Here at the i/o Ventures incubator, a.k.a “a really geeky cafe” on Valencia Street in San Francisco six i/o Ventures companies have just wrapped up giving their demo presentations to press and investors. While the companies are comprised of some that we’ve written about before and some that haven’t yet launched (we’re looking at you Skyara), because I couldn’t wait I’ve decided to publish my rough notes on the companies presenting below, with links to our previous coverage provided:
Appbistro — Our coverage — A marketplace for Facebook business related apps, Appbistro attempts to circumvent some of the challenges around Facebook fan pages. Appbistro, which eventually wants to build an app store for any service that has an API gives brands an alternative to spending thousands of dollars to market their apps, through an app store that lets users rate and review apps for businesses, which Facebook does not yet provide. The market is huge: Currently there are 20 million Facebook fan pages and half of them are for local businesses. App Bistro intends to monetize with a 70/30 revenue split with the companies as well as listing fees and sponsored placement.
Socialvision — Our coverage — SocialVision believes that the future of video viewing is in what they call “Viewing Parties” and their consumer app, YouTube Social allows you to invite your friends through Facebook in order to watch a video simultaneously. Currently partnering with Direct TV, Social Vision intends to monetize by providing platforms for content companies to hold their own viewing parties.
Anomaly — Anomaly is an attempt to “make the web personal” by providing an algorithm that serves up users with a personalized curated evolution of the web, which is a never ending firehose of information. The Anomaly algorithm finds out what you’re interested and serves it up in order of relevance. Their recent Twitter application thecadmus.com was hailed as “a newsfeed for Twitter” and apparently increased Twitter user stream engagement by a multiple of three.
Damntheradio — Our coverage –“If you’re going to promote anything you need to have a social media presence,” says Johnny Hwin founder of rewards-based marketing platform Damntheradio, which has been cash flow positive since July. Capitalizing on the universal need to GET MORE FANS, Damntheradio helps businesses reward fans in exchange for their social actions such as “liking” a fan page. Currently just on Facebook, the Damntheradio social reward platform eventually wants to help businesses connect across all consumer touch points, social networks like Foursquare and Twitter, mobile, Google TV, and eventually the Google car. 
Skyara — Skyara, which hasn’t launched yet is an Etsy/Airbnb for experiences, targeting people who ask, “What is there to do?” Businesses who have experiences to offer can connect with people looking for things to do. An experience recommendation engine, Skyara has the potential to offer cool food experiences in SF beyond Opentable, like going go to a beer tasting with i/o Ventures partner Paul Bragiel for example. Despite it’s still being in stealth mode, Skyara has already has a populated marketplace and bevy of business offerings.
AppRats — AppRats are Facebook apps that cater to different brand of celebrity than that of TV, and radio, on the assumption that YouTube celebrities need different set of skills for the Internet and providing platforms for celebrities who want to engage with fans via Facebook app. AppRats currently works with 50 of the top 100 YouTube celebrities and hopes to add more to the list.
Here’s our interview with i/o Ventures founder Paul Bragiel, below:
i/o ventures is an early stage startup program that focuses heavily on its mentorship. We work closely with founders from product launch through the next stage of company development, sharing what has proven to work for product scaling, revenue growth and fund raising. Our partners and mentors have started and ran some of the top internet companies. We want you to take advantage of our experience leading teams, building great products, raising money, negotiating mergers and acquisitions, scaling infrastructure, all with...
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