The graduation ceremony for the Autumn 2018 edition (7th batch) and the announcement of the 2019 Spring edition (8th batch) was held yesterday night. After an intensive day of pitching, the jury had to choose ten applicants, out of the 50 startups – 25 Luxembourg-based and 25 foreign – pre-selected.
(Featured Image: The new cohort of startups selected for the 8th edition of Fit4Start Acceleration Program / Image Credit © Silicon Luxembourg)
While waiting impatiently for the names of the happy few, Etienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister reminded the crowd in his introductory speech, that “Luxembourg is a unique environment for high potential startups where innovative ideas can transform into successful businesses”. He mentioned the success stories of Salonkee and Passbolt, two former graduates as “stories that contribute to the attractiveness of Luxembourg, to attract more international participants”.
A Mexican wave for the Minister of the Economy at #Fit4Start Selection and Graduation Day. pic.twitter.com/CHkbo6vMJo
— Startup Luxembourg (@StartupLu) 28 mars 2019
The two founders were also present on stage to give their alumni testimonials on the program. “Thanks to this program, we lost our certainties, we’ve been challenged by coaches that asked us to prove our assumptions and it helped greatly” declared Kevin Muller, Co-founder & CEO at Passbolt.
#Fit4Start: « Why Luxembourg is a great place to start your startup? » – Tom Michels, Co-founder & CEO of Salonkee #startup #tech #innovation #digital #Luxembourg #Europe pic.twitter.com/TiQ0pE6W0p
— Silicon Luxembourg (@SiliconLux) 28 mars 2019
For Tom Michels, Co-Founder & CEO at Salonkee, “F4S helped us to be challenged, iterate, improve. Thanks to the program, we received help to get a broader view to scale quicker and conquer Europe.”
Another inspiring speech were given by Polina Montano, Co-Founder & COO at Job Today, that started her speech by asking the audience to celebrate entrepreneurship. “It takes courage to take a risk and I want to salute every single entrepreneur, successful or not. What is worth celebrating is the courage that push you on the path of entrepreneurship and bring our society to a better place”.
#Fit4Start: « This picture is really kind ???? » – Polina Montano, Co-founder of @JobToday_UK #startup #tech #innovation #fundraising #VC #VentureCapital #investor #digital pic.twitter.com/ulMK0KerzI
— Silicon Luxembourg (@SiliconLux) 28 mars 2019
Graduates of the Autumn 2018 edition
The ICT startups graduates for the 7th edition were then announced by Michele Gallo, Coordinateur ICT, Ministry of Economy. Out of the 10 selected startups, 8 graduated.
“It was for one of the best editions! They are all highly motivated people that can make real impact in bringing disruptive innovation in many industries (insurance, tourism, banking, …). They all built a scalable business model even though it was really though and challenging”.
The 2018 Autumn graduates:
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- BONDWEAVER
- EIRAVATO
- GOLDBAUM
- LORO
- MORFIN
- OKO
- SPOTICLE
- STARTALERS
- ARSPECTRA
- LUXAI
- MPG
- SOVI
The 2019 Spring selection
This year, Luxinnovation received over 200 applications. Here are the 10 selected startups:
KEEXLE
Luxembourg – Keexle is a completely private, totally secure and easy to use communication platform for Collaboration, File-Sharing, Video Conferencing, Chat & lots more. In the face of Cybersecurity threats and data leaks; for even the most sensitive of projects, our unique technology ensures you’re protected.
NIAOULI
France – Niaouli is the ideal digital tool to analyse, understand and evaluate your employer brand by gathering HR big data (internally and externally). In other words, Niaouli is the Google Analytics for the Employer Brand.
FIREFLY
Luxembourg – We believe that businesses should make a commitment to future generations and fight a global issue. Ours is wildfires. We do it from space.
→ NC
RAFINEX
Luxembourg – Rafinex brings engineering SMEs to Industry 4.0. In minutes rather than months, our AI-assisted, cloud-based simulations auto-generate safer, stronger product designs than ever before, optimising components for thousands of real-world operating conditions.
F4A
Luxembourg – With F4A, only YOU can make a change! Our concrete win-win solution gives the opportunity 4 ALL to be a hero fighting food waste on a supermarket level!
→ f4a.com
CARGOFIVE
Portugal – Cargofive is a sales automation software for freight forwarders. Our algorithm enables freight forwarders to manage complex carrier’s rates and create automatic quotes in seconds instead of hours. Cargofive is the perfect solution for any freight forwarder who wants to simplify, digitise and automate their sales process and sell more, faster.
GAMMA
Germany – GAMMA AR is an Augmented Reality application that helps construction companies monitor and manage projects. The app empowers users with a tool to detect errors and share information in real time on a mobile device. The result: on-site troubleshooting that saves time and cuts costs.
AMBITRACE
United States – Ambitrace Bridges the Data Visibility Gap with 100% data visibility, perpetual look-up, and near zero operational complexity.
VALUU.IO
Luxembourg – Valuu Analytics empowers self-directed, individual investors to analyse the intrinsic value of stock-listed companies. It gives them confidence to make informed investment decisions and saves precious time in their research process.
→ valuu.io
ROOMMATE
Italy – RoomMate simplifies living together for people sharing an apartment by proposing tools for managing the daily home life, such as expense splitting or chores management. We found a sweet spot: we sell apartment-related services via our platform.
