According to BusinessWeek's latest issue it's official - the place with the largest concentration of the "World's Most Intriguing Startups" is .... Silicon Valley (or the San Francisco Bay Area, if you want to be picky). BW identified 25 young companies from as far away as China, India, Ohio(!) and Europe. Of those 25 a whopping 13 - over half!! - are here, in or around the Valley.
This thrills me because when you look at the broad range of ideas being developed here and the fact that these are just the tip of the Valley iceberg you realize yet again how the Valley continues to be the world's technology leader and will be far into the future. It's not semiconductors. It's not computers. It's not networking equipment. It's a whole set of interesting new areas where we take the lead. So, here are the Valley companies making the grade!
BioFuelBox
San Jose, Calif.
Funding to date (in dollars): $9,500,000
Investors: Draper Fisher Jurvetson
BioFuelBox
converts grease and fat from food waste into biodiesel. Its first plant
converts waste from potato processing facilities in Idaho.
BrightSource Energy
Oakland, Calif.
Funding to date (in dollars): $160,000,000
Investors: VantagePoint Venture partners
One of the world's leading developers of solar thermal technology, BrightSource Energy won the contract for an enormous solar project in California's Mojave desert.
Bump Technologies
Mountain View, Calif.
Funding to date (in dollars): $3,020,000
Investors: Y Combinator, Ron Conway, Sequoia Capital
One of the hottest free iPhone apps, this software from Bump Technologies lets users share personal contact information and photos simply by bumping two phones together.
Coulomb Technologies
Campbell, Calif.
Funding to date (in dollars): $3,750,000
Investors: Estag Capital
Electric car drivers in San Francisco and Europe can plug in at Coulomb Technologies charging stations, which are about the size of a parking meter.
Driptech
Palo Alto, Calif.
Funding to date (in dollars): $100,000
Investors: Scott Petry
Driptech's
low-cost irrigation technology is designed to help millions of poor
farmers in the developing world struggling with water scarcity.
Fitbit
San Francisco
Funding to date (in dollars): $2,050,000
Investors: SoftTech VC, True Ventures
FitBit
sells a $99 gizmo that tracks movement, exercise, and sleeping
patterns. The data zips wirelessly to a Web site, where you can chart
your progress.
FreeWheel
San Mateo, Calif.
Funding to date (in dollars): $14,750,000
Investors: Foundation Capital, Battery Ventures
Hatched by former DoubleClick execs, FreeWheel helps big media companies such as Warner Music manage and monetize ads for online videos.
Justin.tv
San Francisco
Funding to date (in dollars): $6,200,000
Investors: Y Combinator, Alsop-Louie
Justin Kan launched the site as a live video "lifecast" of himself. Now Justin.tv is one of the largest live video-sharing communities, with 40 million monthly visitors.
Permuto
Palo Alto, Calif.
Funding to date (in dollars): $6,030,000
Investors: Onset Ventures, Rembrandt Venture Partners
Permuto aims to bring the precision targeting of search advertising to display ads, by tracking consumers' online shopping behavior.
Scribd
San Francisco
Funding to date (in dollars): $12,800,000
Investors: Charles River Ventures, Redpoint
A sort of YouTube for publishing, Scribd lets 40 million users upload digital versions of reports and other printed matter and share them easily across the Web.
SolarCity
Foster City, Calif.
Funding to date (in dollars): $56,000,000
Investors: First Solar, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
The largest provider of residential solar systems in California, SolarCity provides financing, installation, and monitoring services for homeowners and companies.
Xobni
San Francisco
Funding to date (in dollars): $15,100,000
Investors: Atomico Investments, Khosla Ventures
Can't stay on top of your e-mail? Xobni overhauls Microsoft Outlook to make all that information more searchable and easy to organize.
Zynga
San Francisco
Funding to date (in dollars): $39,000,000
Investors: Clarium Capital, Foundry Group
Social game juggernaut Zynga is riding high on the sales of virtual goods, such as the digital crops purchased by players of the popular game FarmVille.