Startup Monday: Wanelo

Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past & would like to share with friends and followers of ABCey Events.

Lately, we’ve been finding it hard to sift through advertisements, sift through pages and find that one piece of inspiration for our events, outfits and crafts. That’s when we found Wanelo.

Wanelo has everything your heart could desire, right there, in one place, without any clutter. Wanelo recently won at the Tech Crunch Crunchies in February for best E-Commerce startup, and we couldn’t agree more! Founded in 2010 by Deena Varshavsakaya, Wanelo’s goal is to bring everything its users would desire in one spot, without the advertising and without clutter. It stands for Want, Need Love and we want need and love pretty much everything about Wanelo.

Wanelo allows users to shop, set up shop, share stories, create contests and spread inspiration through an easy to use web community. We’ve found some of our latest inspirations at Wanelo, have you? Let us know in the comments section below, or on Facebook & Twitter!

Tech Tuesday: Get to Know The Nominees

We’ve been counting down the days to the Tech Crunch Crunchie Awards (13 days!) and can’t wait to see who wins Best New Start Up. We’ve done some digging and would like to introduce you to the 5 fantastic nominees in this category!

1. Anki: Making artificial intelligence accessible to everyone! The vision is to bring consumer robotics into everyday life. How exactly did they do this? By first developing an awesome artificial intelligence game called Anki Drive. This unique game learns and adapts, with the sole goal being victory. This is just the beginning of Anki, and we can’t wait to see what they do with artificial intelligence next!

2. Coinbase: Itching to invest in Bitcoins but wary of the security discrepancies that haunt the crytpocurrency? Enter Coinbase, the digital wallet that helps you manage your Bitcoins safely and securely! With 13,000 merchants using Coinbase and investors funneling over $6 million into the fledgling company, Coinbase is guaranteed to expand Bitcoin use to the average consumer.

3. Glow: Hassle free fertility tracking is the focus of the app Glow. Expanding beyond fertility, the young company is beginning to target many more aspects of women’s health and is available on Android and iOS. Women have access to daily questions, a community discussion board and a color-coded calendar that corresponds to their personal women’s health goals. We love that it is a portable, discrete app encouraging and teaching women about their bodies and health!

4. Tinder: Tinder is one of the hottest apps in the hook up culture’s circles. Working on off the time honored binary system, if two users mutually agree the other is attractive, you are able to message each other. Tinder opens the channels for any number of relationship types and is also a fun way to scope out and meet new people!

5. Whisper: Whisper is a new anonymous social media platform where you can be free to share your thoughts with the world. With endless options to customize your posts you can truly express your thoughts while getting feedback on your own. Whisper also has private messaging, which we think is a must for every social media platform!

Who is your pick for Best New Start Up? Let us know in the comments section below or on Facebook & Twitter! We’ll let you know the winner after the Crunchie Awards in San Francisco on February 10th!

TechCrunch Crunchies Coverage: Biggest Social Impact

ABCey Events is super excited for tomorrow’s 2012 Crunchie Awards here in our beloved SF! For our final awards coverage, we wanted to spotlight the startups that are up for Biggest Social Impact, those that have contributed to some meaningful and significant social impact in our society.

1. Donors Choose – Donors Choose is an online charity that makes it easy for anyone to help students in need. Public school teachers post classroom project requests on the site, and one can give any amount to the project that most inspires. When a project reaches its funding goal, Donors Choose ship the materials to the school. In return, donors get photos of the project taking place, a letter from the teacher, and insight into how every dollar was spent. Give over $50 and you’ll also receive hand-written thank-yous from the students. This truly makes giving back an easy and fun task. After all, we’ve all been there when someone ate all the glue.

2. Indiegogo – Indiegogo is a crowdfunding platform where people who want to raise money can create fundraising campaigns to tell their story and get the word out. Indiegogo is also a place to discover what people all over the world are passionate about and how to get involved. IndieGoGo campaigns receive all the money they have been pledged, whether the initial funding goal was reached or not. IndieGoGo is available internationally.

3. Kickstarter – Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. They are particularly useful and great for finding and funding creative projects such as music albums or indie movies. Every project creator sets their project’s funding goal and deadline. If people like the project, they can pledge money to make it happen. If the project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers’ credit cards are charged when time expires. If the project falls short, no one is charged. Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing.4. Kiva – Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. Loans funded through Kiva have a 98 percent repayment rate, so the money you lend to a small business owner is likely to come back to you. By connecting people through lending, Kiva has empowered small businesses and served as an important catalyst for positive change and job growth.

5. Reddit – Reddit is a source for what’s new and popular on the web. Users like you provide all of the content and decide, through voting, what’s good and what’s junk. Links that receive community approval bubble up towards #1, so the front page is constantly in motion and (hopefully) filled with fresh, interesting links. This is far more effective and significant than when you “like” something on Facebook. Interestingly, Mashable has a complete section devoted to “Reddit Facts” learned each week.

Which of these startups have made the most social impact on your life? Who did you vote for? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter.