5 startups to watch from today’s Techstars NYC demo day

The latest batch of Techstars New York startups graduated today. They will now move on and try to conquer the startup scene. Aside from the ideas that were showcased, one of the biggest highlights was the large number of women present. Roughly 30 percent of the CEOs presenting their ideas were women, or four out of the 14 presenters.

That number is remarkable when you consider that only 4.2 percent of women at Fortune 500 companies take on the chief executive role.

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Demo Day was more exciting than I anticipated, so I put together a short round-up of the ideas that caught my attention most. The list is in no particular order — so don’t stress yourself trying to figure it out.

Slash

Slash, a keyboard app that acts like a browser for messaging, lets you search for web content, emojis, and news. You can even tweet directly from your text conversation without leaving it, instead of juggling between apps and internet tabs.

Flip

This real estate startup wants you to forget about the hassle of dealing with leases. Flip allows tenants to either sell or hand over an apartment lease to someone else. Let’s say you want to move out and you have three months left on your lease — you can post your lease on Flip and the site will pair you with interested parties. The app also scores suggested renters based on their credit and income.

Max

Max is the first African startup to graduate from Techstars. The Nigerian company wants to help local merchants deliver their products the same day. While same-day delivery is becoming a common service in the U.S., it is far from the norm in Africa. Max launched a platform three months ago that connects merchants with couriers and delivers goods in under three hours. The company currently operates in the city of Lagos, but aims to expand to five locations in three African countries next year.

Spidr

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Spidr wants to bring policing to the 21st century by generating data-driven police reports that could make it easier for law enforcement departments to track officers’ progress. Instead of basing police officers’ performance on the numbers of arrests and tickets, Spidr takes in a wider spectrum of data, like information about a patrol or files from personnel management, in order to generate comprehensive stats.

Jewelbots

If you hate the “drones are for boys, dolls-that-poop-play-doh are for girls” marketing of toys, you’ll be relieved to hear about smart friendship bracelets for girls. Jewelbots are programmable bracelets with LED lights that let friends exchange secret codes and send each other notifications. The startup scored a partnership with Google’s Made with Code to encourage girls to learn how to code in hopes of fostering the next generation of female engineers.

 

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That was my top five, but you can check out the rest of Techstar’s startups here.