By Fred Schonenberg, Founder of VentureFuel

Each year CES is dominated by the largest tech companies in the world and we are regaled with top 10 lists of robotic dogs, smart toothbrushes and TV pixel increases, all from the main hall. This is great for consumers, but for corporations, questions loom as to where to find new ways to grow their business.

For brands that want to innovate, it is the new technologies, high growth companies and new platforms that you don’t see on the main floor – the ones presenting in private suites, demo-days and the depths of Eureka Park – that drive results.

Below are a few key startups we believe brands should be looking at from CES. Because each brand has different needs, and there are thousands of startups capable of helping, it pays to have help from an agnostic partner. We hope this list helps get the wheels turning, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s a few you should know about.

HoloLamp is the first portable, glasses-free augmented reality device that creates optical 3D illusions directly in the user environment. Essentially, interactive projections that move with your point-of-view. There are so many applications for this, as simple as a restaurant menu coming to life or as complex as helping disassemble an engine.

Orbisight is a TV screen that transmits a live a view of any place on the planet  behind a virtual window. Their solution integrates a motion capture device to simulate the translation of the field of vision exactly as if you were looking through a real window. Currently partnering with Hotel chain in France to install in rooms with no windows. Imagine you’re in a hotel room in Paris situated directly next to another building; instead of staring at a brick wall, you’re looking at a live shot of the Eiffel Tower.

IRIS.TV is a private marketplace for brands to distribute branded content in-stream alongside contextually relevant editorial video on premium publisher sites and apps. A brand safe alternative to YouTube, IRIS.TV has considerable scale and impressive results using machine learning to generate a personalized video experience.

Aipoly creates fully autonomous markets, removing the need for ques or checkouts. Essentially the retail store of the future, specifically built for small businesses. It gives each store unprecedented instantaneous data to better manage inventory, spot trends, enable heat maps to inform store layouts and other rich analytics.

Robomart is the world’s first self-driving grocery store to enable retailers to provide affordable on-demand delivery of perishables across the world. The need here is simple, because consumers still don’t trust anyone to pick our produce, and delivering groceries is prohibitively expensive.

Throtle is a tool for data centric onboarding, focused on deterministic matching, identity resolution and closed loop enablement. Essentially it provides the ability to truly understand your data to get a complete picture of your consumer with the highest levels of accuracy, scale, and customer connectivity.

While many worry about the lack of innovation at conferences like CES, it’s often that you just need to look in the right places. Alternatives to YouTube and Amazon, smarter stores, virtual windows and augmented reality are just the tip of the many different  innovations that can drive results.

For a full list of VentureFuel’s best of CES report, please email us at Katie@venturefuel.net.

About VentureFuel:

VentureFuel is a full-service innovation consultancy, servicing Fortune 500 clients across the world. Their Global Innovation Network of Founders, Research Labs, VCs, Incubators, Accelerators, and Innovation Scouts allows brands to connect with consumers in new ways via breakthrough technologies and emerging opportunities. Learn more at www.venturefuel.net.