The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), is celebrating its 37th year next month, when the massive technology conference opens its doors to thousands of vendors, tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, bloggers and journalists on January 6.
But even if you're not attending CES 2016, it will be easy to find and access a bevy of custom live streams and video announcements of the event between January 6 and January 9, so that anyone can watch the action unfold at CES from home. Get ready.
This year's 3-day Las Vegas-based event is especially exciting given the hype surrounding a number of emerging tech industries, including the growth in Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, mobile health-tech software and smart wearables, among others. While visitors will unsurprisingly find large booths, presentations and headline defining announcements coming from stalwart vendors like Samsung, Sony and Toshiba, CES has also become a significant venue for numerous early stage consumer electronics companies that hope to make a splash.
And so we've taken a look at who will be exhibiting at CES 2016 from the DC-area tech community. We've highlighted seven DMV companies that are scheduled as exhibitors and also provided a more comprehensive list of the exhibitors at the end:
GKChain (College Park, Md.)
- What they do: wearable cybersecurity hardware and software that acts as the first line of defense against hackers
- Funding to date: family and friends round
- Why they are worth watching: the connected devices space continues to dominate the larger consumer electronics market and its no surprise that smart cybersecurity hardware will eventually become a trend. GKChain, much like M3D, is a UMd.-centric startup that was founded by a group of local university students. Today, the company is "developing hardware and software solutions to be the first line of defense for preventing unauthorized access to confidential, personal and corporate data, without encumbering employees in small and large organizations."
LifeFuels (Reston, Va.)
- What they do: smart, internet-connect water bottles that carry nutrition pods
- Funding to date: funded by founder Jonathon Perrelli, a serial entrepreneur and also the founder of seed stage venture capital firm Fortify Ventures
- Why they are worth watching: this company is closing in on a funding round that could help them with distribution and sales efforts. Perrelli is a well known name around the larger D.C. tech scene and a lot of people are watching whether he can make a smart water bottle maker into a viable and moreover, profitable business. LifeFuel's first bottle has yet to hit shelves, while pre-orders already started. The release data is unknown.
M3D (Fulton, Md.)
- What they do: ultra-compact 3D printer developer
- Funding to date: raised $3.4 million from nearly 12,000 people in 2014 via Kickstarter
- Why they are worth watching: comprised of University of Maryland alumni and founded in the university's Startup Shell incubator, M3D finally started shipping their Micro 3D-printers this year. You'll be able to see that product and new developments at their booth.
VisiSonics (College Park, Md.)
- What they do: audio software and hardware developers focused on virtual reality applications
- Funding to date: undisclosed seed funding via Dingman Center Angels, a UMd. angel investor club
- Why they are worth watching: VisiSonics became the first 3D Audio engine licensed by Oculus in October 2014. With the upcoming release of the Oculus Rift in between January and April, VisiSonics will be working with a number of video game developers that hope to build more realistic virtual worlds by leveraging 3D audio tech.
RightEye (Bethesda, Md.)
- What they do: hardware that tracks eye movement to help with vision testing and improvement
- Funding to date: unknown
- Why they are worth watching: "Bethesda-based RightEye sees a bright future in using advanced sensor technology and software to make and run vision tests. For the medical, military and even sports industries, the eyes can be a window to health and performance. The tests created using RightEye's eye-tracking technology can even be used to train the eye and brain, improving vision, reflexes and coordination," DC Inno's Eric Schwartz wrote. At CES this year, RightEye announced that they will unveil two new products: RightEye Essential Vision and RightEye Performance Vision.
PFP Cybersecurity (Vienna, Va.)
- What they do: developers of hardware than can scan for counterfeit microchips used in devices like smartphones, computers, automobiles, planes, televisions and even missile defense systems
- Funding to date: $250,000 seed raise, investors include the CIT GAP Funds
- Why they are worth watching: cyberthreats found within the hardware of consumer electronics sold to customers via retailers is becoming a growing trend worth watching. In 2014 alone, $333 billion worth of microchips were sold around the world, Popular Science reports. In an evolving technology landscape where devices are becoming ever more connected and help us do more things, knowing whether hardware has been tampered with is paramount.
Vox Media (Washington, D.C.)
- What they do: media and software company that has developed a next generation content management system (CMS)
- Funding to date: ~$300 million, investors include Accel Partners, Comcast Interactive Capital, Khosla Ventures, General Atlantic, and Allen & Company
- Why they are worth watching: Vox Media is the only non-hardware producing tech company on this list, but they found their way to it because of the astonishing valuation and platform they're associated with. Earlier this year, Vox Media raised a $200 million Series F raise from NBC Universal. Vox's lauded CMS is called Chorus, and it is used by all Vox Media properties, which include The Verge, Vox.com, SB Nation, Polygon, Eater, Racked, Curbed and Re/code.
Here's a bigger list of local tech influencers attending CES (with booth #):
District of Columbia
- Blue Ever Blue LLC — Suite 29-323
- Vox Media — Aria Hospitality Suites
Maryland
- Discovery Communications — CS-10, CS-106
- M3D LLC — 73110
- RightEye LLC — 73944
- TRX Systems Inc. — 80348
- VisiSonics Corporation — 80247
- Under Armour — 80247
- Traitify — 81506
- Silent Beacon — Sands, Halls A-C - 72967
- Untethered Labs LLC — 81831
Virginia
- Arlington Economic Development — 80552
- Cloudplugs — 81034
- LifeFuels — 74724
- PFP Cybersecurity — 80246
