Hello there you. You sexy you. You missed my blogs, didn´t you? You know how it goes, new program, new startups – new blogs, but same writing style (which means, a little bit for fun and a little bit for real). Because that´s life. You know what they say: tell someone you love them today because life is unpredictable. Shout at them in German, because life is also confusing and scary! No offense to our German startups that might be a part of our future program someday. As our new startups are concerned, as you may know, we accepted 10 brand new, shiny startups into our new program, Smart Living & Health. Why 10? Because we exceeded the number of expected applications. We were quite surprised to receive applications from all around the world: UK, USA, Germany, Japan, Israel… oh, there´s a good one regarding Israel. Our ex co-worker (he wasn´t fired I swear) had a call with one of our potential investors from Israel. As it goes, the thinking process was Investor-Israel-land of opportunity-rising startup ecosystem-land of good food-good food-humus-omg humus! So our co-worker (to whom we won´t point a finger, but we all know who he is), asked our investor, if he is going to be able to bring him some humus from Israel, when he comes to Demo Day. He just went crazy on the thought that he might again try the delicious humus he once already had when visiting Israel (bear in mind that he just met the man). So, the Demo Day arrived and the guy didn’t show up. And of course, no humus. So, what is the lesson of the story? Ask for falafel instead! Ok, joke aside, no humus stories in the new program as we decided to take the things to the next level.
First, we restructured the mentorship program. Now there is 10 lead mentors: one mentor per team, spending even more time with them. Regarding the program, we will be having an individual approach in 5 different areas: management, sales and marketing, data driven decision making, pitching to investors, and business (model) development. And yes, don´t forget the top speakers! What does that mean? Well, we will be trying to get guys like, Guy Kawasaki maybe, coming to Ljubljana and “preach” for you. We will be bringing experts in their fields on your doorstep! Well, ABC´s doorstep which will basically be yours since you will be almost living at ABC for the next few months. Which is not as bad since it´s winter, grey and rainy.
Besides the weather report, we are also a part of Arise and iHub, an Internet Innovation Network of 24 accelerators throughout Europe, covering almost every region of the continent… Apart from the intellectual work, we were also deep in some construction working. You know what they say, If you build it, they will come! Who are they? Well, startups of course. Spread on 2,000m2 there´s a new HUB – Acceleration Business City standing proud and tall.
Everything a young company needs for a successful start: co-working space, academy, premium offices, a place for rest, meeting rooms, kitchen… I remember when they started renovating it and everyone was so excited. They could see a bright picture among the dust clouds coming from the demolished walls.
Ceilings falling apart in order to fall together (inspiring). Even though I am a creative person, and I can imagine something that is about to become when there is still nothing, I saw just that: nothing. A pile of dust. But Uroš, our space designer had a clear vision – and that is what matters. We were all stunned when they presented us with the new offices and the words can´t describe how exciting this was. I am providing you a few pictures because a picture is worth a 1000 words, and because my Big Mac is getting cold and I need to run.
Now, let´s move to what brought us here: our new startups. We will always have a place in our heart for the first ones, they were our first everything: first program, first investments, first struggles, first victories, first demo day, first tears, first of the ABC rules: don´t fall in love with each other, first breaking of the rule: don´t fall in love with each other. So yes, you never forget your first. But we were sneaky so we moved them into the ABC HUB instead, and it´s like they never left! When they grow up, we will be like typical parents: sooo, when do you think you will be moving out?
But the show must go on. Let me introduce you with our second batch, “Smart Living & Health” startups. This weekend I will have the opportunity to meet them in person on our semi-annual “team building” or shall we call it “personality building” boot-camp weekend. We took them 1535 m high, to be precise, we took them to Vogel. 2 Days of hard workout, such as personal and physical. Idea was to synchronise them on the same speed , to think, work, act like one. As a CEO, you have to accept quick decisions and stand strong behind them. We´ve put their CEO´s and their teams in personality testing situations. Some of them came out of it stronger, but nevertheless, all of them had the opportunity to see, how their teams really function when faced with challenging situations.
Startups
AppRay (Austria)
A Fraunhofer research project taken over by a serial entrepreneur, App Ray takes apart any mobile app to find security vulnerabilities, data leaks, and privacy breaches. It can be used by developers to find faults in their apps, or by consumers to see what apps really do with their data. More on app-ray.de.
Homey (Slovenia)
Today, people are communicating increasingly through pictures. Homey makes use of this habit to streamline daily chores at home – through a simple, Snapchat-like experience, and makes sure that everyone does what they are supposed to. More on homeyapp.net.
Dentem (Albania)
The platform for all things dental – from clinic management, patient files, bookings, big data analyses, all the way to reminders to brush your teeth. More on dentem.co.
Kripto (Slovenia)
An automated trade platform that links various crypto currency exchange markets and provides cutting edge trading & arbitrage tools. With this platform you can automate your trading portfolio and focus on analysing the market. More on krip.to.
Mogy (Croatia)
The ultimate tool for the modern personal trainer. As a B2B SaaS for personal trainers, it simplifies their processes, allowing them to focus on their clients. It is modular, enabling use for both professional and recreational athletes, regardless of location and time. More on mogy.me.
Moj Budget (Slovenia)
An AI personal finance assistant, Max, is the core of this application, which promises total freedom from financial stress. Formed as a spinoff from a successful personal-finance advisory firm, it learns from the spending habits of the user, and advises them based on their incomes. More on mojbudget.com.
PointMe (Croatia)
PointMe is a platform for generating authentic marketing – whose users are creators and the audience at the same time. Clients create challenges, and users (consumers) get rewarded when they share their created photo-campaigns on their social media. More on pooint.me.
Sportly (Austria)
Sportly enables everyone to organise sports classes in their neighborhood and make money. It is a self-service platform, which automates the registration and payment processes for sports classes and helps organisers to communicate with participants. More on sportly.co.
VisMedic (Serbia)
VisMedic is the first “online hospital” / telemedicine platform in South-Eastern Europe. It is focused at patients seeking second opinion or medical advice from eminent physicians. The platform also features a full online health records system with medical documentation/imaging exchange. VisMedic represents a great tool for online moonlighting for doctors. More on vismedic.rs.
ZetaDrive (Slovenia)
ZETADRIVE™ is an advanced 4DOF motion driving simulator, developed to place the driver in a real life environment. VR-enabled and connected with EEG monitoring, the system is able to analyse the resulting big data stream to produce a report which can then create algorithm clones. Through combining these and machine learning, the goal is to create a real “brain” for self-driving cars. Currently, it is employed as a tool for evaluation and training of drivers, offered to insurance companies and car manufacturers. More on nerv-teh.com.
