Electric Imp

Founders: Hugo Fiennes, Kevin Fox and Peter Hartley

It is a home automation system that lets you do things like tell your dishwasher to send you a tweet when it's finished. Each card, which comes with a built-in Wi-Fi antenna and processor, can be installed in basically any device. It will be available in home devices in a few months.

Its importance: It's the first fully integrated and easily accessible platform for home automation, and it only takes a matter of seconds to configure any device. It also has a wide variety of use cases and could be used for safety purposes, like getting a notification if you left your oven on and then having the option to turn it off.

Ridejoy

Founders: Jason Shen, Kalvin Wang and Randy Pang

It is a marketplace for long-distance ride-sharing.

Its importance: Instead of going through the trouble of coordinating pick-up locations and times, cost, Ridejoy facilitates all of those logistics via its mobile app.