#Estonianmafia Is Going Strong: GateMe Wins At SeedCamp London


    Tallinn based Gateme won at the latest SeedCamp event, which shows just how strong the ArcticStartup region really is. For some reason each time somebody wins at Seedcamp, it forces me to wonder what it really means to the company. Now in case I am not alone in forgetting how the Seedcamp process works, I will quickly tell you just what Gateme got themselves into.

    Basically the way Seedcamp works is first you apply for having a chance to pitch at one of their worldwide events, such as the one that took place in London. This time around there were over 400 applications from 46 countries. Then a number of those are selected for a full day mentoring event where the top 5 are selected. Gateme was one of those Top 5.

    The others were:

    Maily – iPad e-mail app for kids
    Minubo – E-Shopping metrics solution
    Planvine – Provide event data, i.e. what to do and where to go
    Subscrib.me – Groupon done right (Their claim, not mine)

    These lucky few get an investment of $50 000 for about 8-10% in the company (There are other choices available though). Additionally they also get access to Google Campus London, 2000 mentors and other perks such as a package full of services from different companies.

    Now that Seedcamp is out of the way, let’s talk about Gateme, a nightlife management platform. Unfortunately that does not mean it will manage and pay for your alcohol intake. What it will do is make the process of getting into nightclubs a lot simpler and tech savvy. No more paper guest lists and complicated procedures to get tickets and book tables.

    Gateme allows club managers and promoters to manage their guestlists, table bookings on any device. Naturally you can also sell tickets and tables through their system. Its kind of like Eventbrite but redesigned specifically with nightlife in mind.

    So how come they have won such a prestigious event? Basically its the usual reason: great team, loads of traction, constant improvements and an ambition to take over the world, even if only by night. The system is currently used by more than 200 event organizers, up from about a dozen last time ArcticStartup spoke to Janar Merilo, Co-Founder at Gateme.

    This time Merilo share his thoughts on their victory and overall experience:

    We’ve understood that there are always challenges on the road – successful entrepreneurs are the ones who can just tackle them fast enough. And even more I have understood that with a great team you can do great things!

    Oh and you simply have to check out their latest video for the new and updated Gateme Pro: