In the Spotlight:
Workout tracking app released map of military sites
Strava causes stir with map exposing sensitive data
Editor’s note: Here are three Bay Area startups worth watching this week.
Strava wants to make athletes feel like they are training with others even when they are training alone.
The San Francisco company’s free mobile app helps people plan and record workouts, then analyze and compare their performance with those of friends. The app premiered in 2009 and has amassed millions of users.
Strava is trending on startup database Crunchbase this week for an unfortunate reason: A map released by the company that showed users’ activity around the world also exposed several sensitive U.S. military and humanitarian relief sites.
The data cannot be easily removed, because they are cached on the Internet. It’s an extreme case of what happens when people share their information: It can be exposed, regardless of who or where you are.
CEO James Quarles said in a statement that the company is “committed to working with military and government officials to address potentially sensitive data.”
Strava is “taking this matter seriously and understand our responsibility,” he added.
The company, which has $41.9 million in funding according to Crunchbase, could not be reached for further comment.
Also trending: Gfycat
What it does: Offers online tools to make GIFs, which are short, soundless videos that play on a constant loop. What happened: Gfycat recently acquired a movie-marketing app called MovieLaLa. The plan is to help users engage more with movie trailer content, CEO Richard Rabbat said.
For example, people have created thousands of GIFs out of a single 2½-minute movie trailer, Rabbat said. Why it matters: As people’s attention spans get shorter shorter, GIFs are becoming a way for advertisers to promote content, and for people to express themselves online.
Headquarters: Palo Alto.
Funding: $10 million.
Employees: 20.
BlockCypher
What it does: Creates software infrastructure that enables developers to build, monitor and secure blockchain applications.
What happened: The company is working with a U.S. Department of Energy lab to develop a way to carry out energy transactions across blockchains.
Why it matters: Karen Hsu, head of growth at BlockCypher, told Coindesk that this type of exchange would “be important in a natural disaster or when the grid goes down for extended periods, just like we’ve seen last year across the U.S.” Headquarters: Redwood City. Funding: $3.1 million, according to the company.
Employees: 11.