Archive for January 2015
Here are some things you can do to support #CharlieHebdo from around the world
This week I am among the thousands of French (or Francophile) technologists who find themselves at CES in Las Vegas during what will likely be the most tragic event in France is our lifetime. Having grown up in the US to school shootings, assassination attempts on politicians, and never-ending gun battles between the police and “gangsters,” I know […]
Agorize brings together top tech talent at Connected Challenge and Hack4Europe
Agorize is one of the leaders in Europe in connecting tech saavy students, startups, enterpreneurs, and corporates to drive crowdsourced innovation. Starting off the New Year, they have two big initiatives underway: Hack4Europe The Hack4Europe contest is a European Hackathon, involving all the top European digital players, which will enable international corporations, Europe’s most innovative […]
CES: Test for ebola or Track your dog – BeWell Connect's 10 products
2015 may well be the year where the Doctor’s Office comes Home, with connected medical devices eliminating the need for a doctor’s visit, providing doctors with daily virtual check-ups on glucose levels for diabetics, on heart readings for those at risk, or just for general well-being. One of the more interesting companies at CES in […]
CES: GIROPTIC announces partnership with YouTube's new 360° platform
GIROPTIC, the first true 360° camera designed to see the world “Up, Down and All Around” just announced at CES that they would be entering into an exclusive partnership with Youtube to be the first camera compatible with the video-sharing giants’ new support of 360°, spherical format. Youtube’s new 360° format is expected to be a breakthrough in interms of […]
Predictions on the State of VC in Europe 2015
Rather than merely spouting my own views on what’s in store for the VC sector in Europe this year, I decided to solicit the opinions of my more omniscient peers. Here are the thoughts from several top-tier European VCs: Marc Fournier, Serena Capital, France: 2015 should be another great year for technology and venture capital. […]
CES: Netatmo launches Welcome – the revolutionary smart-home camera
Making some of the first big news at CES, Netatmo has launched the revolutionary Welcome smart-home camera which through market-leading face recognition technology, recognizes each family member. The goal with their new camera is to take the complication and headache out of in-home security as, via a the Welcome app, it sends the names of the […]
Withings $150 Activité Pop – a smartwatch for the price of an activity tracker
Among the first big announcements coming out of CES this year is that Withings is releasing a low-cost version of its quantified-self smartwatch the Activité, which launched last June, cutting the $450 watch down to $150 in a new, less luxury style. In its category, Withings’ Activité Pop will pose a major threat to Fitbit-esque activity bands, […]
iskn raises $2 Million to turn any iPad into a Wacom Tablet
One of France’s first KickStarter superstars, iskn, who raised $350,000 in September 2013 for Slate, an iPad cover & pen that converts your pen & paper drawings into digital ones, has raised its first venture round. The startup took in $2 Million from Partech Ventures (who also invest in Lima – another KickStarter star), Pascal Cagni (who was […]
France gears up to make a big splash at CES 2015
As reported in the fall, France will have the 2nd largest startup delegation behind the US at 66 startups and the largest European delegation overall at CES with 120 companies (France will be the 5th country overall). In fact, this year is a big one for France’s startups as the number of startups participating is up 73% […]
Giift seeks to disrupt the multi-billion dollar Loyalty program market
The Loyalty point market is massive and seems to show now signs of slowing. With seemingly every type of merchant you can think of offering some form of Loyalty program, managing all these outstanding points and miles has become a daunting challenge for both program members and vendors alike. There have been many solutions launched in […]