Comments Off on Scottish Startup: Tummy With Mummy A Great Product For Tummy Time INTERVIEW0LikeLike 1,761
The first thing I thought when I heard the name of this Scottish startup is, what in the world is a Tummy With Mummy and what is Tummy Time. Well Tummy Time is the activity where babies essentially lay face down on the floor and scoot around on their tummy’s or play with toys in this position.
It turns out that Tummy Time is an essential part of the development of a baby’s motor skills and the most critical time for this to occur is between zero to 6 months.
Well sometimes Tummy Time doesn’t work out. Parents are often scared that the baby will hurt themselves on a hard wood floor and sometimes it doesn’t really look comfortable to see a new-born facedown, you worry if they are ok.
Tummy With Mummy is a patented product made by Scotish startup called TWM Productions. Tummy with Mummy is a baby seat that allows baby’s to play in the Tummy position with a parent or loved one or by themselves. It keeps the baby’s in the best position for Tummy Time and then it folds completely flat for storage and to fit in the trunk of a car.
TWM Productions is actually part of the Entrepreneurial Spark program which provides resources to growing startups in the UK. Tummy With Mummy’s co-founder Dave Abrahams says that Entrepreneurial Spark actually instills North American values in some of the UK startups.
Check out our interview Abrahams below. He tells us all about this new startup that was actually followed by his mum and is now a family business.
Simple is good, right? If that’s the case then you’re going to like the ease and simplicity built into UK gift giving startup Parcel Genie. Sure it’s got a “blah” name but remember Parcel may be much more glamorous in the UK, you know the way they add that “u” to colour it makes it more colourful (and boy does spell check hate it).
Parel Genie is available on iOS, Android and even Windows Phone 7. It makes sending gifts to your friends as easy as sending instant messages and texts.
“We are pioneering the concept of gifting as communication,” says John Taylor, CEO and co-founder of ParcelGenie. “With our service, people can respond to news from friends, co-workers and loved ones — an achievement at work, a personal goal achieved, a quick thank-you, or someone not feeling well — with an immediate, low-cost real little gift and personal message. ParcelGenie closes the gap between thought and action, making it easy to do something meaningful to deepen emotional connections with the people in our lives.”
With Parcel Genie you send small little gifts, almost like chotzkes to your friends and family via their mobile number. If you know their actual address you can enter it for delivery. If you don’t have their address or don’t have time to fumble with it, they’ll receive a text message notifying them that you’ve sent this great little gift and prompt them for their delivery address.
In Europe the service is called Parcel Genie and there’s a Parcel Genie app in the iTunes App Store, Google Play Store and whatever it is they call the app store in Windows Phone 7. In the United States and other countries Parcel Genie is actually a white labeled partner service for some of the major e-commerce sites out there. If you see a “send an instant gift” or a “ping” button it takes you to the Parcel Genie service on behalf of that partner.
The company’s website says they are totally international and are opening an office in California. Their management team includes Sir Chris Powell, an actual knight, who achieved knighthood for his role in British advertising.
Their CEO is Dr.John Taylor, who is an actual doctor ;). Taylor actually thought up the idea for Parcel Genie back in 2006. The management team rounds out with CTO Dr. Richard Tolcher and Bruce Garvey (who is a real Bruce).
What we like about this startup:
Well sending vouchers, gift cards and other executables seems so generic. Sending real presents with flower arrangements and cards is so, well 2006. We like the immediacy of Parcel Genie. We also like the fact that Parcel Genie eliminates the problem of “I would send someone a gift but I don’t have their address”.
Exploring their gift store a little more gives way to cool key chains, coffee mugs and even boxes of Jelly Belly’s, I mean who wouldn’t appreciate a box of genuine Jelly Belly’s.
Comments Off on UK Startup: FlavrBox Puts Flavor In The Subscription Box0LikeLike 2,363
It’s no secret that one of the biggest newly created spaces for startups is the subscription box. We’ve brought you stories about a variety of box subscriptions like Chicago’s Klutch Club; popular New York beauty box, Birch Box; and even Houston based crafts subscription box startup, Whimseybox.
Across the pond the subscription box is catching on too and in even more new and exciting ways. Flavrbox actually ships the best in nonperishable food items and ingredients to their subscribers. We love food that’s one of the reasons this startup caught our eye, but also the innovative approach to tackling the problem of how do you ship food to subscribers.
I mean how much soup and crackers can one person eat? Well we found out that FlavrBox is way more than just soup and crackers. They have an innovative approach to the subscription box in their flavor packed food boxes that they send through the post (British for mail).
Are they sending tea and crumpets through the post? Find out below in our interview with Flavrbox, a tasty new British startup
Comments Off on European Startup King.com Beats Out Electronic Arts On Facebook0LikeLike 1,473
While we admit we are skeptical on the fact that king.com calls themselves a startup, they do so to that end we will as well. Outside of them being a startup though, this little known game development studio in London has overtaken Electronic Arts in terms of daily app users for their Facebook games.
Admittedly, they aren’t anywhere near eclipsing Facebook giant Zynga but they have their sites set on Zynga. According to this report from the Chicago Tribune, king.com’s game Bubble Witch Saga has more daily active players than Zynga’s smash hit Farmville. Impressive. But not quite the 65 million daily users Zynga has across all of their titles.
King.com’s most recent launch, a game called Candy Crush Saga, has already crossed the half a million daily users threshold. That game just debuted last week.
“Our ultimate ambition is to be the leader in our segment of games for the casual social player, mainly female, social and mobile,” King.com’s Chief Executive and co-founder Riccardo Zacconi said in an interview with Reuters. He continued, “Our target is to reach Zynga.”
Across Facebook and other channels King.com reports that they have 2.5 billion games played per month. Although they started out before Facebook gaming became popular a lot of their game plays comes from Facebook. Zynga has been reportedly looking at options outside of Facebook and King.com says they are looking at other places to host their casual games as well.
King.com lacks in the mobile world and plans to change that this year by introducing their most popular titles to iOS and Android. That’s a space where EA and Zynga have already been successful.
Comments Off on With $17 Million In New Funds Hailo May Make It To U.S. Before Uber Gets To London0LikeLike 1,891
Private car service app Uber has taken the U.S. by storm in the select markets they are doing business in. You simply download the app and have a car come and get you (in select markets). Across the pond in London there’s another company operating in both London and Dublin, doing the same thing with taxicabs.
We profiled Hailo a few weeks back. The startup came about from three taxi drivers as a way to provide more fares and make the taxi experience in the UK more social. Long gone are the days where a taxi driver needs to wait all day at a cab stand or a passenger needs to stand on the street corner to wave somebody down.
With Hailo (like Uber) a few taps of an app and your taxicab is on the way. They also allow you to pay through the app with a credit or debit card and of course you can pay the cab driver with cash. They’ll also hold the meter off for five minutes.
Hailo has already seen 200,000 downloads from consumers in London and over 3200 taxi drivers have downloaded it. Hailo has about 1700 cabs using the app for fares.
TechCrunch reported yesterday that Hailo had raised $17 million in a series A round led by Accel Partners. The company is looking to bring Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, and New York on rather quickly. Hailo’s CEO Jay Bregman does realize that it will be a hurdle to get over New Yorks stringent taxicab regulations.
As with their London market, Hailo isn’t looking to provide cabbies with full time work but rather supplement their normal amount of fares with extra fares. Hailo has also enlisted the help of drivers that are using the app to take on management roles within the cities they service.
American rival Uber just finished a $32 million dollar round of financing and said that they hope to be operational in London before this summer’s Olympics. The main difference between Uber and Hailo is that Uber uses private car companies while Hailo is striving by working with actual cabs ,a move that could potentially make customers feel safer and more comfortable with the transaction.
Comments Off on Google Opening Startup Tech Center In London0LikeLike 1,362
We love reporting about Great Britain’s thriving tech scene. We’ve recently reported on Hailo, a taxicab app that could put the squeeze on any potential plans for Uber in the home of the 2012 summer Olympics. We also reported on Culture Label an upscale mesh between Etsy, and Amazon offering access to the world’s finest museum shops and more. DeadSoci.al is also one of our favorite startups in the UK targeting, tackling the issue of mortality and making it more social.
London is heating up as one of Euope’s hot tech epicenters and Google will be there in full force. Bloomberg reported today. The tech center model Google is building rivals that of American centers popping up all over the place. Shared work spaces, access to high speed internet, conference rooms, mentorship and collaboration are all things that will be offered in the London venture, as portfolio.com says is in one of Europe’s “hottest zipcodes for technology”.
Google’s new startup tech center will be close to Amazon’s new tech center, both on London’s east end.
Comments Off on Startup Quick Byte: Buddy Beers0LikeLike 1,677
For Startup Quick Byte we’ll take a look at Buddy Beersbased out of Berlin Germany. Buddy Beers takes being a friend to the next level by enabling people from even countries away to buy drinks for their friends. The concept is pretty easy, you buy a drink for your friend with the app, they’ll then receive an email and link to the app, if using an iPhone. Show the bartender at the bar in question, then hit redeem and you are now just waiting for the bartender to make the drink your friend just bought you.
While hot tech start up Uber is preparing to embark on London before the 2012 Olympic games there is already an app available for iPhone and Android that lets people in England hail a taxicab.
The app called Hailo is a network that matches passengers and licensed taxi drivers. The app makes cabbies days more sociable and allows British taxi drivers to go to destination fairs rather than waiting at taxistands all day.
The app is great because it beats calling a taxi. Instead the user can click a button on their Hailo app and a cab is dispatched to them. Hailo promises you’re never two clicks away from a taxi. Hailo allows you to pay by credit card or debit card in-app or in cash to the driver. Hailo cab drivers will even wait five minutes before starting the meter.
Comments Off on 16 Year Old Secures $300,000 In Venture Capital For Summly0LikeLike 1,493
16 year old founder of Summly, Nick D'Aloisio Is Said To Be The Youngest Person To Ever Secure Venture Capital
At London’s Web Summit being held this week in the UK, it was revealed that Nick D’Aloisio, the creator of iPhone app Summly, had received $300,000 in venture capital from Asia’s Horizon Ventures. Horizon Ventures is led by Li Ka-Shing, Asia’s richest person. It’s being reported that Aloisio is the youngest person ever to secure venture capital.
Summly is an iPhone app that summarizes and condenses search results and web pages. D’Aloisio developed this app out of necessity while he was studying for a history exam for school. He started to notice that his Google searches weren’t yielding quality results.
If you’ve ever watched Shark Tank than you know that one of Shark Kevin O’Leary’s favorite industries is the death industry. He always candidly jokes that everybody dies so it’s a sure market. That’s the market that deadsoci.al is in.
Dead Soci.al was founded by James Norris and unveiled at SXSWi in the UKTI booth at the South By Southwest trade show.
Dead Soci.al is a free tool that allows anyone to create private and scheduled messages. The messages can be distributed through email and across the social web once the user dies. The main purpose for Dead Soci.al is to let users say goodbye the way they want to. Dead Soci.al was prominently featured in the SXSW Startup village as well.
Kyle
The first thing I thought when I heard the name of this Scottish startup is, what in the world is a Tummy With Mummy and what is Tummy Time. Well Tummy Time is the activity where babies essentially lay face down on the floor and scoot around on their tummy’s or play with toys in this position.
Nick Tippmann
