Companies I'm Watching in '07

I'm taking a little break from e-marketing to talk about technological innovations and companies to watch in '07. Most likely, these are companies you've never heard of.

Company: Tesla Motors
The company has come out with an all-electric roadster that does zero to sixty in 4 seconds, with a range of 250 miles, for $100k. That may sound like a lot, but for a car with this performance, it compares favorably (to, say, a Dodge Viper). This is significant because this is the first time an electric car has compared so well to an equivalent gas-powered vehicle at the same price. Tesla plans to introduce a 5-series type vehicle in a couple years for around 50k, and a third generation family vehicle after that. For these things to happen, significant improvements in battery performance and cost will have to happen.
What to expect from them in '07: I'd be willing to be you will see the Tesla Roadster at many red carpet hollywood events later this year

Company: Firefly Energy
A startup initially funded by Caterpillar, this company is working on building a better lead-acid battery. They claim to be able to produce batteries that perform like lithion-ion but cost about the same as traditional lead-acid (car) batteries. There are about a dozen companies that claim to have a radical new battery, but this one seems very legitimate. They plan on producing batteries for Husvarna (lawn equipment) and the U.S. military next year.
Why they are important: This battery would be a game changer not only for power tools and lawn equipment, but for electric vehicles and/or plug-in hybrids.
What to expect from them in '07: Launch of their product in Husqvarna equipment, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear an announcement of a partnership with an auto manufacturer

Company: Nanosolar
This one you may have heard of, they manufacture thin-film solar cells.
Why they are important: They've built a great product in the lab, now they are scaling up to production. These cells could potentially be 1/10th to 1/5th the price per watt of today's cells
What to expect in '07: They are building an enormous plant. If they can overcome manufacturing challenges at this scale, they'll make a lot of news this year

Company: Voxant
They launched a new product this year called The Newsroom. In a nutshell, any website or blog publisher can syndicate news content for free. As a blogger, not only is it easy to integrate into your site, you also get paid every time somebody views the content (it's ad supported).
They started off a little slow but now they include news stories from AP and Reuters and many small news organizations
Why they are important: The way we get our news has changed radically in the past few years, moving more towards niche sites and blogs. This could be a game changer by allowing virtually anybody to publish "niche news" with high quality, authoritative content while making money.
What to expect in '07: It's a make or break year as they get a critical mass of news sources and individual publishers.

So there you have it, a couple smaller companies that could have a big impact this year.

tags: tesla motors, firefly energy, voxant, the newsroom, nanosolar