An invitation to an
Alpha Lab open house is a show and tell for startups taken to a new level.
This month the third crop of Alpha Lab companies offered potential investors and inquisitive others a preview of the latest innovations in software, entertainment and mobile technology. About 120 people attended the South Side event to hear from six companies.
Briefly, there's
CloudFab by GearHeadz, which hopes to do for manufacturing what cloud computing has done for computing by sharing resources and selling the idle time of digital manufacturing equipment. Frustrated by the lack of online restaurant sophistication?
Fooala has launched an online restaurant ordering system that is already delivering hot menus. See the Pop City story
here.
There's
LeftRight Studios, creators of cool games and unique branded game components for mobile phones. Its first
iPhone app,
smackBOTS, is already available. Carnegie Mellon spinoff
NavPrescience is developing a GPS system of the future, smart technology that knows where you want or need to go before you do.
Vivo is already well-known locally as the live video startup that has streamed local government live. Now it's targeting the publishing industry and has landed some big clients including Harper Collins and American Booksellers. (See the Pop City story
here.) And finally,
Zipano, a Carnegie Mellon-inspired security platform, offers a unique way to keep online information secure.
"For many companies this is the first time they've formally presented to an audience," says Jim Jen of Innovation Works. "It's a good way to introduce them and boost momentum."
Alpha Lab is helping to increase the density of digital startups in the region, says Sean Ammirati, CEO of
mSpoke and an AL board member. "The physical presence (of everyone here) makes it easier for our stories to be told; it gives everyone connecting points."
Writer:
Debra Diamond SmitSource: Innovation Works