Trevor here. Back with another pack of awesome startups. Here we go!

🇨🇦 Kernal: A platform for founders and investors to share, browse, upvote, and comment on business ideas. (Founded 2021, Total Funding Amount: bootstrapped?)

VCs and founders are flocking to the website already. Popular ideas on Kernal range from “Tinder for books” to “Pitch deck analytics” for investors.

The backstory: “We realized that there are platforms for products (i.e. Product Hunt), questions (i.e. Quora), and fundraising (i.e. AngelList), but there isn't a platform for people to share and validate startup ideas to see if they’re worth building. ”— Founder & Investor, Ryan Holmes

Why it’s worth checking out: Ryan’s statement resonates with me — every business idea needs to be validated so you can avoid wasting tons of time. What’s a better way to validate ideas than a community of experts willing to share and discuss openly?

🇭🇺 HACKRATE: A bug bounty platform that helps companies reduce cybersecurity risks by using the power of the global hacker community. (Founded 2020, Total Funding Amount: seed stage)

The backstory:  Balázs Pózner and Levente Molnár previously worked together in IT Security. They’re developing the platform based on their experiences in ethical hacking, penetration testing, and bug bounty programs.

“We're a team of IT security experts and ethical hackers. We are passionate about creating a leading bug bounty platform with a great hacker community.” Co-founder & CEO, Balázs Pózner

Why it’s worth checking out: Every tech company should have a bug bounty program for added security and usability. And not just tech companies, governments too.

🇨🇾 YOUS: AI-based translator for calls. The platform converts and translates a spoken language to another language in real-time. (Founded 2019, Total Funding Amount: raised a (~100k) small angel round)

How it works: (1) Recognizes telephone speech, (2) translates it, and (3) speaks in a synthesized voice in the interlocutor's language.

The backstory: “For over 13 years I have been creating products in the field of telecom, AI, and blockchain. I’m interested in GreenTech technologies as well.” — Petr Malyukov

Why it’s worth checking out: We’re more connected than ever, but we still don’t quite understand each other thanks to the language barrier. Could this software help close the language barrier gap?

🇺🇸🇫🇷  Willo: Rethinking oral hygiene. Makes the first one-of-a-kind tooth-brushing robot. (Founded 2014, Total Funding Amount: $7.5m seed)

Last week, Willo launched their first toothbrushing robot, designed for kids. See what Techcrunch had to say.

The backstory: We're a team of hardware, software, and design enthusiasts building the future of oral care. Invented by a dentist, Hugo de Gentile.

“Willo began in a French dental office. (Ooh la la!) Dentists have long known that patients could avoid issues with better at-home brushing. Still, most dentists could only remind patients to improve their technique, hand them some floss, and cross their fingers. But one Monsieur had a better idea. Read the full story here.” — Hugo de Gentile

Why it’s worth checking out: Oral hygiene is super-duper important to get right and it starts early. When I was a young rascal, I ate a lot of sweets and didn't brush perfectly. Now as an adult, I have spent over ~$15k just to fix my teeth. I hope this device helps more kids with their oral hygiene. Brush your teeth, kids!

Interested in more? Join the Members Club!

Each Tuesday and Friday I send out a well-researched, short email packed with exciting early-stage startups. Save 100+ hours of market research and source attractive startups with 5-minute reports.

To be part of the members reading list, I’ll be charging $25 a month, or $200 per year. That’s the equivalent of an annual sushi dinner in New York City. Who doesn’t love sushi?

✅ Access all reports by becoming a member.

When you decide you’re ready to receive more stories — you can always subscribe at startupscrushing.com/subscribe.

Become a pro member now

Leaning on a maybe? Try the 7-day free trial. The free trial will provide you with 7 days of the free subscription. Cancel any time. No commitment is required. No tricks or strings attached. My goal is to provide you with some of the best content available on the web.

🏁 What is Startups Crushing It?

Startups Crushing It! is a newsletter about early-stage technology startups. I publish the insights each Tuesday and Friday.

I devote a big chunk of time to researching and testing various products. I do this so I can bring you the most promising startups. I have no affiliation with any of the startups mentioned above.

If you want more, you can dig through the archives for the previous digests.

Support me by forwarding it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.

🚀 Submit Your Startup Here

I’m always open to working with all types of founders, no matter their ethnicity, gender, origin, or socio-economic background.

Please fill in this form if you want me to review your startup and product. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn as well.

As a rule of thumb, I look at startups who have at least built a minimal viable product.

I look for strong positive signals using the FPTM model: Founders — Product — Traction — Mission.