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Applying more intelligence and innovation to the way we source, manage, apply and analyze the energy used to power our planet is one of the most important tasks we could hope have taken on by our brightest entrepreneurs and startups. With help from folks like University of Missouri System, UMSL Accelerate and Capital Innovators, the future of energy innovation looks like a bright one.  Ameren Accelerator is a partnership between the University of Missouri System, USML Accelerate and Capital Innovators, and Ameren (a Fortune 500 utility company), intended to assess, mentor, and invest in energy technology startup companies. The entity is based out of St. Louis, and is ranked the 3rd best accelerator by Entrepreneur Magazine. The creators of the accelerator look to invest $100,000 in five to seven companies each year. Recently the Ameren Accelerator selected several companies to be part of their latest batch of startups to receive…

I got to see Metallica live in 2011. I was a good twenty rows from the stage, but I’m positive James Hetfield looked me straight in the eye when he sang “Nothing matters, no one else” from Fade to Black. Clearly, I was his favorite fan. Having a personal interaction with a celebrity like that one isn’t always accessible. It’s why BidAway has created a platform that gives fans a way to have unique experiences involving their idols. Who gets to be part of those experiences is decided based on the results of auctions and sweepstakes. BidAway keeps 20 percent of the proceeds, and the rest is given to charity. The NGOs that receive contributions from BidAway are chosen by the celebrities themselves.       Founder Luca Carlucci tells me that the team puts a great deal of thought both into choosing the right celebrities and fan experiences. When it…

When you think of brushing your teeth, what comes to mind? If you’re like most people, probably unpleasant trips to the dentist and annoying daily routines. Although there have been some variants of smart toothbrushes on the market–even ones that convert the exercise into a hygienic smartphone video game–they still require users to actually brush their own teeth. Annoying, right? And time-consuming. Hey, it’s a gig economy out there. If you really want your product to take off, take time and responsibility off of consumers’ plates. Enter: the automatic toothbrush. The Amabrush automatic toothbrush is a hands-free device that brushes all of your teeth at once; it’s entirely automatic, and it finishes in ten seconds (insert “marriage sex life” joke here). The brush has built-in micro-channels that efficiently transport toothpaste to the user’s teeth, while being soft enough to prevent gum damage. Similar to a run-of-the-mill-now-effectively-antique electric toothbrush, Amabrush sports a magnetic connection for…

Carrying a wallet is something almost everyone does, and it’s something most people don’t give much thought to. Despite being an essential element of daily routines, 30 million wallets are lost annually in the world? It might seem trivial, but technology is finally advancing to make wallets more advanced with a smart wallet.     Volterman is the world’s most powerful smart wallet with a few smart functions. The first feature of note is the built-in power bank which fully charges users’ smartphones on the go, both wirelessly and with a cable. It comes in multiple capacities ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 mAh. To help prevent users from losing their phone or their wallet, there’s a built-in Bluetooth alarm system which sends alerts if the phone or wallet leave a specific range. The built-in Wi-Fi hotspot helps to ensure users have internet access wherever they travel. On average the internet cost…

Could your desk ever be anything more than a cluttered mess of stationery, gadgets, cables and sundry other objects? Apparently, it can, according to Carnegie Mellon researchers Chris Harrison, Scott Hudson, and Robert Xiao. The team has created a system using which you can turn regular work desks into interactive surfaces on which you can use smartphone applications via augmented reality. Desktopography, as it’s called, is still a research project, but points towards the kind of technology we could have at our disposal in the near future.     The main idea behind Desktopography is to blur the lines between physical and virtual objects. As complex as that sounds, the system only really requires a depth sensor and a projector light to make that possible. Both of those components are housed within a standard light bulb fixture in the prototype created by the team. The purpose of the projector is…

Michelin recently revealed a prototype of the MICHELIN Visionary Concept. It is a tire made out of recycled materials. The wheel has no internal pressure which makes it puncture-proof and also means that the tires won’t be affected by bad weather. The tread adjusts to the driving condition and can also be modified and replenished at any time.     The wheel has a honeycomb structure which Michelin explains in its news release as a form that mimics the natural growth process at work in the plant, mineral or sometimes even animal world, such as in coral. Since the tire is made out of recycled materials, the tire itself is, of course, fully recyclable. Despite this, the tire is designed to last as long as the vehicle. A 3D printer can easily replenish the tire tread whenever needed. According to Michelin, “the material used, which draws on cold cure technology, delivers the same performances…

As the last of the millennials leave college and head out into the real world, many of them have acquired the skills to make money, but are struggling with the saving part of the equation. According to CEO and co-founder of Exeq, Daniel Schwartz, 70% of millennials have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts and 60% of them live from paycheck to paycheck. Regardless of why millennials are lacking in the knowledge of how to properly save their hard-earned cash, it is a well-known problem and one that other tech startups have already tried to tackle. When you think about it, giving millennials an app to better manage their finances is a smart move. Millennials don’t necessarily trust banks, but they do trust technology. So, when they want guidance on how to spend their money, a digital financial advisor is the way to go. Daniel Schwartz’s Exeq is the latest personal finance…

When it comes to living in hot climates, there’s nothing better than having a cool breeze from an air conditioning system. Unfortunately, in many cases, these systems require significant amounts of power and energy – the costs of which add up significantly in hot climates where users need to run the AC continuously. The makers of Mistbox are looking to help reduce energy consumption with their connected device that pre-cools intake air to boost the user’s AC efficiency by 30%. By using sensors to monitor AC operation and climate conditions, Mistbox can optimize the mist and oversee the health of the user’s air conditioning system. Mistbox involves positioning nozzles around the AC condenser to create a fine water mist which evaporates to pre-cool the existing air. By using a proprietary combination of water treatment technologies, Mistbox ensures it doesn’t cause any damage to the user’s equipment. Rather than relying on…

There’s no question that AR—augmented reality, the less sexy but arguably more useful stepsister of virtual reality—is going to be revolutionary. Medicine, logistics, gaming, and a load of other industries will benefit from the tech. But before they can make use of it, the tech has to be built in a usable fashion, and AR developers have hit more than a few bumps in the road as they race to the finish. Closures, Buyouts, and Fakes, Oh My! One contender, we can cross off the list is CastAR, a recent and surprising casualty in the AR war. Despite a successful Kickstarter campaign that yielded to outside venture funding—CastAR took in $15 million from legit investors and returned the $1m they had raised through Kickstarter, which allowed them to postpone their release date—the company suddenly shuttered last week when the fund ran out. A skeleton crew is hanging on to try…

On-demand services are all the rage right now (thanks, Uber). Businesses understand that consumers want more convenient experiences and they want to order them with a simple click of a button. One of the industries that’s seeing a lot of use for this is the dry cleaning space with laundry services.   It’s no surprise then that on-demand laundry services have been popping up like crazy these past few years. Today we’re going to look at Rinse, an on-demand laundry service provider based out of San Francisco that’s been around since 2013, but just received a $14 million in funding (bringing their total to $23.5 million), signaling a major round of expansion is about to happen.     Rinse to Wash Away the Friction from Dry Cleaning One of Rinse’s co-founders, James Joun, grew up in a family in the dry cleaning business, so there was an inherent knowledge of the pain faced…

Toronto-based clinical image and knowledge-sharing healthcare app Figure 1, described as an ‘Instagram for doctors,’ has raised $10 million in funding in a round led by Kensington Capital Partners, with additional support from Samsung NEXT Ventures, John Hancock/Manulife Financial, Hedgewood, and WTI. Existing investors Union Square Ventures, Rho Canada Ventures, and Version One Ventures also participated. This is the fourth round of funding for the four-year-old startup and brings its total investment to $23 million.     Investment Focus With this new investment, Figure 1 plans to expand their knowledge network, and build upon their case intelligence using artificial intelligence to extract value from the thousands of medical cases in their library, starting with a feature to turn images of electrocardiograms into digital data. The company announced this feature this past weekend at the International Congress on Electrocardiology in Portland. At first, experts will be able to weigh in on the meaning…

Graphene has, despite the odds, lived up to its hype. The carbon compound has made everything from solar-powered artificial skin to safer condoms a reality. Now it has been tapped to reinvent the world of high-performance audio by Ora Sound, who have created the first ever graphene headphones, the Ora GQ. The Montreal-based company’s pitch has been a hit on Kickstarter, where they have raised $270,000 with contributions from over a thousand backers. So the obvious question that comes to mind is, “Why graphene?” And the answer has everything to do with the material’s properties, which make it 200 hundred times sturdier than steel and lighter than paper by 1000 times. The latter makes it possible to create extremely thin graphene membranes, which Ora has patented under the name GrapheneQ. The GrapheneQ diaphragms that are used on the Ora GQ headphones lend it a high level of fidelity, resulting in improved…