15 interesting startups to watch in 2017

People are gearing up to say good riddance to 2016, and as the Earth completes another revolution around the sun, we're all eager to try our hand at predicting the next big thing. Will virtual reality, on-demand services, and bots shine again in 2017? Or will the spotlight turn to messaging apps, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence? Here are 15 startups that I believe are worth watching over the next 12 months. This is the latest in a series of annual posts -- you can look back at 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 -- and this one highlights companies that I predict will experience something interesting, possibly even major (good or bad), over the course of the next year. So here they are, in no particular order.