What’s Up: SMS Startups
Telecommunication is a fast growing industry that keeps us surprising. Only during 2016 there were so many brilliant ideas from free roaming to the chat bots that were successfully embodied in startups. So, why not to view a top telecom startup rating right away? Are you ready? Here we go.
1. Unlockd:
Almost free mobile communication.
Origin: Australia-United Kingdom
Investments: $ 16 million
An idea of free mobile communication has always been interesting to many companies.
However, only an Australian startup called Unlockd has managed to put it on the streamline. The point is that it provides any operator with an option that allows subscribers to reduce cellular communication costs.
Every time a user unlocks the smartphone screen, an advertisement appears on it. The subscriber can turn off the display of advertising, but in a case of viewing at least one advertisement per day, at the end of the month money bonuses are credited to the subscriber’s account. Simple as it is, eh?
The project creators have already signed several agreements with the large telecom operators. In the UK, for example, Tesco’s largest retailer already uses Unlockd in its operator’s project (MVNO Tesco Mobile).
2. Estimote:
Smart city with your own hands.
Origin: Poland-USA
Investments: $ 13.8 million
Imagine that the world around us is equipped with the beacons transmitting information about the objects to the smartphones. For example, you forgot where your car is — and with the help of such an assistant, you will easily find a parking place. With iBeacons technology, you can easily create the Internet stuff ecosystem almost anywhere.
Unlike the classical start-ups in the field of the Internet things, the business idea from Estimote is interesting because of the almost limitless possibilities. Instead of embedding different sensors in already existing objects, it’s easier, cheaper and faster to attach these sensors to them. Thus, during 2016, Estimote received 10.7 million investments for the further development of the project.
Today Estimote beacons are already used by a number of IoT service companies, it is possible that the operators will also be interested in using these highly customizable sensors in their Internet stuff projects too.
3. GoTenna:
No connection? — No problem!
Origin: USA
Investments: 9.3 million dollars
Back in 2012, a history of a goTenna startup began after a catastrophe that occurred in America and turned the lives of many Americans. Hurricane Sandy destroyed a quarter of Telecom towers in ten states in a few hours.
More than 8 million homes were left without electricity. Hundreds of people could not call rescuers or contact their relatives. An idea of a portable transmitter, which can be put in your pocket and send an SOS signal at any time, has turned out to be vitally important.
Four years after the launch, the goTenna startup is already a successful technology company with nearly $ 10 million investments.
In 2016, the project entered the TOP-50 startups of New York, received gold at the International Design Excellence Awards, and was also highly appreciated at the largest international technology competition CES Innovation Awards.
4. Api.Ai:
Сreate chat bots in two clicks!
Origin: Russia-USA
Investments: 8.6 million dollars
Chat bots as virtual helpers for any occasion are the latest trend among the majority of the I-net based services. Indeed, whether to call a taxi or get a whether forecast, place an order at an on line store or just have a talk for fun is now possible with the hep of instant messengers and chat bots.
Voice interfaces are based on artificial intelligence and seem smarter than a boring Siri, for example. Besides, the experts forecast that chat bots will replace the traditional messengers and applications in the nearest future.
Developers, unlike other chat room evangelists, do not bond the usage of chat bots with social networks. So, the platform is available to all operators and users who can use it to promote their services.
5. Avo
Rooming economy!
Origin: Russia
Investments: 7.7 million dollars
In 2016, the AVO development team, based in Russia started working with ComfortWay, another innovative Russian project. In August 2016, the company released a SIM card, which is not tied to any mobile operators. Now subscribers have a unique opportunity to independently choose a local telecom operator in 140 countries around the world, including Russian Federation.
The operators are more likely to use the application because their subscribers are massively using instant messengers and Skype for the communication abroad, but with the help of Avo they will continue using operator’s numbers as their identifiers, and the calls will be made to ordinary mobile numbers.
6. Starry Internet:
Download in a minute!
Origin: USA
Investments: Unknown
Chet Kanoji, a start-up founder is already famous for creation of Aereo project, which has jeopardized the whole business of paid -TV operators. Very soon this project was closed due to the pressure on a part of the USA regulatory authorities. The next project was Starry, and here Kanoji started from afar — from a new model of a home router. But now he wants to hold a revolution in the field of broadband Internet access.
Chet’s new idea, Starry Internet, is quite a new standard for wireless data transmission. The startup tries to fit into a millimeter waves niche, not yet occupied by the mobile operators. The idea of Starry Internet is to act as a communication operator, however to broadcast under the own standard, which does not require a special license. Not bad, not bad.
Telecom has never been a static industry. It is obvious from the number of startups we have each year, new fresh ideas of how to integrate the fast changing Internet technologies and the communications that are timeless in nature.
Have any ideas? Welcome to share them with us.
