If you want a better way to shop, hire, share video, or stay in touch with your significant other, you’ll love the companies that presented at today’s Y Combinator Demo Day session four. Many are already gaining traction, and investors are vying to get in before their valuations increase.
Check out why Y Combinator companies are all about mobile, as well as our coverage of the first, second, and third sessions. Here’s a look at the seven companies that strutted their stuff in session four:
Shoptiques: Local boutiques are great places to find unique women’s clothing, but the last thing most of them are set up to do is have an online presence. That’s where Shoptiques comes in. As we covered, it brings the inventory of small, local women’s clothing boutiques to the web. Consumers can come to Shoptiques and shop in all their favorite boutiques from all over the world, and boutiques are happy because they have a beautiful presence online and a new e-commerce arm. Shoptiques takes what it calls a “healthy commission” from each transaction. So far, Shoptiques has brought 12,000 products online from a clientele of 50 boutiques — and there is purportedly a “long” waiting list of other boutiques who want in on the action.
Pair : A private social network for couples first covered by TechCrunch last week, Pair lets two people create a private timeline where they share photos, videos, sketches, activities and more. The iPhone app, which launched just four days ago, has already garnered more than 50,000 registered users who have used Pair to send more than 1 million messages. Pair has received funding from SV Angel and Path founder Dave Morin, who told Pair’s team that Facebook has created social networking’s “cities,” Path is building its “houses,” and Pair is like its “bedroom.” I think the the one-click “Thinking of you” button could be a big hit with guys.
Daily Muse: Built on the idea that text-based job search is on the way out, we’ve covered how businesses can use Daily Muse to build compelling, media-rich websites about their company culture to hopefully attract talented new employees. It also has a unique focus on women. Daily Muse, which takes a $1,500 monthly subscription fee from companies, has attracted a base of 100,000 monthly active individual users since launching four weeks ago. Its clients include Pinterest, Foursquare, Klout, Tumblr, Goodwin Proctor, and many more — with 70 businesses on the waiting list.
Per Vices: Wireless apps today require dedicated hardware to control them. Per Vices says it can put an end to that with what it is calling “the Holy Grail of wireless technology.” Per Vices has created a single device that uses a technology called software defined radio (SDR) that purportedly can run any wireless application out there right now. The company says it is out to replace every existing wireless device on the market with this one single SDR device.
iCracked: Chances are, if you’ve owned an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, you’ve either cracked your screen at some point or come perilously close to doing so. iCracked has built a very booming business fixing those problems. iCracked says it is currently the nation’s largest iOS device repair company, and it has more than 500 technicians worldwide who can come to you and repair your cracked or water damaged device in a half hour for half the price of its competitors. The company has had over 10,000 customers in the past three months, tripling in size since January, and is signing up 10 new iTechs (device repair people) per week. Going forward, iCracked is looking to expand out of iOS, build an insurance arm, and launch device redistribution models.
Socialcam: An app for shooting and publishing videos from your mobile device. You could call it an Instagram for video thanks to its sharing feed and filters. It’s growing like wildfire, with daily active users up 300% in the past 3 months. Co-founded by Justin.tv CEO Michael Seibel and staffed with more alums from that company, Socialcam has one of the most experienced teams in video. The company has raised $1.2 million of it $1.5 million seed round, and will close the round in the next two weeks. I’ve heard Socialcam has clout with teens, so it’s definitely one to watch.
AnyVivo: Ever want to buy a jellyfish online, but end up being bummed to discover that it’s not exactly in Amazon’s purview? Anyvivo has your back. This startup sells living things online and delivers them anywhere in the United States. It has started with jellyfish, and has had some impressive traction: In March the company will post nearly $150,000 in sales with profit margins in excess of 50%. The company has a 6,000 square foot warehouse in San Francisco and a full-time team of eight. People want pets that make them stand out, and Anyvivo delivers.
[Image Credit: Intuit]
Read more Y Combinator Demo Day coverage and check out all 39 startups who presented publicly:
- TechCrunch’s Picks: The 10 Best Startups From Y Combinator Demo Day
- At Y Combinator’s Biggest Demo Day Yet, Mobile Is Taking Over
- YC Demo Day Session 1: PlanGrid, Medigram, Zillabyte, HireArt, Flutter, Givespark, Popset, SendHub, Screenleap, Coderwall, LVL6
- YC Demo Day Session 2: Midnox, 42Floors, Sonalight, Your Mechanic
- YC Demo Day Session 3: Crowdtilt, Flypad, Carsabi, Anyperk, TiKL, Dealupa, Priceonomics, Kyte, EveryArt
- YC Demo Day Session 5: Hackpad, FamilyLeaf, Ark, Chute, Minefold, Exec, 99dresses, Matterport