The best hard-tech projects and creative industries to accelerate within the urban accelerator program Startup Hub Warsaw. Innovation pioneers will compete for 100,000 PLN (approximately $28,000) in total.
This year projects from digital and creative industries will compete for prizes of PLN 50.000, 30.000 and 20.000. The program will gather cybersecurity, bots, artificial intelligence and augmented reality engineers as well as computer games developers, material engineers, designers and fashion-tech entrepreneurs.
At the end of 4-month acceleration program the best teams will be presented to leading VC funds (Experior Venture, StarFinder, Giza Polish Ventures and bValue), whose investment offer can reach up to PLN 6 million ($1.65 million).
Same mission, new format
The city of Warsaw aims at identifying and supporting startups with the highest development potential. This is the third time it funds an acceleration program for the most promising companies. And for the second year in a row, the program operator is Startup Hub Poland – a foundation that counteracts the brain drain by accumulating tech talents from around the world in Poland. Startup Hub promotes the city as the capital for business champions from across Eastern Europe.
In 2016 the winner of the accelerator was Wandlee, a company using artificial intelligence to increase sales of online businesses. Igor Sawczuk, the company’s CEO, was born in Lviv but chose Warsaw as the location for his startup. In the competition, Wandlee overcame 34 other innovative projects selected from 512 applications. “The biggest challenge in developing an innovative, new solution is to prove that someone has tried and trusted it. SHW16 allowed us to gain this trust. As a result, we stopped talking about “adding to portfolio”, and started working on serious contracts”, says Sawczuk.
“For me personally, Warsaw accelerator was an external maturity test, after which one understands that it’s the end of the fun, pretending and hanging around – it is time to scale and generate real results,” Sawczuk points out.
Future is rising in Warsaw
Through such initiatives, Warsaw aims to demonstrate its appeal as a city to live and do business in. Among its assets are comfortable and low carbon public transporta, a rich academic and cultural life, an international airline hub, innovation centers like Cezamat, Campus Warsaw or the Creativity Center Targowa. Bloomberg’s Innovative 2017 Rating has distinguished Warsaw as one of the fastest growing technology hubs in the world.
The leaders of our startup ecosystem are already operating on the global scene today and are eager to help new generations of entrepreneurs, both locals and foreigners”, states Michał Olszewski, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw.
“There is a technological hub emerging between Tel-Aviv and Berlin, attracting the greatest technological talents from home and abroad with its openness, infrastructure, global relationships and investment opportunities,” says Maciej Sadowski, CEO at Startup Hub Poland. “The smart city slogan is not only about a new quality of life for the citizens, but also the ability to concentrate the greatest talents, visionaries and creators who have global, driving ambitions. The ‘made in Warsaw’ success of CD Projekt Red is a lighthouse for innovation leaders today”, adds Sadowski.
The call to apply to Startup Hub Warsaw ’17 ends on July 28. Organizers reserve the right to suspend recruitment if the number of applications exceeds 350. The application form is available at startuphub.pl/warsaw.
Important dates
- July 31st: qualification of 60 projects for the first phase of the program
- August 4th – September 1st: workshops and mentorship phase
- September 4th – December 4th: acceleration phase for 30 best startups
- Beginning of December: DemoDay – finalists pitch their startups to VC funds, investors and media
