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Despite being thousands of miles away from the Valley, East Coast startup hubs such as New York and Boston continue to grow in size, churning out promising companies left and right.
Now, we’ve created a collection of 13 East Coast-based companies to look out for in 2013. These startups are still in their early stages of development, but have shown enough promise in 2012 to warrant a strong year ahead.
Take a look at some of our favorites below, and then be sure to let us know any about other startups you’re eyeing in the comments.
Backspaces
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We were the first to highlight Backspaces upon its launch in August 2012 (I snagged the username “H“), and we’re watching closely as the service continues to grow. Check it out via the link below and keep on the lookout for interesting updates.
➤ Backspaces for iPhone
Grand St.
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Grand St. is currently operating in private beta, but 200 TNW readers can sign up now via this link.
Karma
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Now, thanks to TechStars alum Karma, you can earn free data by sharing your hotspot with others around you. Karma calls this idea “social bandwidth,” and it’s what makes this emerging Internet provider special.
As we said after using the device ourselves, “upon connecting to your hotspot for the first time, two curious things happen: first, the device’s network takes on your name (e.g.: “Harrison’s Karma”), second, that network refuses to be password-protected, because when a stranger, friend or even a lover connects to your Karma device, you’ll both earn 100MB of free data.” Read our full review here.
➤ Karma
Rap Genius / Genius Media Group
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Now, keep on the look out for mass expansion, as Genius Media Group launches new services for verticals beyond music (poetry, law, etc) — the result of a recent $15 Million funding round led by Marc Andreessen.
GymPact
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First, GymPact users make a commitment to work out, then they must set how much cash they’re willing to risk. If you miss your workout, you’ll lose your cash, but if you go, you’ll actually earn money for meeting your goal, paid for by non-exercisers. Update: GymPact participated in TechStars Boston, but has decided to set up shop on the West Coast.
➤ GymPact on iOS and Android
Neverware
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As declining school budgets across the US continue to make investments in modern computing difficult and/or impossible, Neverware is uniquely positioned to dominate the education tech space.
Moat
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➤ Moat
More Worth Watching
We chose the above companies because we believe they’ll make a particularly strong splash in 2013, but there are many other East Coast-based startups worth mentioning.
To avoid being too verbose, other favorites of ours include Shelby, a video-focused TechStars NY alum which won an award at TNW Conference and is currently operating in private beta; Betterific, a DreamIT Ventures Philadelphia alum dedicated to helping you share ideas for making products and companies better; Loverly, a site which lets you discover and save wedding ideas; SpaceSplitter, a growing suite of services that take the pain out of having a roommate; Cater Cow, an Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator alum focused on taking over the food catering industry; and Voice Bunny, which wants to make professional voice overs affordable by way of crowdsouricing.
In addition, more established players like Aviary and Hopstop also appear to have a very impressive year ahead of themselves, as both show no signs of slowing down after periods of significant growth. Aviary recently inked a major deal to provide filters for Twitter, after already teaming up with Flickr and hundreds of other app developers. Hopstop, on the other hand, has heavily benefited from Apple’s disappointing Maps app.
In short, there clearly are plenty of impressive early stage companies on the East Coast, many of which are only just beginning to surface. As always, we’ll keep searching for the best and brightest, and will be sure to send them your way if we think they’ll deliver.
Image credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images
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