Add / Remove Nourishing and growing a startup requires a few essentials: funding, a committed team, and the time and space to work. Concentrating on that last factor is matchmaking service Cribb — a platform which enables a network of investors and celebrities to offer promising startups the use of their vacant homes for free, in return for equity. Billed as an Airbnb for startups, Cribb helps startups seek out inspiring locations for 3-6 month long semesters. To begin, startups register their interest on the site and fill in a application. Cribb reviews each company, and those who pass the screening process are introduced to homeowners who match their needs and interests. The homeowner then decides if they want to accommodate the startup in return for five percent of their business. Cribb also offers entrepreneurial resources and support to all participating startups to help them accelerate towards the next level of funding. What other resources could wealthy investors make available to startups? Website: www.cribb.co Contact: hello@cribb.co

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Investors host startups in their unused homes in return for equity

Add / Remove Sleepless nights are a given for new parents: when a baby awakes in the night, the soothing voice of a mother or father is most likely the only suitable remedy. Now, SleepHero is a sound-activated mobile app which enables parents to reassure their children in the night, without even having to wake up. The app uses a repertoire of lullabies recorded in the voice of a parent, which play automatically when the child stirs, easing them back to sleep. To begin, parents download the app onto their smartphone or tablet. They can choose from a selection of preloaded nursery rhymes or select their child’s favorite book. The selected text then appears on screen, prompting the user to record the song or story in their own voice. Parents can adjust the amount of noise needed for the app to be triggered into playing, and the length of time the recording should run for. Parents can also choose from a selection of white noises if their baby responds better to those sounds. The app was developed by father of two Rob Tong, who was searching for a solution which would enable both parents and child to get a good nights sleep. How else could smart devices be used to create calming environments for sleeping babies? Website: www.sleepheroapp.com Contact: rob@sleepheroapp.com

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App sings babies back to sleep in their parent’s voice

Add / Remove Industrial scale deforestation destroys 26 billion trees each year, and while there are a number of initiatives — such as Supply Change and The Rainforest Connection — aiming to lessen this number, startup BioCarbon Engineering is concentrating its efforts on damage control by pioneering drone reforestation. The world currently replants approximately 15 billion trees per year. Hand planting trees, which until now has been the primary method available, is both costly and time-consuming, which explains the worrying shortfall in reforestation. Now, BioCarbon Engineering — led by former NASA engineer Lauren Fletcher — are proposing an alternative: the company plans to plant one billion trees a year, using multipurpose drones. The UAVs will first map the terrain of effected areas and then carry out precision planting of pregerminated seeds. Two operators are expected to employ multiple UAVs, which can shoot the seeds at a rate of 10 pellets per minute, totalling 36,000 trees in a day. The seeds would be covered with a nutritious hydrogel, making them more likely to flourish and BioCarbon Engineering hope to collaborate with local reforestation organizations to ensure they satisfy the biodiversity needs of each region, restoring ecosystems rather than creating fragile monocultures . The startup suggests that their method could cost 85 percent less than traditional methods. Are there other ways that drones could be used in farming and gardening? Website: www.biocarbonengineering.com Contact: lauren@biocarbonengineering.com

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Reforestation drones could plant one billion trees a year

Add / Remove Congestion on Atlanta’s Interstate 85 during peak hours is so bad that the state is now offering toll credits to commuters who take public transport to work instead. The I-85 express lanes sees an average of 23,000 trips a day — a problem that Atlanta has attempted to curb in the past by rewarding users who carpool or avoid the dreaded 7-8am time-slot. Now, commuters can earn up to USD 60 every six months in toll credits by connecting their bus pass with their Peach Pass — the electronic toll collection device: they simply register for the pilot program and each time they take public transport instead of driving, they earn USD 2 in toll credits. We have seen a number of similar initiatives — such as Singapore’s Urban Engines and Gothenburg’s free bicycles where governments offer incentives to promote greener, more pleasant travel. Could the scheme work in other traffic-heavy cities too? Website: www.peachpass.com Contact: commutercredits@peachpass.com

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In Atlanta, rush hour commuters get paid to take the bus

Add / Remove Weird Of The Week: This is part of a series of articles that looks at some of the most bizarre and niche business ideas we see here at Springwise. After a long days work, no surfer wants to waste precious surfing minutes changing from their work clothes into their wetsuit, and thankfully, Quiksilver’s latest surfwear line means they no longer have to. The True Wetsuit is a stylish suit, complete with shirt and tie, that is made from fast drying, 2mm thick neoprene: enabling the high powered businessman to go straight from the office to the sea, without ever having to dress down. The True Wetsuit comes in three styles including a black tuxedo version for those who want to not-so-subtly show off their passion for surfing at their cousin’s wedding. Each suit costs 300,000 Japanese Yen — approximately USD 2,500 — and the range currently only caters to men. What other adapted sportswear might we be seeing in the office soon? Website: www.truewetsuits.jp Contact: info@truewetsuits.jp

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Surfing tux puts the suit back in wetsuit

Add / Remove Visual content has been a key component of musical performance ever since video famously killed the radio star back in the late 1970s, and now a new platform is looking to cater to the visual aspects of DJ performance in particular. Chew is a live-streaming video service which enables DJs to share their mixes with fans and peers, creating an educational archive which Chew’s founders liken to Twitch.tv — the site where video gamers share video streams of their gaming sessions, used by millions of gaming enthusiasts. As with gaming, DJs are often consumers and creators, and Chew aims to become a centralized online community combining discussion, education, discovery and entertainment. There are already countless streaming platforms for DJs wanting to share their creations, such as Boiler Room TV, which broadcast and archive live performances, but Chew sets itself apart by turning its attention away from the crowd and onto the decks, enabling online audiences — whether amateur DJ or dance music enthusiast — to watch and learn. Chew is free to use and free to view and copyright is currently protected by a low revenue blanket license. The start-up plans to generate revenue through sponsorships, product tie-ins and ‘pro’ accounts, but is currently concentrating on expanding their user-base — which already boasts 4,000 members and 7,000 broadcasts. Are there other user-led forms of entertainment which could benefit from a similar community platform? Website: www.chew.tv Contact: support@chew.tv

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DJ community can make and watch live-streamed videos of their sets

Add / Remove We have seen numerous ventures — such as #Tweetstay — promising to secure holidaymakers a better deal on hotels by bartering on the customer’s behalf. Now DreamCheaper has automated the process. The German start-up helps customers to make the best of hotels’ fluctuating room prices, by canceling and rebooking their room anytime it spots it at a better price. To begin, customers make a hotel booking as normal — choosing the commonly available ‘flexible booking’ option. They then create an account on DreamCheaper and forward their confirmation email to the start-up, which begins a process of price-comparison that continues right up until the day before check-in. Most hotels offer widely changing room prices depending on supply and demand and deals from booking aggregators, so the startup’s automated system monitors the hotel’s changing prices and cancels and rebooks the customer’s room at a cheaper price. DreamCheaper can boast saving customers an average of EUR 65 — or 15 percent — per booking. It takes a 20 percent cut of any money saved so it is always incentivized to get the best price. Could a similar service be offered in other industries where prices often fluctuate? Website: www.dreamcheaper.com Contact: info@dreamcheaper.com

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Start-up cancels and rebooks hotel rooms to get users the best deal

Add / Remove In certain workplaces, especially hospitals and restaurant kitchens, regular levels of bacteria are unsafe. In the past, UV lighting and chemicals have been used to disinfect fragile areas, but both of these options are unsafe for continuous use. Offering a new solution, Vital Vio is a disinfectant lighting which can reduce harmful micro-organisms by up to 99.9 percent, using harmless white light from specialized overhead light fixtures. Vital Vio’s disinfectant lighting can be installed in thirty minutes anywhere there is a light fixture. Once in place, the system can remain on around-the-clock, providing continuous protection from bacteria such as MRSA, E.Coli and Salmonella for patients and staff. The system uses precision control of LEDs, and integrates the invisible cleansing into white light. Vital Vio can even work with customers to create modified protection — adjusting the color temperature to best suit their environment. Vital Vio offers 90 percent disinfection after just one and a half hours rising to 99.9 percent after 16 hours. While the primary applications for Vital Vio are healthcare and catering environments, the company also suggest implementing it in hotels, gyms and public restrooms — anywhere that bacteria can easily thrive and spread. Where else could the technology be implemented? Website: www.vitalvio.com Contact: www.vitalvio.com/contact

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Safe white light disinfects hospitals around the clock

Add / Remove One of the most effective ways to empower disadvantaged young people is to give them access to the same educational resources that are available in the developed world. Which is exactly what Andela is doing — the global talent accelerator provides paid training and mentorship to promising young people in Africa, before linking them up with companies around the world in need of remote developers. Students can apply for a place on the four year paid fellowship at Andela’s campus in Lagos, Nigeria. They attend a free, two week boot camp which involves a rigourous screening process. Less than one percent of applicants are successful, but those who are then proceed to undertake full time training for three to five months. As software developer trainees they receive at least 1,000 hours of hands-on training in HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other front-end and back-end technologies. Once students have enough coding experience they begin working as a remote developer for any number of global tech companies. After their four year commitment is complete they can either remain on Andela’s books or apply for a job elsewhere using the experience, portfolio and references they have earnt during the fellowship. Companies in need of developers can employ Andela developers at roughly half the cost of comparable workers elsewhere, in the knowledge that they are still being fairly recompensed. They work within the companies business hours and are supported by senior Andela developers. Andela, which is based in New York, gives promising young people in Africa a chance to earn a living in a rapidly growing industry without requiring them to leave their country — and in doing so helps to improve the local economy. Could this scheme work elsewhere? Website: www.andela.co Contact: www.twitter.com/andela

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In Africa, promising students are paid to become remote software developers

Add / Remove This is part of a series of articles that looks at entrepreneurs hoping to get their ideas off the ground through crowdfunding. At the time of writing, each of these innovations is currently seeking funding. A shocking 146 billion coffee cups are discarded annually in America alone, and since most of those cups have a polyethylene lining, they can’t be recycled. It’s no wonder that we’ve seen initiatives such as Keep Cup and Good to Go looking to cut paper waste through reusable cups that can be bought or even rented. Now, Reduce. Reuse. Grow have developed another eco-friendly option in the Plantable Coffee Cup — a 100 percent biodegradable cup with native seeds embedded in its material, meaning it can be planted after use to help with local reforestation. The Plantable Coffee Cup is made from recycled paper, sourced from local recycling centres in California. It has native seeds embedded within the material and a description of the seed variety and planting instructions printed on the cup. After using, the consumer can choose to plant the cup within their community to enhance their local urban and rural landscapes. They simply unravel the cup and soak it in water for five minutes before planting. Alternatively, it can be disposed of safely and it will biodegrade within 180 days, releasing its nutrients for other plants to enjoy. Each cup costs USD 0.02 to produce, which is the same as a standard biodegradable cup, and USD 0.01 more than a Solo cup. Reduce. Reuse. Grow hope to supply their product to eco-conscious coffee shops around the world, but they are currently concentrating on their home state of California. They will provide special trash cans to participating stores so that they — or third parties such as landscape companies or non profits — can collect used cups for reforestation purposes. The Plantable Coffee Cup is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter . Are there other products which could be transformed from waste to nourishment in this way? Website: www.planttrash.com Contact: alexhenige@gmail.com

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Coffee cup embedded with seeds grows into native plants