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“Lost Crates, a subscription service that previously focused on boutique stationery goods (as if there was a demand for such a thing!), is today announcing its relaunch and expansion into several new verticals. The company is one of many in the crowded subscription services market where startups send you stuff by mail, often for low monthly fees. With Lost Crates, however, there’s more of designer goods aspect to its service, and its fees definitely put it into the “luxury” category.

“Stationery will still offered, but there are also five other themed packages featuring housewares, foodie items and eco goods, plus a curated selection of the co-founder’s favorites and a package that highlights the best goods from a different region every month.”

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The event will include a Q&A with Excelerate staff, including co-founder Sam Yagan of OKCupid, to discuss ideas, applications, and give feedback. Food and drink will be provided, so come join in for some entrepreneurial networking!

The open house will be held on February 21 at 6:30pm at 139 Townsend St, 5th floor, San Francisco, CA, 94107. Learn more about the event and register to attend on Eventbrite.

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“President Gauri Sharma pitches Lab42′s services (which involve targeted surveys conducted over social networks) as new way to conduct research. One big difference: It’s faster and cheaper than hiring most market research firms, while also being more reliable than just throwing a survey online. Advertising and marketing agencies make up the company’s primary customer base, and clients include Redbox, David & Goliath, Y&R, and Ogilvy.

“Lab42 recently added a social login feature, which asks respondents to log in through Facebook Connect before filling out the survey. That makes it easier to verify that users are part of the target audience. A Facebook profile is no guarantee that someone really is the age or gender they say they are, or that they’re from the hometown that they claim, but it makes those things more likely.

“The company also makes uses its data to create infographics, include some that have supposedly been featured on NPR and Mashable (which is a pretty impressive spread). This year, Lab42 plans to expand beyond social networks.”

View the full post on TechCrunch here.

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“As our DEMO world tour rolls on, we continue to add more stops along the way.  Next up is Chicago where we’ll be on February 27.

“We know Chicago has turned into a hive of startup talent, so it seemed like the logical place to go to meet up-and-coming innovators. This will be our first time out that way, so if you’re building the next big tech company in Chicago, we want to meet with you.

“While in town, we’ll be partnering up with Tom Hawes and Millie Tadewaldt of Sandbox Industries, the new Chicago-based incubator and investment firm.

“Like us, Sandbox wants to see the best new companies the city has to offer, so if you’re interested in meeting with Tom, Millie, and me (I’m with VentureBeat and DEMO), please fill out this form, and we’ll be in touch with more details shortly.

“We’ve been traveling the globe for the past few months and meeting with as many entrepreneurs as possible along the way, all in preparation for the upcoming DEMO conference in April. Last week, we visited Boulder and Palo Alto, and soon we’ll be making trips to Boston, Austin, Detroit, and LA. DEMO’s Executive Producer, Matt Marshall, will actually be off in Singapore while I’m exploring the Midwest. More information on all of those trips is soon to come.

“We’re looking forward to seeing you in Chicago on the 27th!”

View this article on VentureBeat here.

“BlueCross BlueShield

“The future: A streamlined medical system

“The health-insurance behemoth is pouring roughly $300 million into startups such as Nexidia, whose analytics help improve customer service; InVivoLink, which tracks and analyzes data from medical implants; and Phreesia, whose software simplifies how doctors register patients and accept copays. By improving the medical system, BCBS could ‘lower costs for itself and its customers, which is right in line with its corporate goals,’ says Michael Liang, a partner at the Chicago investment firm Baird Venture Partners.”

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“Qumu’s video platform empowers companies to capture, manage and distribute live and on-demand content throughout the organization. This promotes more engaged and inspired employees, improves productivity and ultimately reduces costs.

“Nexidia’s patented Dialogue Search now gives employees a richer, more precise way to find and view valuable content by pinpointing where any word or phrase is spoken in their company’s webcasts, training videos and employee-generated content. Nexidia’s patented technology searches across an organization’s different media silos and geographies simultaneously, and supports multiple languages.”

Read the full press release here.

“In order to ensure the best possible customer service to its policy holders, Gerber Life turned to Nexidia customer interaction analytics. Nexidia Discover automatically mines interactions between agents and policyholders, identifying the most significant issues and trends. This provides immediate visibility into the critical issues driving customer interaction behavior. Nexidia Analyze provides a robust set of reporting and analytics tools to help companies understand what is driving those issues, identifying root cause through advanced analysis of key areas including interaction drivers, average handle times, first call resolution and interaction correlations.

“Nexidia Evaluate benchmarks best practices of top performing agents who provide the highest level of customer service to policyholders. All agents are then trained according to these best practices, with targeted coaching specific to the needs of each individual. Evaluate tracks agent performance across all teams and individual agents to monitor improvements and continue to monitor best practices.”

Read the full press release here.

“‘The AJRR’s new collaboration with InVivoLink is a valuable one, because it strengthens the AJRR’s mission of improving patient safety and increasing quality of care while removing costs,’ said David Lewallen, M.D., chair of the AJRR.

“Projected growth in total joint replacement procedures coupled with their rising costs present significant challenges for providers and payers. The combined initiative by InVivoLink and the AJRR addresses these issues by providing data to support evidence-based medicine, identifying patients at risk for poor outcomes, improving the tracking of complication rates, and enhancing management of device recalls.

“InVivoLink is a web-based platform that automates implant registry data capture throughout the continuum of care. InVivoLink’s innovative data collection process simplifies providers’ participation in local and national registry initiatives by using automated processes and delivering high-quality data.”

Read the full press release here.

“The company will use Nexidia’s OnDemand Hosted Services for the Nexidia customer interaction analytics.

“Nexidia Discover provides immediate visibility by identifying the significant issues and trends and drives customer interaction behaviour by mining their interaction.

“A set of reporting and analytics tools will be provided by Nexidia Analyze, assisting the companies in understanding issues and identifying cause through advanced analysis of key areas.”

Read the full press release here.

“Healthbox, a spin-off of venture capital firm Sandbox Industries, and funded by BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, the California HealthCare Foundation, HLM Venture Partners, Merrick Ventures, and Walgreen Co., invited InformationWeek Healthcareto its launch event in Chicago last week.

“Most of the Healthbox companies have eschewed the direct-to-consumer model. “There are marketing challenges of reaching out directly to patients,” acknowledged Victor Gane, founder and CEO of DermLink, a teledermatology provider based in Atherton, Calif. For that reason, DermLink is marketing its services to primary-care physicians and dermatologists who wish to add a telemedicine option to their practices. In a pilot underway in the Chicago and San Francisco Bay areas, patients pay $99 up front, $35 of which goes to the consulting dermatologist and $24 of which is a facility fee to the referring primary care doctor, comparable to the facility fee Medicare pays, according to chief medical officer Dr. Jamison Feramisco. DermLink keeps the balance.

“The online consultation cuts referral time down to one business day, including the dermatologist’s report back to the referring physician, so patients no longer have to wait weeks for an appointment. “It closes the loop much faster,” Dr. Feramisco said.

“Some of the other companies are still working out their business models. SwipeSense, based in Evanston, Ill., has developed a system to track usage of portable dispensers of antibacterial hand sanitizer over Wi-Fi networks to cut down on hospital-acquired infections. Co-founder Yuri Malina said that SwipeSense will be looking to determine whether to add real-time locating to its product during a trial to start next month at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

“Malina’s partner, Mert Iseri, also said the company needed to decide whether it sells consumables or technology services. “What business do we want to be in?” Iseri asked the audience at the Healthbox launch event. “Our ideal goal is behavior change,” he said.

“Another startup, Atlanta-based Iconic Data, offers a patient list manager for clinicians via any Web browser, including those on mobile devices. The idea is to improve charge capture at the point of care for better revenue-cycle management across multiple facilities.

“But CEO, co-founder, and chairman Dr. David LaBorde appeared to be caught off guard when an attendee asked if the system interfaced with EHRs. He was forced to admit that users would have to re-enter data into their EHRs.

“These companies have until early April to avail themselves of the program mentors and refine their products. All three incubators have planned “investor days” for participants to make their pitches to VCs looking to support promising ideas for the long term.”

Read the full article here.