Let´s see what has happened over the last twelve months on Slovak startup scene.
Mentegram and Aeromobil on SXSW
Slovak startup Mentegram, a HIPAA compliant platform for daily behavioral monitoring, and the flying car of the future, Aeromobil, attended South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
Booster´s first participants
First startups to attend first Slovak accelerating program The Spot Booster with SignEE, Betviz, Kickresume, Cloudo, Invent and BeeSafe among the final ones.
The Spot Booster Accelerator Info Day
Posted by The Spot on Friday, September 25, 2015
Startupweekends
First startupweekend of 2015 took place in Kosice with winning teams of Adrocket, Emomime a TaskyFlock. Startupweekend Zilina followed in October, SuperVisor and WowDeville as winners. The best of Bratislava´s event in November were Treffi.co, Watch Agent 3rd and Secure Me.
Slovak startups in Silicon Valley
Three Slovak startups were given a chance to be a part of the international initiative from CEE called WE4Startups. Mentegram, Staffino and Droppie visited headquarters of greatest technology companies and met many inspirational people out there.
iKid Slovakia
KPMG´s 2012 project iKid took place in Slovakia for the first time. Kids in the age of 10-14 pitched many innovative and interesting ideas. This proves also the fact that not one but two teams became winners.
Posted by i Kid Slovakia on Sunday, May 31, 2015
Pirates in Bratislava
International startup event Startup Pirates took place for the first time also in Slovakia. Connect Coworking hosted more than 50 enthusiasts, mentors and speakers who came up with 7 promising projects.
Prizeo acquisition followed by Represent acquisition
Andrej Pancik and his team´s charity platform Prizeo became part of Todd Wagner´s Chideo. His second successful startup Represent which he co-founded was sold only few months afterwards, in February 2016, for 100 mil USD.
Rockstart Answers
Rockstart Answers event organized in one of Bratislava´s accelerator gave opportunity to 5 startups for their 3 mins pitches. In this initial round startups Firminside, Linpresso, QID.Company, gocatchme and Wakesapp presented the projects.
Startup Grind
First Startup Grind event in Slovakia occupied late summer evening with main guest Rasto Kulich (Country Manager @ Google Slovakia). Since then Startup Grind evenings have followed every month.
Posted by Startup Grind Bratislava on Thursday, September 24, 2015
Startup or Shutdown Slovakia
There is always room for good and relevant conference. Alongside the CFO Forum Slovakia 2015 a co-event for startups took place. Its main goal was to get together interesting startup ideas and projects with financial heads of key corporations from Slovakia, Czech republic and other countries.
ImpactHub Incubator
ImpactHub in Bratislava launched its initiative to support and accelerate startups with ideas covering innovative product or service, social impact, green technology or education. More than 100 hours of trainings and mentoring along with important connections for future development are key benefits of the program.
First startup course on Slovak university
Non-profit initiative Startup Slovakia in cooperation with University of Comenius launched first startup course in Slovakia. During the semester students will learn what startups are, how lean methodology works and much more.
SmartPoint Bratislava
Municipality of Bratislava and RubixLab incubator cooperated on a 6-week mentoring program for startups. Six startups joined every week a workshop led by a skilled mentors or businessmen who shared their knowledge. At the end all the participants pitched their ideas on Financial forum in front of potential investors.
Andrej Kiska in Estonia and Finland
The president of the Slovak Republic is known for his positive attitude towards innovation, technology and startups. To pick some highlights, his business travel to Estonia (where he discussed the e-government topics) and Finland (opening ceremony of Slovak Innovation Liaison Office) should be mentioned. In addition his debate with Mike Butcher (TechCrunch) in Davos is also memorable.
Posted by Andrej Kiska on Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Reactiv 2015
Three-day technology event Reactiv reached Slovakia in late autumn. Around 25 speakers from Uber or Facebook (among many others) and more than 500 software engineers in one place to challenge and inspire each other.
StartupAwards.sk
The fifth edition of awards for innovative, creative and most promising new Slovak projects filled old building of Slovak National Theatre with creativity, passion and strong competition. Among many prominent guests you could meet President of the Slovak Republic Andrej Kiska or TechCrunch journalist Mike Butcher. Follow the link to find out all the winners.
Posted by Startup Awards.SK on Saturday, November 28, 2015
Piano to cooperate with Google
World´s leading provider of e-commerce SaaS software to media companies, Piano, will cooperate with Google on Accelerated Mobile Pages solution.
Greenway investment
The biggest investment deal in Slovakia was closed in January. Slovak startup Greenway focused on electronic mobility raised 3,25 mil EUR by Neulogy Ventures.
UpVenture
LP and GP investors in one place discussing all the crucial topics on investing, startups, technology, etc. That was the main goal of UpVenture conference in Vienna, first of its kind in our region. Panels called “West meets East in VC”, investing for Impact, Fundraising and many more brought interesting ideas and thoughts for inspiration.
Posted by Up Venture Conference on Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Cover photo original: Pierre Rougier/Unsplash.com
