Here’s our roundup of the week’s top tech business news. First, the most popular stories Silicon Bayou News published in the last seven days:
PollBob: New NOLA Startup Helps You Quickly Discover Opinions – PollBob is a social polling iPhone application and website that lets you survey your friends, gather feedback in real-time, and earn rewards for playing. We have an interview with co-founder Ben Jacobson coming soon, but in the meantime, check out the great article written Chris Boudy at NewOrleansTech.net. You’ve heard the old saying: “Opinions are like [insert word here], everybody’s got one”. But in a world of social media and instant connections, people not only have opinions, but want to share them with others. A new startup in New Orleans dubbed PollBob, wants to help facilitate this by introducing the concept of polling through the mobile space and social media.
Denver Software Company to Release Flagship Mobile Product in New Orleans – With LP Ignition’s portfolio startups recently making their debut at Launch Fest and newly minted cleantech companies showcasing their products and services, New Orleans is quietly becoming a go-to city for new product releases and announcements. Yesterday, the Denver-based technical documentation company Digabit, Inc., announced that it will introduce its flagship mobile software, DocuMobile, at the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Annual Meeting and EXPO, October 2-5 in New Orleans.
BREAKING NEWS: Louisiana Startup in the TechCrunch Disrupt Finals! – Louisiana startup Invoice ASAP is in the finals at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference, and will compete this afternoon against five rivals such as San Francisco-based Ccloop. Invoice ASAP, the cloud-based invoice app that allows you to easily create and send professional invoices, estimates, sales orders and receipts, was voted as Tuesday’s favorite from the Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt, and successfully made it through the first round of competitions last night, competing in a field of 30 startups.
Technology Company BitRaider Moves Headquarters From Florida To Louisiana – Another big score for Louisiana, the people of Baton Rouge, and the state’s budding tech scene. Today, Louisiana and BitRaider CEO Royal O’Brien announced the Jacksonville, Fla.-based technology firm BitRaider will relocate to the Louisiana Technology Park in Baton Rouge. BitRaider is a technology licensing company that created a digital distribution delivery system which allows the a consumer to begin playing an internet-based game with only a fraction of the game delivered and to continue playing the game while the download continues.
The Baton Rouge Startup Scene is Growing (Part 1) – The Baton Rouge startup scene has been quietly growing over the last two years, but this growth hasn’t been slow. Everywhere I look there seems to be progress, expansion, and growth and it is exciting to be a part of it. Entrepreneurs here come from diverse backgrounds and the ideas being generated are quite unique. Let’s take a look at some of the recent accomplishments Baton Rouge entrepreneurs and supporting organizations have made:
Nationally, VC Continues Slow Improvement – While the absence of venture capital in Louisiana is often cited as the biggest barrier to growing the high-tech startup eco-system, for the first time since recession hit in 2008, national venture capital performance broadly improved over last quarter according to a study by Cambridge Associates for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).