Artificial intelligence, logistics, cybersecurity, food waste… The technologies and fields covered by the 10 start-ups of the 8th edition of Fit 4 Start are varied. It must be said that the quality of the pitches from the 50 candidates who came to defend their project during Pitching and Graduation Day was outstanding.
After more than an hour of deliberation and in an electric atmosphere, the names of the 10 lucky participants selected were unveiled in the large auditorium at Kinepolis.
And the winners are…
- Ambitrace – Ambitrace bridges the data visibility gap with 100% data visibility, perpetual look-up, and near zero operational complexity.
- Cargofive – Cargofive is a sales automation software for freight forwarders. Its algorithm enables freight forwarders to manage complex carrier rates and create automatic quotes in seconds instead of hours.
- F4A – F4A offers a concrete win-win solution by giving the opportunity for all consumers to fight food waste at supermarket level.
- Firefly – Firefly provides a solution that allows prevention and fighting of wildfires using satellites.
- Gamma – Gamma is an augmented reality application that helps construction companies monitor and manage projects. The app empowers users to detect errors and share information in real time on a mobile device.
- Keexle – Keexle is a completely private, totally secure and easy to use communication platform for collaboration, file-sharing, video conferencing, chat and lots more.
- Niaouli – Niaouli is the ideal digital tool to analyse, understand and evaluate an employer brand by gathering HR big data (internally and externally). In other words, Niaouli is the Google Analytics for employer brands.
- Rafinex – Rafinex brings engineering SMEs to Industry 4.0. In minutes rather than months, its AI-assisted, cloud-based simulations auto-generate safer, stronger product designs than ever before, optimising components for thousands of real-world operating conditions.
- RoomMate – RoomMate simplifies living together for people sharing an apartment by proposing tools for managing daily home life, such as expense splitting or chores management.
- Valuu.io – 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 save precious time in the research process.
A Luxembourg success story
Launched in 2015 by the Ministry of the Economy, Fit 4 Start has become, in a few years, the Luxembourg reference programme for supporting start-ups. Moreover, its international aspect is growing from one edition to the next. For this 8th round, 221 applications were received from 44 different countries.
“The growing number of companies attracted by the Fit 4 Start programme and the success of some start-ups that have followed the programme are proof that Luxembourg offers a favourable environment for the development of young innovative companies with high potential”, said Minister of the Economy, Étienne Schneider, on Thursday evening, a few minutes before the announcement of the selected start-ups. “We have created an ecosystem where it is possible to create successful companies from innovative ideas.”
An observation shared by Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation: “The Luxinnovation Fit 4 Start programme is a key element of the start-up ecosystem. And to function properly, it can count on the many partners directly involved: the Ministry of the Economy, which not only finances the programme, but also provides information and strategic orientation; Technoport and Luxembourg-City Incubator, which provide premises for start-ups participating in Fit 4 Start.”
Fit 4 Start #7 graduates
The Pitching and Graduation Day evening was also an opportunity to celebrate the graduation of the start-ups of the previous edition of Fit 4 Start who succeeded in fulfilling all the objectives defined by their jury at the beginning of the session.
In addition to the ICT sector, Fit 4 Start #7 was open to companies from the health technologies sector. Five start-ups active in this field were selected to follow the coaching programme, in addition to the 10 selected for the ICT vertical.
The graduates are:
ICT
- BondWeaver
- Eiravato
- Goldbaum
- Loro
- Morfin
- Oko
- Spoticle
- StarTalers
Health Technologies
- ARSpectra
- LuxAI
- Molecular Plasma Group
- SOVI Solutions
Fit 4 Start in brief
Concretely, Fit 4 Start #7 offers:
- 16 weeks of expert coaching using Lean Start-Up, a structured methodology for rapid product and service development, and the Agile methodology which calls for high flexibility and the ability to pursue and realise well-defined short-term objectives;
- free access to co-working space in a business incubator; and
- a grant of €50,000, to be matched by €10,000 of equity. An additional €100,000 is offered by the Ministry of the Economy to start-ups that have both successfully graduated from Fit 4 Start and managed to raise at least €50,000 of private equity after the end of the programme.