GrabIt — GrabIt makes robots that use static cling, a.k.a. electro-adhesion, to lift a wide variety of items, such as layers of leather, fabric, glass windshields and easily-bruised apples. Electro-adhesion allows the robots to handle items that other grippers can’t manage during high-speed, high-volume production in factories, or picking and packing in fulfillment centers. The company has attracted strategic investments from Samsung, Nike, ABB and Flex to name a few.
HashiCorp — Best-known for its Terraform and Vagrant products, HashiCorp builds open source tools used by individual software programmers, as well as teams of corporate developers. These tools help developers manage the use of computing resources from multiple cloud providers, like Amazon, Google and Microsoft. The start-up is seen as a potential competitor to VMware.
Karamba Security — This start-up’s software keeps hackers out of self-driving and internet-connected cars. It works by locking down the factory settings for all the ECUs in a car, which are the tiny computers that control systems from brakes to air conditioning and navigation. Doing so bars the execution of code that could cause problems with a car’s normal operation. While it’s a long slog from pilot projects to sales in the auto-industry, Karamba is poised with an office in Detroit and funding from Bill Ford’s fund, Fontinalis Ventures.
Modern Meadow – A pioneer in what it calls “biofabrication,” Modern Meadow is using synthetic biology to brew leather from cells in a lab rather than raising livestock and later using tons of chemicals to treat their hides. The company’s leathers have been featured in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. CEO Andras Forgacs previously cofounded Organovo, a company that uses 3-D printing to create human implantable kidney and liver tissue.
Mythic – This early-stage start-up makes chips to enable edge computing in any device. Its chips, which are smaller than a shirt button, could help hardware makers to add sophisticated AI and voice features to their products, and help users enjoy these these without draining their batteries.
Natilus — Global e-commerce revenue is expected to surpass $4 trillion by 2020, according to eMarketer forecasts. To help deliver all those orders, Natilus is developing self-flying planes that could each potentially haul 200,000 pounds of cargo around the world. While other aviation juggernauts, like Boeing, are developing robo-pilots for their existing passenger planes, Natilus’ approach has been to build a plane from scratch, optimized for autonomous flight.
Opus 12 — Founded in 2015 by researchers from a chemical engineering lab at Stanford University, Opus 12 has developed a way for companies to capture carbon dioxide where it’s emitted, then turn it into something they can use or sell, like chemicals or fuels. Opus 12 stands to grow as polluters are challenged to curb CO2 emissions by a spate of new regulations.
PokitDok — PokitDok is using blockchain technology to make it easier and faster for a patient to get insurance claims resolved, and health bills paid. The company also wants to help all the silos in the healthcare industry share relevant patient info, securely, and without violating Hipaa. The company’s Dokchain technology is being tested by a consortium of partners including Intel, Amazon and others.
PivotBio – Backed by Monsanto Growth Ventures, among others, PivotBio develops microbes that can make plants — including soy, corn wheat and beans — more productive by helping them produce their own nitrogen. In other words, PivotBio is making an alternative to traditional, chemical fertilizers which can prove very expensive to farmers.
Rigetti Computing — This start-up is building quantum computing hardware and software that could make all of the world’s computers, from smartphones to systems on board vehicles and spacecraft, radically more efficient and powerful. The company is not yet selling any hardware, but has made quantum computing hardware virtually available to developers.
Source: Tech CNBC
29 start-ups that prove Silicon Valley innovation isn't dead