10 Dominican Startups to Watch

This startup has developed a cloud based invoicing and accounting system meant for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and entrepreneurs in Latin America. According to the Office Depot Small Business Index (SMBI), SMBs spend about 10-20 hours per week on administrative tasks, which equates to one quarter or one half of their workweek. By utilizing a service such as this, SMBs can potentially reduce that time and focus on more important tasks like product development. It also allows SMBs to outsource their security risks, which can be a huge stress off our shoulders and also make you much safer if you’re a small business or entrepreneur that doesn’t have expertise in IT security.

Cuyaya is a start up that focuses on developing next-generation mobile applications for the Internet of Things. They combine sensors, mobile applications, and data processing to create what they call “the real-time Internet of things.” One of their most interesting prototypes is called Quantify Self, a bracelet that you put on someone you are taking care of and it gives you updates about that person’s vital signs, such as heart rate and body temperature, every three to five seconds, respectively. This device could potential save millions of lives.

This startup has developed a chat app designed to keep conversations between people completely private; their motto is “what happens in Ravn, stays in Ravn.” The app hides itself in plain sight by hiding inside of a decoy app, which is a fully functioning app that is used to hide the Ravn app—that way only you know where to find it. You can hide it inside of the Itunes store, Messages, or iBooks.

The Luma Project is a multi-purpose campus with the purpose to advance education, technology adoption, and innovation in the Dominican Republic and Latin American as a whole. The Luma Project consists of two programs: Free Education and Startup Incubator. The free Education program focuses on courses such as literacy classes, computer classes, and mobile app design. The Startup Incubator program focuses on developing solutions to problems that are affecting the country and giving guidance to the teams that are working on those solutions.

CommonShare is a startup that connects businesses with quality open source freelance developers. As part of the compensation, all developers that find placements through CommonShare receive stock options for the work done at client companies. Their website allows you to sign up as a developer and you will be directed to companies looking for people with your particular talents, or you can sign up as a company and have access to their talent pool to hire developers.

Solo Vacantes is a website that helps connect unemployed residents of the Dominican Republic to job opportunities. Their website features freelance, part-time, full-time, and internship opportunities. It also provides you with necessary contact information, the location of the job, and the job description.

Jompéame is a fundraising platform for extreme poverty causes in Latin America and is the first of its kind. Jompéame has a variety of different causes you can donate to, like the elderly, children, disabled, accident survivors and much more. Many of the causes have a backstory that you can read up on and see exactly where your money would be going.

Movieapp is a movie listings app for IOS, Android, and Windows Phones. Movieapp allows users to see the schedule for all cinemas in the Dominican Republic. Users will be able to see what time movies are playing, their trailer, a summary, the IMDB ranking of it, upcoming movies, weekly releases, and special offers the cinemas currently have. You can also set it to send weekly notifications of new releases and suggested movies.

Sky Route is an online flight services startup that serves as a global flight tracker and a top quality air services app. It is meant to provide customers with relevant and real-time information at the time of flying. Some of the information includes airport services, executive transportation, hotels close by, currency exchange centers, weather, and car rentals.

Starkware is a startup that offers software and web development to other startups. They provide value to other startups by taking care of the technical aspects of product development that can be difficult for companies that do not have the expertise to turn their idea into a functioning product.