The graduation ceremony for the Spring 2018 edition and the announcement of the Autumn 2018 edition of Fit 4 Start program was held last night. After an intensive day of pitching, the jury had to choose fifteen applicants, out of the 60 pre-selected startups! As a premier this year, five HealthTech startups have been selected out of the 15.
(Featured Image: the 15 new candidates selected for Fit 4 Start program / Image Credit © Luxinnovation)
“This event is the highlight of tremendous work, creativity and determination” said Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation, in her introduction speech. “We have developed Fit 4 Start as a key tool to support startups creation in Luxembourg. We started out in 2015 with only three startups chosen from a pre-selection group of ten! Positive results encouraged us to develop the program further and since then, Fit 4 Start has grown incredibly both in number and geographical scope”.
This year program has also seen pitches from HealthTech companies as it is a vertical the country aims to focs on. “Over the past decades Luxembourg has managed to develop top level research in biomedicine back by considerable government investments. The ministry felt the time was right to launch a health technology program at Fit 4 Start! We thus hope that the selected startups will contribute to this promising sector and develop ground breaking medical technologies here in Luxembourg.”
Continuing on HealthTech, the keynote speaker of this year was Dr Christian Jung, partner at Wellington Partners, the largest German venture fund investing in digital health that gave a persuasive speech on investments in this sector and how the new technologies must address a real and tangible medical need, with an objective and measurable clinical benefit.
Dr. Françoise Liners, from the Ministry of the Economy, that has announced the five selected HealthTech startups reminded the audience that “the selected startups will contribute to improve healthcare in Luxembourg and abroad, and will also be part of an ecosystem”.
“Luxinnovation received 226 applications from 38 countries. 5 Health and 10 ICT startups have been selected for the sixth edition of Fit 4 Start.”
Graduates of the Spring 2018 edition
During the evening, the graduates for the 5th edition were also announced by Michelle Galo Director of ICT Coordination at the Ministry of the Economy. “Only 7 of the 10 of the pre-selected companies made it to graduation! It was a tough time for those startups during 4 months but now, thanks to Fit 4 Start, those companies will be able to scale faster”.
Michelle Galo also reaffirms the Ministry’s support to Fit 4 Start and “how proud they are to finance this program that has become a real platform of choice in Luxembourg”.
The 2018 Spring graduates:
The 2018 Autumn selection
This year, Luxinnovation received 226 applications from 38 countries. Here are the 5 Health and 10 ICT startups selected for the seventh edition of Fit 4 Start.
> HealthTech
LUXAI
Luxembourg – LuxAI has created a robot, QTrobot, as a solution for huge economical and societal challenges of autism.
Find out more: luxai.com
ARSPECTRA
Belgium – ARSPECTRA created a medical augmented reality glasses to improve the latest standards in fluorescence-based surgery for various high incidence cancers.
SOVI SOLUTIONS
Luxembourg – SOVI Solutions develop AAC softwares for people who have difficulties to communicate. Their first solution is Talkii, a digital companion for people with autism and communication disorders.
Find out more: www.sovi.lu
MOLECULAR PLASMA GROUP
Luxembourg – Molecular Plasma Group has developed a molecular plasma technology to graft antibodies into a glass wafer more than 1000 times faster than the current solvent based manufacturing process.
Find out more: www.molecularplasmagroup.com
IMMUNIFIY ME
Chile – Immunify Me is a smart vaccination scheduling and monitoring tool which leverages technology to ensure every child is properly and fully vaccinated.
Find out more: www.immunify.me
> ICT
OKO
France – OKO secures the income of farmers in emerging countries by providing them with mobile-centric, automated and affordable crop insurance.
Find out more: www.oko.finance
CREDOVITA
Philippines – Credovita is a borderless peer-to-peer lending platform that allows qualified lenders and investors from developed markets to fund loans in developing markets at highly competitive interest rates for both lenders and borrowers all on a blockchain driven platform.
Find out more: www.credovita.io
EIRAVATO
Luxembourg – Eiravato uses advances technology to rethink waste, turning it into a profit whilst delivering on regulatory and sustainability objectives.
Find out more: eiravato.com
SPOTICLE
Luxembourg – Spoticle is a location recommendations’ tool, to allow everyone to share their local knowledge.
Find out more: www.spoticle.com
GOLDBAUM
Luxembourg – Based in Luxembourg, GoldbAuM aims to create digital service to help financial analysts and money’ managers in Europe do more and better research with fewer resources.
Find out more: www.goldbaum.io
MORFIN
Luxembourg/Romania – This startup has developed a mobile mutual banking for blockchain generation.
Find out more: morfin.io
BONDWEAVER
Luxembourg/Hungary – BondWeaver created an AI-based organizational analytics tool, to map the informal network of the company and advises how to improve efficiency, innovation capabilities and reduce operational costs.
Find out more: www.bondweaver.com
LORO
USA – loro has created a smart personalized companion for wheelchair users to navigate safely and communicate efficiently.
Find out more: www.loro.xyz
STARTALERS
Luxembourg – The Luxembourg-based startup has developed a digital financial advisor that helps women achieve financial freedom and become sustainable investors.
Find out more: startalers.com
PYCNO AGRICULTURE SENSORS
UK – This startup helps farmers and agronomists to make better informed decisions on the condition of their crops, saving resources, reducing risks and food waste while increasing the quality and quantity of their harvest.
Find out more: en.pycno.co
