Jan 31 : Startup

5 low-profile Big Data Startups (gigaom.com)

Big data is hot, but infrastructure-level platforms such as Hadoop, which focus on storage and processing, still need help to take them into the mainstream. They need a killer app or two that will let companies analyze, visualize and act on all that data without hiring a team of Stanford Ph.Ds, or that will let developers write big-data apps without having to reinvent the wheel. read more

Jan 17 : Visualization Startup

Big data company Splunk files for IPO (gigaom.com)

Splunk filed for an IPO on Friday to raise up to $125 million in the first public offering launched by a big data player. Splunk is important because its search, analytics and visualization technologies address the sweet spot of demand between the reams of big data generated by the second and the ability to parse and display that data in a meaningful way. After downloading the tool and connecting it to the relevant feeds, a mere mortal — not a data scientist — can work with Splunk to put that data into an easily understood visual format. read more

Jan 4 : Fantasy Sports

numberFire: Data Science for Fantasy Sports (betabeat.com)

Numberfire is a New York startup company taking an algorithmic approach to crunching data, helping fantasy sports fans find the best players at the lowest prices. Founder Nik Bonaddio got his first $100,000 in seed capital from Regis Philbin, after starring in an episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.  Co-foudner and COO Sean Weinstock says “We’ve got 20,000 registered users now and are planning to expand to basketball and baseball in the coming months. read more