CES: Small tech startups grab spotlight at event

Much of the buzz at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show will be on new products unveiled by the world's largest companies. But at a Sunday night gathering at Mandalay Bay's Foundation Room, small tech startups -- including several from Las Vegas -- were the stars of the show.

About 20 companies demonstrated their products at the third-annual Start-up Debut event organized around CES.

Created by social media agency Social Radius, which moved its corporate headquarters to Las Vegas in August, Start-up Debut highlights new tech companies. Some will also exhibit at this year's convention, but many got their only shot at CES exposure on Sunday.

The event draws crowds in the hundreds, where CES will pack 140,000 into the Las Vegas Convention Center this week, but for new firms the exposure can be critical.

The Foundation Room's dim lighting was offset by glowing monitors, and one Orange County, Calif.-based company's purple-lit display: an iPhone suspended behind glass with water cascading over it.

Liquipel will exhibit its nanotechnology at CES this week. The company uses layers of waterproof coating on electronics both inside and out. That's how co-founder Danny McPhail was able to plunk his iPhone in water without causing severe damage. The company is working with manufacturers to see whether phones can be treated before sale.

There were travel site start ups, musicians' accessories, e-media messaging services and cloud-based collaborative projects such as the video editing platform WeVideo.

For local tech companies in particular, Start-up Debut provided an opportunity to prove that Las Vegas has more to offer than a fun convention atmosphere.

"It's start up year at CES. We're here to feature Vegas tech and what's going on," said Jennifer Gosse, chief marketing officer of Tracky, a local social collaboration start up hosted at the Switch SuperNAP data storage facility.

Tracky set up shop Sunday in a room designated as the "Silicon Strip" section of Start-up Debut. Three other local tech companies -- Walls360, InsureMonkey and DocBeat -- also took part in the product demos.

InsureMonkey, a health insurance plan aggregator that allows consumers to search for insurance plans using an Orbitz-like interface, last year was named one of Forbes' Most Promising Companies. InsureMonkey was the only Nevada-based company to make the list.

InsureMonkey is gearing up for a big year, and was looking for exposure from Start-up Debut. As health insurance reform goes into effect and states start developing their health care exchanges, InsureMonkey plans to be involved.

Co-founder Mark Jolley said the company plans to compete later this year for a contract to help Nevada develop its health care exchange.

Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Follow her on Twitter at @Caitlin_McGarry.