It has already become a tradition for TechChill to host the Fifty Founders battle, the startup pitch competition that showcases the most promising startups from the Baltics, Nordics and beyond. This year teams are competing for the main prize – 10 000 EUR with no strings attached, as well as the fast track to Silicon Vikings Startup World Cup Finals in San Francisco on May 17, 2019. Fifty lucky teams that will pitch their idea at TechChill have been announced.
To ensure the most competent on-site jury during the startup pitch competition, this year TechChill divided all 50 competing startups into 5 verticals according to their industry – fintech, deep-tech, software as a service (SaaS), hardware & IoT and social startups (impact). During TechChill Day One, on February 21, the jury will evaluate all fifty startups by their 3-minute pitches on stage. On Day Two, five finalists chosen by the jury, one from each vertical, will pitch on the main stage and compete for the 10 000 EUR. Founders get to pitch their ideas not only to the official jury, but also to international investors, business angels, accelerators, media, and, of course, to the audience of 2000 people. As such, the Fifty Founders battle is a great opportunity for publicity, new international contacts and even for potential partnerships.
The 10 startups pitching at fintech vertical are:
1. Crassula SME Banking (Latvia)
2. Cryptoprofiler (Switzerland)
3. CryptoPolice.com (Latvia)
4. EVOestate.com (Spain)
5. Hive Identity (Ukraine)
6. Jeff App (Latvia)
7. MANU LT (Lithuania)
8. MPT PAY (Ukraine)
9. Partly (Latvia)
10. TheMonetizr (US)
The 10 startups pitching at deep-tech vertical are:
1. 100Nuts (UK)
2. INXELO TECHNOLOGIES Ltd. (Croatia)
3. NeoSound OU (Germany)
4. OpenSchool (Latvia)
5. Oppi AI (Finland)
6. Precision Navigation Systems (Estonia)
7. SleepCircle (Finland)
8. True Insight (Lithuania)
9. VeritaCell (Latvia)
10. You Are My Guide (Italy)
The 10 startups pitching at software as a service (SaaS) vertical are:
1. ARtyline (Belarus)
2. Consorto (Estonia)
3. eXpact (Estonia)
4. Fienta (Estonia)
5. Kipwise (Estonia)
6. OROCON (Latvia)
7. Popertee (UK)
8. Razzby1 (Lithuania)
9. Sanctifly (Ireland)
10. ZITICITY (Lithuania)
The 10 startups pitching at hardware & IoT vertical are:
1. Capte (The Netherlands)
2. Dear deer eyewear (Lithuania)
3. Drone Pilot (Latvia)
4. HackMotion (Latvia)
5. Journey Defender Limited (Ireland)
6. Louis Desks (France)
7. OptiShower (Portugal)
8. Polisensio (Estonia)
9. PowerUp Fuel Cells OÜ (Estonia)
10. Squad Robotics (UK)
The 10 startups pitching at social startups (impact) vertical are:
1. CastPrint (Latvia)
2. Chili Labs (Latvia)
3. E-volta (Ukraine)
4. Neuroflux (Finland)
5. Petsensus (Hong Kong)
6. PlanA.earth (Germany)
7. Smartcore Enterprise (Tanzania)
8. StoryTracks (Ireland)
9. Taste.li (Latvia)
10. Vigo (Latvia)
This year TechChill received 194 applications for Fifty Founders battle in total, with only 40 (or less than 20%) of those were Latvian startups. As mentioned before, this year all participating startups are divided into 5 verticals – fintech, deep-tech, software as a service (SaaS), hardware & IoT and social startups (impact). The most popular vertical, against all expectations, was software as a service (SaaS) with 64 applications. It’s no secret that most applications are sent from such regions as Baltics and Nordics, but every year event becomes more and more international, and organizers are very happy to see Tanzania, Hong Kong, Mexico, Ghana, Argentina, Lebanon and more represented – altogether 35 countries. The majority of applied startups are early stage – 43% were founded in 2018, and 33% started their journey in 2017.
The pitch competition at TechChill has historically proved to be a sign of success in the future. The very first competition winner, Infogr.am, is also among the more successful Latvian startups, with an exit to Prezi for an undisclosed sum more than a year ago. Others, such as TrackDuck, Edurio, Nordigen, and Sprayprinter, continue to put their names on the global map: SprayPrinter has moved to Silicon Valley and will tell their story on stage this year, Anatomy Next, the VR human body simulator for doctor practices, which won the last year’s TechChill pitch competition, are now cooperating with NATO, and Nordigen raised a successful round in Autumn from Seedcamp and Inventure.
