma Computing: Beautiful charts. No programming

Company name: Sigma Computing

VC: John Lily at Greylock 

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: Not available.

What it does: Sigma allows people to tap into their biggest databases hosted in the cloud and easily conduct analysis, create charts, and graph data — all without any programming involved.

Why it's hot: "It’s no surprise that lots of data is moving into the cloud. It’s a huge trend, moving quickly, and it’ll mean we need new approaches to visualizing and manipulating that data. The product from Sigma is fantastic and traction looks very promising," says Lily.

Discord CEO Jason Citron

Discord: How gamers talk

Company name: Discord

VC: Josh Elman at Greylock and Cyan Banister at Founder’s Fund

Relationship: Elman is an investor. Banister is not; she just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $79.3 million

What it does: Discord is an all-in-one voice and text chat for gamers that's free, secure, and works on both the desktop and phone.

Why it's hot: "I haven't seen a product grow this quickly in a very long time," says Elman. "It has more than 45 million registered users who send about 200 million messages daily. Every day, 9 million people are using Discord, adding 1.1 million new users every week. Every gamer knows about Discord.”

"Discord is voice and video chat for gamers. If you game at all, this is how you communicate with your friends. No more Skype, no more hassle," says Banister.

Jerry Chen at Greylock Invested (2 options): Gladly, Blend

Gladly: A smarter customer service software

Company name: Gladly 

VC: Jerry Chen at Greylock

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $63 million

What it does: Gladly is customer service software that can recognize the same customer over voice, email, SMS, chat, and social media. 

Why it's hot: "Gladly threads together phone conversations, email, SMS, and Facebook Messenger so agents have a full history of the customer. This year, Gladly nabbed JetBlue as a customer, with the goal to improve one of the most annoying parts of traveling — airline customer service," says Chen.

Frame.io cofounders John Traver (left) and Emery Wells

Frame.IO: Collaborate on video in private before you post

Company name: Frame.IO

VC: Jerry Chen at Greylock

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $32.2 million

What it does: Frame.io lets companies upload work-in-progress video and media into a private workspace so teams and customers can collaborate.

Why it's hot: "They are bringing collaboration to video creation and editing. As video becomes ubiquitous on our phones and wearables, creating a team-based workflow becomes essential," says Chen.

Not invested: Kyron Systems

Kryon Systems: A workforce of software robots

Company name: Kryon Systems

VC: Yoav Tzruya at JVP

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $13 million

What it does: Kryon Systems offers artificially intelligent software robots that automate mundane software-based or online tasks.

Why it's hot: "Kryon offers a truly unique solution that makes the interaction between the human and virtual workforces seamless and efficient. Enterprise automation is a huge market for the taking, and Kryon Systems is primed to flourish in 2018," says Tzruya.

Secret Double Octopus: No more passwords

Company name: Secret Double Octopus

VC: Yoav Tzruya at JVP

Relationship: Investor 

Funding: $7.5 million

What it does: Secret Double Octopus is the company behind Octopus Authenticator, which is software that offers secure log-ins without passwords.

Why it's hot: Dealing with passwords, forgetting passwords, secure passwords, hacked passwords, "are all a thing of the past with Secret Double Octopus," says Tzruya, and that saves companies money.

Pymetrics founders Frida Polli (left) and Julie Yoo

Pymetrics: Using neuroscience to hire people and avoid unconscious bias

Company name: Pymetrics

VC: Susan Lyne at BBG ventures

Relationship: Investor

Funding: $16.3 million

What it does: Founded by a Harvard and MIT PhD, Pymetrics uses games based on neuroscience to help companies recruit, hire, and retain talent, removing unconscious bias from the process.

Why it's hot: "With enterprises globally waking up to the fact that inclusive environments deliver stronger results, Pymetrics is using AI to level the playing field for the widest possible range of candidates," says Lyne.

Accompany founder CEO Amy Chang

Accompany: Delivering rich, real-time intel on every person you'll encounter at work

Company name: Accompany

VC: Susan Lyne at BBG ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Funding: $40.6 million

What it does: Accompany, founded by former leader of Google Analytics Amy Chang, scours public info and compiles profiles on over 300 million people. It then uses AI to give you info on who's most important to you at that moment.

Why it's hot: "I'm obsessed with Accompany. It has totally changed my workday by delivering rich, real-time intel on every person I'll see that day," says Lyne. "I no longer spend cab rides madly googling the person I'm about to meet!  I WISH I was an investor, but I'm relegated to superfan."