Luxembourg’s startup scene is on the rise. The mix of global talent, government initiatives and entrepreneurial spirit by women in particular is showing great results. More women are launching their tech businesses determined to turn their dreams and ideas into reality. In light of all the attention it is getting, here are 10 Luxembourgish startups to keep an eye on in 2020.
Image Credits: Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels
BEAUTY MATCHING ENGINE
Pitch: 100s of beauty brands retail similar products and customers are at a loss when it comes to making the right decision. Beauty Matching Engine’s™ white label AI software powers beauty companies with the ability to offer their customers personalised product recommendations, emails and landing pages. The solution optimises conversion rates and heightens customer experience. BME won the award for Europe’s Best Customer Experience Using AI.
Name: Nidhima Kohli
Position: Founder & CEO
Year of creation: 2019
Staff: 4
Problems solved: We help customers find the right products by saving them time and money and by improving their shopping experience. We help beauty retailers and brands increase their revenue through beauty specific AI software.
Next steps: Expand to new markets.
Website: beautymatchingengine.com
EDUGAMITECH
Pitch: Memomoti is a scalable technology and community platform at the center of an educational/media/gaming ecosystem that allows learners, parents, teachers, publishers, and businesses to easily combine their educational content with games and media content to make the learning experience joyful and motivating.
Name: Györgyi (Gira) Szakmár
Position: CEO
Year of creation: 2018
Staff: 11
Problems solved: Although learners’ expectations have evolved during the digital revolution, most of the educational content today is traditional and analog. This situation creates a massive market challenge for educational publishers, as most of their content is perceived as boring and old-school. Digital media content publishers and game producers are consistently labeled as “time wasters” by society and lose access to potential users as a result. Memomoti will be the digital link in the middle of a sharing ecosystem of learners, educators, and game developers.
Next steps: The team is developing a new version of the platform (if you are a brilliant web developer, do not hesitate to contact them!) and launching a pilot in elementary schools. Fundraising.
Website: edugamitec.com
F4A
Pitch: F4A is a 360 service company fighting food waste in the food supply chain
Name: Ilana Devillers
Position: Founder & CEO
Year of creation: 2017
Staff: 7
Problems solved: Food Waste
Next steps: The team has a global vision for F4A and want to be the leaders of the new generation on this matter. The next step is definitely international expansion.
Website: f4a.icu
JOB TODAY
Pitch: JOB TODAY is a leading mobile marketplace for casual jobs, that connects employers with candidates in a matter of seconds. It meets the demands of a future workforce by being mobile first and delivering immediate results for hiring managers and job seekers.
Name: Polina Montano
Position: Co-founder & COO
Year of creation: 2014
Staff: 30
Problems solved: Today, 75% of hiring for SMEs is conducted offline. Consequently, millions of jobs remain “hidden” and candidates are forced to resort to age-old methods of submitting their CVs to local companies. This makes recruitment slow and inefficient. JOB TODAY removes friction from the recruitment process for casual jobs by providing an end-to-end mobile solution that instantly connects employers and job seekers. As a result, there is no unnecessary waiting time or doubt about the success of an application, but rather a quick and transparent hiring process.
Next steps: Growth Growth Growth! The startup is currently focused on consolidating the growth in existing markets by both introducing new features and expanding to new customer segments.
Website: jobtoday.com
KIDS.CLOUD
Pitch: kids.cloud is a communication and management software designed for children facilities: nurseries, sport clubs, dance schools and weekend schools. The cloud-based system adapts to the needs of those facilities and is available in five languages. Currently kids.cloud has more than a 1000 children enrolled. In 2019, kids.cloud has obtained the label “Made in Luxembourg”.
Name: Tatiana Nosova
Position: Co-founder
Year of creation: 2018
Staff: 3
Problems solved: kids.cloud saves time by facilitating administrative work. The software helps exchange information with parents more efficiently and connects educators with parents.
Next steps: Raise brand awareness for kids.cloud, continue to grow client acquisition in the Luxembourgish market.
Website: kids.cloud
MATTRVEST
Pitch: Mattrvest is a venture backed fintech which helps millennials plan, save and invest in what matters to them. By building an ecosystem for sustainable finance we connect millennials with sustainable banking products. We combine smart conversational technology and money management algorithms to create curated financial journeys which help you secure your financial future without harming the planet.
Name: Diane Delava
Position: Co-founder
Year of creation: 2019
Staff: 3
Problems solved: Saving sustainably can have 27 times more impact in terms of carbon emissions than consuming sustainably. And more than 86% of 120mn millennials in the EU want to save sustainably but lack knowhow, education and access to sustainable finance options. While sustainable finance products exist, there is no dedicated platform in which users can access these products easily.
Next steps: Launching Mattrvest to millennials across Benelux and Germany. We want to increase the awareness on sustainable finance and reach out to more than a 100,000 millennials in the EU.
Website: mattrvest.com
SCROBLE
Pitch: SCROBLE makes fashion digitally accessible anywhere anytime. We are turning city retail into a sweet spot of interaction between users and products – all with the help of smartphones and the SCROBLE app. We leverage technology to enable D2C marketing tools, gaining 360° data and making it directly accessible for brands and retailers on the SCROBLE business intelligence platform.
Name: Anna Salewski
Position: Founder & CEO
Year of creation: 2018
Staff: 6
Problems solved: Reducing overproduction and unsold stock, Improving connectivity between online and city retail, Improving product discovery for users, Unavailability of Digital Product Information in city retail, Shopping inconvenience for users, difficult and time-consuming product discovery ; Absence of 360° product related data from both online and city retail.
Next steps: SCROBLE aims to launch in a real shopping environment. From Q2’2020, local users will be able to render the app from online and offline stores.
Website: scroble.com
TRAVELSIFY
Pitch: Today, we live in a world of experiences, not products. Each hotel, vacation rental, restaurant and destination delivers a unique experience. It is what we call the Hotel DNA™, Vacation Rental DNA™, Restaurant DNA™, and Destination DNA™. Travelsify enables the shift to hyper relevant personalized searches so destinations, hotels, vacation rentals, and restaurants can better match the experience customers want.
Name: Alexandra Fernández Ramos
Position: Chief Product & Sales Officer
Year of creation: 2016
Staff: 16
Problems solved: Travelsify helps companies in the travel industry deliver hyper relevant customer experiences thanks to its unique Product DNA data creation technology for hotels, restaurants, destinations, and vacation rentals.
Next steps: Scaling internationally
Wesbsite: travelsify.com
ZENVIEW
Pitch: ZENVIEW provides the user with a (virtual) place to relax by disconnecting from the outside stress and reconnecting with the inner self. The virtual reality software consists of interactive environments, music and audio guides created by experts in the field of mindfulness. It is offered in an all-inclusive subscription package for companies with the goal of reducing stress and enhancing performance.
Name: Agnella Serafin
Year of creation: 2018
Staff: 5
Problems solved: Companies are losing billions of euros each year as a result of stress related health issues and loss of productivity. Most companies have recognized the problem and invested in wellbeing initiatives like fitness rooms but have not found a way to provide a place for employees to recharge mentally.
Next steps: Fundraising to expand the technology. Expanding to new industries such as hospitals, airports & libraries.
Website: zenview.lu
ZPORTS
Pitch: Zports is a community for both professional and amateur sports, specifically Football (Soccer), Basketball and Ice Hockey. The platform enables you to recruit, network and promote your career from each side whether you are a player, a coach or a professional.
Name: Iris Hoffelt
Position: Co-founder & CEO
Year of creation: 2013
Staff: 8
Problems solved: Zports is a recruitment and career management platform for the semi-pro team sports market. The online platform and mobile app make recruitment and career management simpler, faster and transparent. Teams are able to screen and select top candidates based on their skills and performance record. Athletes have an up-to-date profile with their statistics and achievements and can apply directly to relevant openings.
Next steps: Zports is raising 750k€ to grow its users’ base to 250k users by the end of 2020. The team plans to launch a full range of premium offerings for athletes, coaches, team officials and agents in 2021. In the medium term, the startup will be adding new sports and target a potential exit in 2022/2023.
Website: zports.com
