selected: 9 startups
from: 4 countries
meet them: right now!

PIONEERS 2014: Wayra beats and notes

Every year since 2012, Pioneers Festival brings together the key business players, opinion leaders, hackers, investors and media representatives to celebrate entrepreneurship and technology at the glamorous Hofburg Palace in Vienna. The event was founded by Andreas Tschas and Jurgen Furian to provide the community with two days of panel talks on current topics, past analyses and future prognoses. Best known as a perfect opportunity for top-notch networking, talks, discovery and endless fun, this well-known event attracts more than 2,500 visitors and 80 speakers from all over Europe and gives them the opportunity to showcase their technologies and chance to win up to 50,000 dollars from Speedinvest at the Pioneers Challenge.

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Wayra Notes

Wayra teams started with the preparation weeks before the actual event. From printing cards or t-shirts to setting up meetings with potential investors and colleagues. And that’s basically how they spent most of the limited time – running around the city from one meeting to another. “It’s all about networking”, says PiotrJozef Vodicka points out the importance of speedy email replies and connecting new people with people already existing in your network. He managed to have five meetings with investors and lately changed his one-liner based on the feedback he received.

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“I was shocked when I saw ANKI presentation. I knew that big moto companies are working on AI systems in cars, but putting it into such a small toy cars was something unbelievable. And it works!,” adds Alex from AudioTrip. He also reminded us of a motto from the Arena screens: ”9 from 10 startups falls down. What you need to do? Create 10 startups!”

Pioneers Startup Challenge 2014

Out of 1000 applications for the challenge, eight finalists (see Top50 here) were selected to pitch and present their project on stage in front of the jury. Who made it to the finals?

    1. Mimi Hearing Technologies (Germany) – Health & MedTech
    2. Robo (US) – Robotics/Education
    3. Crate Technology (Austria) – Big Data/IoT & Sensors
    4. BRCK (Kenya) – IoT & Sensors, Telco
    5. Oradian (Croatia) – Cloud, Fintech
    6. Tag & Find (Israel), Devices, IoT & Sensors
    7. OptoForce (Hungary) – AI & Robotics, IoT & Sensors
    8. Owlin (Netherlands) – Communications, FinTech

Oradian was chosen out of 1,000+ applications from 64 countries and it is the winner of the Pioneers Challenge 2014. After the triumph of BellaBeat in 2013, we’ve moved from mobile app for pregnant women to banking technology. Jury consisted of respected specialists who came from Accel Partners, Y Combinator, Speedinvest, Index Ventures or Haxlr8r. You can read an interview with the CEO of Oradian here or watch their product introduction below:

We can’t wait to celebrate entrepreneurship, technology and science with you at the next PIONEERS FESTIVAL – on 28 & 29 May 2015! Get your tickets here! Early access = better price!

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