The Fung Global Retail & Technology team attended the 2016 Alchemist Accelerator Customer Advisory Board Innovation Summit and Demo Day on September 29 in Santa Clara, California. Alchemist Accelerator is a venture-backed program focused on startups that are developing enterprise technologies. As cloud technology services have increased the computing power that businesses can afford in recent years, data services and enterprise software providers have attracted more and more funding. The numbers back this up: data from research firm CB Insights indicate that, among the 200 biggest technology company exits from 2009 to 2015, there was a roughly 70/30 split between enterprise and consumer businesses. Announced in March of this year, the 2016 Alchemist Accelerator class consisted of 12 diverse US-based startups. At Demo Day, the founders of the participating companies presented their businesses to Silicon Valley thought leaders, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, media and others. The Fung Global Retail & Technology team got a firsthand look at what these startups and Alchemist were telling investors at the Demo Day event, which was held at Citrix’s office complex in Santa Clara.

Alchemist Accelerator Demo Day Source: Fung Global Retail & Technology

Here are the 12 startups that presented their businesses on Demo Day:

• Choice AI is an artificial intelligence–based, real-time shopping assistant for e-commerce websites. Powered by predictive merchandise analytics, the company’s technology helps online retailers engage and convert online shoppers using virtual sales assistance, personalized recommendations, engagement triggers, product discovery and email personalization. The platform is supported by Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce. Choice AI is currently in private beta, piloting with 87 e-commerce stores.
• Verecho is a mobile-first employee directory and communication tool. The platform enables companies to automate communication, productivity and engagement tools with employees via a mobile-friendly platform. Verecho centralizes all important information by company and by office to make it available to everyone via mobile device and desktop. The company launched in June, and has seen significant customer progress, with a 42% increase in monthly active users.
• Lendsnap streamlines significant consumer transactions such as mortgages by linking borrower financial and employment data to provide real-time, automated qualifying documentation. By linking with the borrower’s financial and payroll institutions, Lendsnap can securely deliver original W2s, pay stubs, bank statements and full tax returns in minutes instead of days. For correspondent lenders and banks, Lendsnap claims it automates a job that takes 20%–40% of their sales teams’ time, reducing operational and compliance costs. For borrowers, the process becomes a more quick, safe and seamless experience.
• LeadIQ provides sales prospecting and automation to help sales and marketing teams capture leads from social networks. LeadIQ triple-verifies every email, with an industry-best 95% delivery on all verified leads. The company pulls company info and social activity from multiple sources to create a comprehensive profile, so sales teams can prequalify leads. The company has more than 100 paying customers, including Dropbox, Oracle and GiftHub.
• Keewi is an Internet-of-Things software company that uses big data and machine learning to achieve maximum energy efficiency in commercial buildings. Currently, plug devices (those that are plugged into a wall outlet) account for 40%–60% of a building’s total energy consumption, and their energy costs are increasing faster than those of ventilation and lighting. They are hard to measure and manage and, according to Keewi, hold over $40 billion in energy efficiency savings potential. Keewi’s hardware and software platforms seek to address these key issues. Building managers can track energy usage and tailor consumption to demand through their mobile device and web browser. Early customers and partners include Stanford University, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and Hilton Hotels.

Flowcast presentation Global Retail & Technology

• Using data science and predictive analytics, Flowcast offers cash-flow forecasting services to financial organizations. The company provides an open API to make it easy for B2B marketplaces to offer financing seamlessly. The company has found that its analytics lower default risk by 30%. Currently, the company has six paying pilots with large financial institutions and corporations.
• RankMyApp is a tool that helps apps garner more organic downloads by ranking higher in app stores. The Brazil-based startup uses a proprietary algorithm that monitors and suggests keywords to help marketers select the best ones to help boost an app’s ranking and findability in the app stores. The company has partnered with Google, the IBM Global Entrepreneur program and Yahoo. According to the company’s founder, Leandro Scalise, 76% of people download the apps that are ranked in the first five positions in one of the app stores. Sephora used the company’s services, and has seen 95% higher organic downloads in the past two months.
• Data Fellas provides the Adalog Suite to data science teams in the insurance and health sectors. The solution provides the shortest path from the business question to the delivery of a value-added service for decision making.
• io automates candidate interview scheduling by using an intelligent matching system that syncs with a team’s existing calendar system to find the optimal times to schedule interviews. While waiting for companies to get back to them, 47% of candidates who are in the recruiting process end up accepting other jobs. This service will help companies avoid losing candidates to other companies that move faster. According to the company, four out of every 10 interviews ends up having to be rescheduled due to miscommunication, last-minute changes or human error.

GoodTime.io CEO Ahryun Moon Source: Fung Global Retail & Technology

• io is an end-to-end cloud management platform that works across private and public clouds. The company offers a cloud migration service for applications to securely migrate to and from public and private clouds and manage their assets in real time. Founder Naveen Nimmu said that the hybrid cloud market is worth roughly $29 billion and that companies spend $2.2 billion on migration-related costs.
• Puloli provides network-as-a-service (NaaS) for wide-area wireless networks. The company’s vision is to democratize access to last-mile connectivity and provide a “network for all,” allowing enterprise and content providers to directly reach customers and machines without any dependency on legacy communications infrastructure.
• Geospago is an enterprise mobile platform for logistics companies to track, monitor and manage filed operations in real time. Using the app, companies can create workflow processes to support pickup and delivery transactions. In real time, organizations can track, monitor and manage filed assets and related operations.