INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Pear, a Palo Alto-based seed-stage fund that has made its name through early bets on Guardant Health, DoorDash, Memebox and Gusto, hosted
its sixth annual demo day this week in what proved to be a scorchingly hot afternoon in Woodside, Calif
— not that invitees were put off by the heat.Hundreds of investors showed up at a sprawling public estate and surrounding gardens to see
the dozen teams that Pear spent the summer working with, each of them less than nine months old, according to Pear, and many incorporated
(Each has also only received less than $200,000 so far from Pear, and no other institutional investment.)While some are sure to evolve into
other ideas or dissolve into other endeavors, the whole of the group gave those gathered food for thought and a first look at some very
solid talent.Following are the companies that presented:1) Windborne: Founded by three Stanford grads and another from Harvard, this startup
aims to improve the accuracy of weather data where it’s currently limited, like over oceans, by using weather balloons that could allow
the team to do things like tell shipping companies which route to take to minimize fuel burn
CEO Paige Brown also says their system can fly 60 times longer than existing solutions and for the same price
The more specific claim: that in a single $350 flight, a Windborne balloon can fly for more than five days and travel a quarter of the way
around the world, collecting direct measurements in places no one else can.The team apparently bonded as engineers in the Stanford Student
Space Initiative and they’ve all worked at SpaceX.2) Guild: This one was started by two Stanford grads and helps companies make branded
Why would they bother? Because, the startup claims, branded credit cards are a lot more lucrative — increasing spending by 20%, cutting
churn by roughly half and generating $50 per year of profit per customer
Co-founder Michael Spelfogel says he knows of which he speaks, having tried, unsuccessfully, to launch a branded credit card while at
Lyft.He also says the idea is to partner with sports teams first.3) Polimorphic: Started by two computer scientists out of MIT, this startup
is building a “civic media platform” meant to help politicians communicate with constituents
The platform basically invites visitors to express their views directly to their political and government leaders, while it also gives
campaigns, civic groups and governments a way to engage with those individuals (though the latter has to pay to do this)
It’s a meaningful market, they argue, saying that campaign spending has been growing by 50% in between major election cycles, with $9
billion spent in 2016 alone.Of course, because this was a demo day, the founders also talked about their traction, saying they already have
three letters of intent, and volunteering that they’re in early talks with three presidential campaigns.4) Gradio: Launched by graduates
of Stanford, Georgia Institute of Technology, NYU and MIT, Gradio says it speeds up the process of collecting and labeling data for use with
The “Gradio data engine” corrects mislabeled data, identifies and removes “low value” data and highlights the highest-value data
It’s a smart pitch, considering that acquiring and labeling data right now requires tons of human labor and often requires pricey domain
expertise and that, even so, something like one if five data points is mislabeled at a typical AI company.As for who will use the
technology, the founders say they’re targeting companies in the natural language processing space first.5) Sympto Health: Launched by two
founders from UC San Diego (one who graduated, one who dropped out to build Sympto), this startup is trying to tackle a universal problem,
which is that patients very often forget clinical instructions, and when that happens, they sometimes wind up being readmitted to the
hospital.Sympto ties into a care facility’s existing systems/workflows and sends “patient engagement” messages — things like surgery
checklists, pre-appointment questionnaires, etc
— to minimize missed information and unnecessary readmissions
It says its patient-as-an-engagement service has already landed the company two enterprise contracts worth $300,000, too.6) Smarty: This
startup was founded by a single person with multiple degrees (HBS, MIT) who previously worked as a software engineer at Yammer.What she has
built: an automation tool that’s focused on business tasks like scheduling meetings, making introductions and finding flights for out of
The tool is being made available first to users of G Suite and Office 365 (which have 200 million paying users, combined); they’ll be
asked to pay Smarty $20 a month for its workflow automation tool
Eventually, though, it aims to be its own client.7) Impct: Started by two MBAs from National Chengchi University and another from Stanford,
Impct is making what it called snacks for good
It’s not that they’re more healthful than other options; instead, the idea is for companies to buy these white-label snacks for their
offices, then re-invest a percentage of their sales into social responsibility programs chosen by employees
The thinking is that employees want their kombucha; why not spend on snack bars and drinks that give back?8) Learn to Win: Started by two
Stanford MBAs who say traditional learning management systems fall short of the needs of high-performance teams, Learn to Win is a “micro
learning” training program that’s right now being used by 100 sports organizations; it also has a signed contract with the Air Combat
Command to train fighter pilots.What the program ostensibly offers: content that’s presented in a visual and easy-to-use content authoring
engine, the ability to deploy mobile active learning content to users, and and the ability to quickly evaluate results and iterate.Next on
the startup’s to-do list: enticing other entities with training challenges, including in the commercial airline industry, at oil and gas
companies and within police and fire departments.9) Fanimal: Founders with degrees from Stanford, Columbia University and UC Berkeley (and
who’ve worked at Boston Consulting Group, Gunderson Dettmer and Hackbright Academy) decided to come together to tackle two annoying
problems associated with buying tickets for live events: high fees, and that feeling when you buy tickets for a group of people
then need to chase them down for reimbusement.With Fanimal, everyone in a social group pays individually and receives their own tickets, and
Instead, Fanimal makes money by adding a “small markup” to tickets
Since launching a few weeks ago, they’ve sold more than $31,000 in tickets.10) Xilis: A Stanford PhD and a PhD from UNC Chapel Hill (both
now Duke University professors focused on oncology and precision health) came together for this company out of their acute awareness that
when someone is diagnosed with cancer, finding the right treatment frequently takes months and often comes with countless side effects
To speed along the process, their company, Xilis, uses “micro-organoids” to make thousands of 3D replicas of a patient’s tumor in
about six days, which the company says can be used for testing for drug compatibility faster.They say it works, too
At least, the co-founders, Xiling Shen and David Hsu, claim they’ve tested the technology with 12 patients, with a 100% success rate in
predicting how a tumor will respond to medication. 11) Equipped: Founded by two Stanford grads who’ve worked variously for the NBA, Tesla
and Amazon, Equipped has an interesting proposal
What if instead of lugging an oversized umbrella to the beach or bringing a soccer ball to the park, you could nab these things where they
make sense, in on-demand equipment lockers at the beach, or outside a park, where you could rent what you need, then return it?12) Maker:
Two Stanford MBAs with marketing and management consultant experience have created a marketplace for small-batch wines.Maker finds
