PlugandPlay40: More startups on display

Plug and Play Tech Center, a startup incubator based in Sunnyvale, will be hosting an exposition tomorrow afternoon.

Forty companies will be presenting, most with no significant venture backing. Below is a summary.

The Center itself offers a range of services to companies, from office space and other facilities to web hosting. It is the incubator arm of the Amidi family, a successful Iranian immigrant family that has gone from selling fine rugs in the area (our coverage), to real estate (it owned the early offices of Paypal and Google) and investing, among a range of other business ventures.

A number of notable startups have come out of the PlugandPlay since it launched a little more than a year ago. One of them, the mobile video site Mywaves, announced today it had 1.25 million unique users — a 400 percent increase over the last three months, with average visits of 20 minutes, the company claims.

Some of the well-known companies presenting tomorrow will include Lending Club (coverage), TechDirt (coverage), Vator.tv (coverage) and Twiki.

But be warned: Some of these startups illustrate the just how few good company names are left on the web, a problem most recently pointed out earlier this week.

Highlighted presenting companies:

BlueGem Security: Security encryption software to keep data thieves from hacking into your computer and figuring out what you’re typing — bank account passwords, for example. It provides a locally based secure socket layer, or SSL, software that operates between computer hardware and your operating system. The company says its software has been downloaded over 70 million times. Besides the software industry at large, and financial services, the company’s software is used in health care to secure patient records and drug research. Competitors include RSA Security, PassMark Security, TriCipher and StrikeForce.

FuGen Solutions: Identity management that works across web services within a business so that users — employees and customers — can use different software systems that are part of a company’s services. Potentially useful for large companies with many poorly integrated web services.

Gigya: A way for developers to let users post widgets to their social network pages on Myspace and other social networks, blogs, and other web sites with a single click. It also provides distribution and usage analytics. Impressively, the company’s partners include many top widget providers, including RockYou, Metacafe, Webshots, Gaiaonline, and many others. Techcrunch has more, and separately notes the company has raised $2.4 million from Benchmark and First Round Capital in June.

Zephyr: A closed-beta startup trying to solve organizational problems in “quality assurance” software testing departments of software companies. It uses Adobe’s software developer tool Flex to let you run the software on either your own computer or over the web. This allows for a snappier interface than is often seen on web applications, specifically drag-and-drop windows that show assignments for team members, lists of software bugs, charts on how fast people are working, and other tools for measuring progress on a software testing project. Boring software to many, but the company tells us they’re getting interest from some large tech companies that are stuck with hard to use testing software.

Other presenting companies:

Apsoftek: Identity management software.

Bizyweb: Software to help you add widgets and other features to a web site without having to redesign it.

Broker Storage: Online backup of real estate data, which analyzes past sales then notifies real estate brokers and agents using the system of potential leads to future clients.

Ccube: A voice over internet protocal, or VOIP, calling service that doesn’t reveal your personal phone number.

Ceino: Software for use in computer kiosks in malls, to help shoppers find what they’re looking for.

College Wikis: Wikis for people on college campuses. The concept is somewhere between a college newspaper and Facebook’s “network” pages.

CopaCast: Online advertising measurement.

DataMash: Instantly sends updates between shared documents and applications.

Geejo: [No information available. Apparently, the name is derived from “hobo.”]

GetQuick: [No information available]

MyMagMedia: An online publishing platform.

Moowee: Uses web connections in devices such as the Wii to allow TV’s to play online video.

Paybl: Building a new kind of payment system, but unlaunched.

PhotoCrank: personalize photos on your mobile phone with captions and graphics.

Pixsy: white-label image and video search.

Planaroo: An event-planning site.

Pollection: A polling service; includes a Facebook application.

QbizTech: Customized business software.

QlipMedia: A handy tool for blending voice and video mail (see VB coverage)

ScreenerKey: [no information available]

Souki.com: Restaurant reviews with an “AJAXian” interface.

Spigit: Social networking features built around a system of measuring each users reputation and ideas.

Spokeo: A unified platform for tracking your friends across online community sites (!).

StrayForm: A DRM-free online community for artists and fans, where fans can fund artists’ projects.

SueEasy: [Intriguing name, but sadly, no information available]

Xpree: Expert predictions for businesses (unlaunched).

UrNetlife: View summaries of your accounts on other web sites that you’d otherwise have to log in to access, from a central location.

UserZoom: Remote testing for the usability of web interfaces (demo only at the expo).

Zipidee: A marketplace for selling digital goods, launching at the expo.