There are a lot of fun parts to running a company – assembling a great team, getting your MVP out there, being praised left and right by customers. An then there is the drudgery – meeting with investors, doing payroll and all the back-end stuff. One company is making one part of the drudgery aspect…
Read More
I know what you’re thinking: another mobile marketplace. Great. Yes, it is great actually. Here’s a mobile marketplace with a distinct niche: Seattle-based startup OfferUp instantly distributes items for sale across a handful of platforms, saving you at least 30 minutes. And, they are starting out by targeting moms – smart move, as parents are…
Read More
We’ve all seen videos of young kids adeptly navigating the iPad’s touchscreen, but could the Apple device bring more than play? Jesper Lodahl certainly thinks so, as he sees his 4-year-old daughter Laura – with the help of a few iPad apps – do basic reading, tell time, and even teach him Spanish words. Lodahl’s…
Read More
Nothing says “I’m hungry” quite like the ravenous sound of “OM NOM NOM NOM.” Coined by Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster, I think we’ve all been guilty of obnoxiously exclaiming this phrase at least once or twice after finally satiating a major case of the munchies. Aptly-named Omnom.com is a new delivery menu search engine that’s…
Read More
Welcome to the future of music television. Thanks for tuning in. This is the bold welcome the founders of Cull.TV, a startup out of the San Fransisco Bay area, gives to would-be video curators who use the service to create their own playlists or discover new music videos. Cull.TV greets you with a retro, somewhat…
Read More
Demibooks, a Chicago-based publishing technologies company, announced yesterday it has secured equity investment from Educational Development Corporation (EDC), a publicly traded company. EDC sells children’s books, including Usborn Books and the Kane/Miller line of international children’s titles, through a multi-level sales organization of independent consultants. Demibooks provides a publishing platform for interactive books. They recently…
Read More
LiveFyre, the San Francisco-based software platform that enables anyone to add a commenting system to a website, has secured an additional $4.5 million in a new round of funding led by Greycroft Partners and digital media investors Cue Ball, HillsVen Group, and ff Venture Capital. Livefyre’s commenting platform is currently installed on more than 14,000 websites, including…
Read More
Remember the good old days days of overseas travel when you would look for a bank to get a fistful of the local currency before you even checked into your hotel? The worst part was knowing that you were getting ripped off one way or another. You were being charged for the foreign currency transaction…
Read More
Look out Uber, you have some competition in NYC, where it is arguably harder to get around by car than in San Francisco. GroundLink, the first global private car service, is launching an iOS and Android mobile app today in NYC. You can now order private car service either immediately – “Ride Now” – or…
Read More
How much does it cost to send a loved one to a nursing home? What happens when a relative with large financial debts passes away? Is a reverse mortgage a scam? I spent a great deal of time learning about how to care for geriatric patients during medical school, but nobody ever teaches you about…
Read More
In two years – with no funding and no full-time developer until 2010 – entertainment company Spartz Media has built popular sites that attract over 115 million monthly page views: sites like MuggleNet, OMG Facts, and GivesMeHope. As they continue to launch one site a month watching for blockbusters, CEO and MuggleNet creator Emerson Spartz…
Read More
Chicago Ideas Week is an inclusive experience for the thinkers and doers of Chicago and the greater Midwestern area. We are excited to round out this great event by showcasing 10 local startups and their innovative products at our Tech Cocktail Chicago mixer tonight. Thank you to our gracious sponsors for making this event happen:…
Read More
Online music services are gaining popularity, and they can be the gateway to millions of listeners. But indie bands may have trouble breaking into Pandora channels, Turntable.fm rooms, and Spotify playlists. Chicago startup SoundOff.fm wants indie bands to be heard. According to its founders, “SoundOff.fm was started to give indie artists a real chance at…
Read More
Genevieve Thiers, founder of the immensely popular Sittercity and the Small Business Administration Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006, is at it again: this time with a startup called Contact Karma. Contact Karma provides recommendations for B2B services like consulting, IT, legal, and event planning, based on ratings by users in your network and…
Read More
For a while now, new companies have been cropping up with a mission to do some good while generating profits. It’s a great marketing tactic as well, since so many of us enjoy giving a little bit back when we can. BucketFeet is a Chicago-based startup selling artist-illustrated shoes and raising money for three children’s…
Read More
For most women, planning a wedding is both exciting and extremely stressful. There’s plenty of information out there to inspire and help you create the perfect event, but how can you sort through it all and find the best ideas? NYC-based Lover.ly is a visual search engine for wedding planning that lets brides hone in…
Read More
Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
We are excited to announce the participating startups for Tech Cocktail's South by Southwest (SXSW) event: #Startuplife Celebration presented by .CO. It was one of... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More