StartupRealities

Startup No 189 - #StartupRealities 2020 series  BlogPeerReview  is an online media company which subjects blog posts to peer review by fellow bloggers. For five dollars a piece, the company gets five experienced bloggers to read a blogpost and leave a meaningful comment each. The blog reviewers post all their comments in public and are free to make critical or positive comments as long as they have read the post once. The blog author who pays for the service gets engagement and feedback, which help improve the reach of the blog as well as the quality of writing, argumentation and topic selection. CEO QUOTE " In the world of social media, we are all shouting at the top of our lungs but hardly anyone would hear if all we do is leave scattered comments across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Blogs are a different matter: they are targeted communication channels. My company helps these channels grow into rivers, and helps these rivers connect. We are the Fiverr of the blogosphere!...

Startup No 188 - StartupRealities 2020 series  PhotoPlatforms is a city branding and promotion company which installs free viewing platforms at major urban landmarks to allow tourists and visitors to have photos taken of them at the respective attraction. Some of the platforms are permanent structures, while others are temporary ramps that can be moved in and out for the tourist season. The location of the photo platform is optimised to allow the best angle, sunlight and exposure for a quality Instagram photo that the tourist would not hesitate to post on social media. The platforms are user-friendly for taking selfies as well as for having photos taken by others. CEO QUOTE " In a world of social media, we let tourists and visitors do the advertising of the city. All it takes is to have a nice photo taken of you and, say, the Eiffel Tower, and then posting it on social media. It is guaranteed that social proofing and social jealousy will make at least several of your friends, acqu...

Startup No 187 - StartupRealities 2020 series  EntrepreneurshipScore is a rankings company that compiles an annual ranking of the world's 1,000 leading entrepreneurs and calculates a separate entrepreneurship rating to anyone who requests this service. The #EntrepreneursRanking is similar to the ranking of tennis players and is based on a range of factors in the following categories:  - profitability of one's startups/scale-ups;  - value of owned company stakes, shares and assets;  - dividends and salary income received;  - funding raised from investors and venture capitalists (VC); and  - positive media exposure during the year. The company shortlists fewer than 2,000 entrepreneurs globally for the Top-1,000 #EntrepreneursRanking and compiles the ranking free of charge for the ranked individuals. On the other hand, the #EntrepreneurshipRating is based on similar factors but is a paid service open to anyone. All ratings are made public once compiled and ran...

Startup No 186 - StartupRealities 2020 series MetaphorGenerator is an artificial intelligence (AI) company whose machine learning software reviews text and generates possible metaphors to accompany the text. The programme is particularly useful for enriching new literary works with novel metaphors. While generating the metaphors is entirely computer-generated, human input is needed to shortlist and select the most relevant and useful metaphors for inclusion in the author's text. CEO QUOTE "Imagine a story that talks about the buzzing sound of your dishwasher when turned on. Our MetaphorGenerator will come up with interesting metaphors to go with this scene: perhaps the dishwasher is a metaphor for the busy life of a corporate executive, while washing dishes by hand would symbolise the more relaxed career of a teacher. After all, a teacher puts in a lot more personal touch in educating children - just like someone washing dishes by hand puts in personal touch and effort."...

Startup No 185 - StartupRealities 2020 series GardenPackaging is a garden architecture company which wraps entire gardens and lawns under a giant tensile awning to reduce the intensity of sunlight in the summer and create an artistic visual effect. CEO QUOTE "I was inspired by environmental artist Christo Javacheff  and architect Frei Otto to start this company. Christo and Jeanne-Claude focused on wrapping famous landmarks in their art installations. While I thought: 'Shouldn't someone democratise this beautiful mix of art and architecture and bring it to the people?' This is how my company was born: by the people, for the people!" - said GardenPackaging founder and CEO Garda Packer . Tensile canvas structure in a Park (image source: Wikipedia )

Startup No 184 - StartupRealities 2020 series BeachPorts is a port infrastructure developer which produces temporary ramps that allow using sandy beaches as port quays to load and unload containers on boats. The boats then connect to containerships moored offshore. The ramps can be rolled out and rolled back on demand and allow coastal cities and tourist resorts to connect to global trade flows without requiring a permanent port and without damaging scenic beaches. CEO QUOTE " We help preserve nature while keeping businesses running and trade flowing. That's why we deserve the Nobel Prize for the Environment, which has yet to be created. " - joked BeachPorts founder and CEO Beatriz Portolese . Sandy beach (image source: Wikipedia )

Startup No 183 - StartupRealities 2020 series OpenSEZ is a real estate and industrial park developer which creates and operates Special Economic Zones (SEZ) on greenfield sites. The SEZ have the backing of national governments and offer preferential tax treatment, autonomous rule of law, subsidised healthcare, free education and free internet for all residents and employees in the SEZ. Key geographical areas of interest for the company are unpopulated border zones along the coast of Africa, so that each SEZ straddles two jurisdictions. This creates a healthy internal competition between the two national sections of the SEZ, which are run autonomously and often under different rules and legislation. The SEZ also aim to be self-sufficient in energy (generated by solar panel farms in the vicinity) and water (produced using new energy-efficient osmosis desalination technology). CEO QUOTE "Our company's name is OpenSEZ but we are popularly known as Open Sesame! We create miracles o...