Challenges of Startups in Europe
Despite the numerous advantages that Europe provides to entrepreneurs, startups can still face multiple challenges. These include the following:
1. Protecting Intellectual Property
Due to a lack of resources and technical knowledge, many startups find it difficult to protect their intellectual property (IP) rights.
Without proper legal guidance, companies are unable to ensure that their ideas are not stolen and cannot protect themselves from future liabilities.
2. Access to Capital
While venture capital investments in Europe are on the rise, not all startups will have access to adequate funding. As such, securing capital or finding suitable investors can be a challenge for young companies.
3. Talent Acquisition
With an increased competition for tech talent, it can be difficult for startups to find and retain skilled employees. Companies often face a shortage of qualified staff, which can stifle their growth potential.
4. Regulatory Compliance
Many countries in Europe have complex regulatory frameworks that startups must adhere to in order to remain compliant. This can be difficult for smaller companies that lack the resources or legal knowledge to navigate through the various regulations.
1. Delivery Hero
| Startup | Delivery Hero |
|---|---|
| Co-founders | Claude Ritter, Dave Bailey, Kolja Hebenstreit, Lukasz Gadowski, Markus Fuhrmann, Nikita Fahrenholz, Niklas Ostberg, Tracy Richardson |
| Industry | E-Commerce |
| Headquarter | Berlin, Germany |
Top 10 Startups in Europe — Delivery Home
Delivery Hero SE has a headquarters in Berlin, Germany, as a European international online food service. The business works globally and with over 500,000 restaurants in over 40 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Middle East. Over 666 million orders were delivered in 2019 by Delivery Hero. Delivery Hero is the largest local supply network in the world, working in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa in over 40 countries. The business began distributing food in 2011 and is now operating its own sourcing platform on four continents.Delivery Hero is also the founder of rapid trading, the new wave of e-commerce, targeted at delivering food and home commodities to consumers in less than 20 minutes. The business has more than 27,000 personnel and headquarters in Berlin, Germany. Since 2017 Distribution Hero has been listed on the Frankfurt bursary and became part of the leading DAX index in 2020.
Prezent.ai
Founded: 2021Founder(s): Rajat MishraHeadquarters: Los Altos, California, USATotal funding to date: $20 million
Prezent.ai offers a “one-stop shop” solution for business communications, using data-based intelligence to mold hyper-personalized templates, storylines and branded presentations. The company says that its solution, currently in use by over 25 Fortune 2000 businesses, cuts down on presentation creation time by up to 70% on average.
Prezent.ai was founded in 2021 by Rajat Mishra, a senior tech executive turned entrepreneur “on a mission to automate presentations and democratize great business communication.”
The company’s AI-powered presentation productivity platform is designed to “supercharge” business communication. Its solution helps users master structured storytelling and build strategic presentations that make their messages stand out. It also enables the creation of presentations tailored to specific audience preferences, as well as supporting brainstorming and collaboration among colleagues.
According to the company, its ML algorithms analyze the preferences of individuals and agencies, enabling its customers to use the software platform rather than reaching out to boutique design agencies. Additionally, present.ai says it works with Fortune 1000 companies to ensure that all presentations are 100% brand compliant. Users can standardize content and distribute presentations instantly.
Prezent.ai reported raising $20 million in April 2022 in its first round of venture capital, which was led by Greycroft. Other investors in the deal included WestWave Capital and Emergent Ventures, both of which invested in the company’s previous $4.3 million seed funding round in June 2021.
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A Strong Board with Independent Members
Board members—especially experienced nonexecutive, or independent, directors—can bring valuable experience, expertise, and contacts to a young business, and they are often instrumental in its success. But realizing value from the board is not axiomatic, and many companies in our survey cited room for improvement. Several issues arise.
Managing Conflicts of Interest. Board members who are also investors (or corporate partners) can have a built-in conflict of interest and prioritize near-term financial goals over longer-term development. When wearing their investor hat, they might advocate for accelerated exit strategies, for example, or minimization of investment and risk. In our interviews, founders expressed such frustrations as, “We don’t have a board of directors, we have a board of investors.” Yet compartmentalization is possible. One European chief portfolio officer told us that at his fund, “when investors enter a board room, they work for the company and not for the fund anymore.”
Experience. Another frustration is that board members do not always provide substantive assistance on difficult business or technical topics, or in guiding management on the basis of experience or industry or technology background. Help in hiring key people and gaining introductions to potential customers or investors often is not forthcoming. One company executive went so far as to say that his board members “are supportive, but they are clueless about what we are doing.”
Какие украинские стартапы попали в список
В отчет EMERGE 100 Report вошли 14 проектов из Украины:
Bicovery
Занимается решениями для людей с биполярным расстройством. Приложение с помощью машинного обучения прогнозирует динамику заболевания, предупреждает о потенциальных маниакальных или депрессивных эпизодах, измеряет эффективность препаратов
Comeback Mobility
Стартап разрабатывает умные насадки на костыли. Во время ходьбы они передают информацию о нагрузке в приложение. Благодаря этому врач может контролировать нагрузку пациента и корректировать его программу реабилитации.
Esper Bionics
Разрабатывает IoT-устройства в сфере протезирования. Главный продукт Esper Bionics — роборука. Она может помочь человеку заранее выбрать захват под конкретную ситуацию.
Ophtas
Разрабатывает ИИ-систему скрининга сетчатки, которая позволяет своевременно выявить ранние признаки серьезных заболеваний (особенно сахарного диабета и сердечно-сосудистых).
EFFA
Этот sustainability-стартап занимается выпуском одноразовых экологических продуктов ежедневного использования. Первым из них стала полностью перерабатываемая зубная щетка из бумаги. Детальнее о стартапе мы рассказывали здесь.
AMW Labs
Стартап предлагает комплекс услуг по активному воздействию на погодные условия. Имеет полный цикл разработки ракет — от двигателей и бортовой электроники до наземного оборудования. Продукт компании полезен фермерам, агрохолдингам, организаторам мероприятий и госструктурам.
Bonnet
Приложение собирает всю необходимую информацию, чтобы водитель электрокара мог максимально удобно зарядить свой автомобиль. В приложении можно оставлять отзывы и комментарии, а также получать уведомления об изменениях на электрозаправках.
MySatUA
Стартап занимается производством учебных наборов с функциями настоящих спутников. Модель можно собрать прямо у себя дома. В набор входят камера, акселерометр, гироскоп, магнитный компас, а также датчики температуры, давления, влажности. Стартап показывает, что космические технологии сегодня доступны всем заинтересованным.
Spacebox
Стартап проводит биологические эксперименты для других компаний на своих наноспутниках. Он предоставляет камеру культивирования искусственной экосистемы (3–4 вида растений). Сенсорная система сообщает данные о состоянии окружающей среды и растений.
VR INN
Стартап предлагает компаниям VR-решения, которые делают обучение сотрудников более эффективным, быстрым и максимально приближенным к реальной ситуации. Также VR-обучение помогает детально анализировать прогресс каждого ученика.
Caer Sidi
Стартап добавляет цифровые функции к физическим продуктам брендов, например, интегрирует NFC-теги. Так он усиливает эмоциональный опыт от покупки и владения продуктами компании.
Watched
ИИ-платформа оценивает эффективность видеоконтента через анализ реакции зрителя. Благодаря ей компании понимают уровень эмоционального вовлечения и внимания целевой аудитории. Платформу используют онлайн-кинотеатры, телеканалы, маркетинговые агентства и другие.
Sportify.tech
Стартап разрабатывает ИИ-инструмент для глубокого анализа биомедицинских данных человека в режиме реального времени. Так, например, тренер может быстро получать информацию о физическом состоянии спортсмена.
Colendi
Founded: 2018Founder(s): Bülent Tekmen, Mihriban ErsinHeadquarters: London, UKTotal funding to date: $40 million
Colendi provides embedded fintech services that make banking and credit more accessible than traditional lending institutions for consumers, merchants and financial and non-financial entities. The company’s technology enables breakthrough risk-assessment methodologies, using AI algorithms and alternative data types, such as the information that can be mined from a person’s mobile device.
Colendi also offers access to consumer loans with a “buy-now-pay-later” (BNPL) model marketed through a network of strategic partners. The company supports micro-credit and other financial services that are fully integrated into ecommerce, mobile and in-store channels, allowing a current end-user base of around 15 million people to access cheap capital at the point of transaction.
In late 2022, Colendi signed a deal with Turkish Fibabanka, opening a $150 million strategic credit line to Colendi’s millions of end users. A few months earlier, Colendi acquired the blockchain infrastructure firm SETL, whose chairman is Sir David Walker, former executive director of the Bank of England.
Colendi’s securities subsidiary has partnered with DriveWealth, which offers API-based digital trading technologies for access to U.S. financial markets. Under the agreement, retail investors will be able to trade stocks without any lower limit. The company also intends to roll out a corporate blockchain solution that will support new embedded finance offerings in a range of digital market verticals, including securities trading, telco, energy and pay-as-you-go insurance products.
Colendi intends to become the world’s leading embedded finance player and has been innovating different product groups through several major strategic partnerships, as it continues developing a range of unique technologies. The company has also remained profitable throughout its impressive high-growth performance.
#13: Charthop
Funding: Series B
Investors: Andreessen Horowitz and 18 more
Whether you’re a SaaS startup or a courier company, if you work with people, you need to keep people data.
You need to have their personal information such as birthdays, professional information including salary and job experience, and keep track of their accomplishments and performance.
Charthop is a data collection and visualization platform.
”For more informed, empowered, and connected organizations”.
It enables to control all people data from one place, thus saves from tons of different spreadsheets. One wholistic data repository.
Charthop helps organizations/companies enhance alignment within the company, simplify access to personal information such as salary and bonus with individual dashboards, automate HR data for celebration and appreciation, or keep track of performance stats, and more!
Топ 5 лучших стартапов для женщин
February
Step Dubai
When: February 21 – 22, 2024
Where: Dubai, UAE
Price: from $99
Step started out as a series of workshops and small gatherings, and over 10 years, it has grown to become the largest tech festival in Dubai. With 4 main tracks, more than 400 global startups showcasing, hundreds of global investors, and 8000+ global attendees over two days, Step brings the tech world to Dubai.
MWC Barcelona
When: February 26 – 29, 2024
Where: Barcelona, Spain
Price: from €879
This year, MWC Barcelona will shed light on the edgy technologies and innovations currently disrupting industries. The event’s agenda is centered around metaverse, 5G, fintech, immersive technologies, and digital everything.
Industry-leading experts from Accenture, Dell Technologies, Alef Aeronautics, Microsoft, and other bright tech minds will provide expert advice and inspirational insights to the audience. Startups can get unrivaled exposure to over 88,000 attendees by exhibiting their business ideas to qualified business leads.
4YFN
When: February 26 – 29, 2024
Where: Barcelona, Spain
Price: Access to 4YFN 2024 is included in MWC Barcelona 2024 tickets
The GSMA’s startup platform, 4YFN (Four Years from Now), takes place at the heart of MWC Barcelona to crown the best digital startups at its 4YFN Awards and support networking for others. This year, the event celebrates its 10th anniversary of powering startups – with more interaction, hands-on experience, and expert opinion.
Over 300 speakers from tech unicorns, including Glovo, Babylon Health, and others, will address the topic of tech innovation, while over 500 international startups will exhibit their latest products. The 4YFN Discovery Area Pitching Stage will support companies in getting funding from leading funds, VCs, and CVCs.
Emergence Sydney
When: February 28 – 29, 2024
Where: Online & Sydney, Australia
Price: From A$195.00, Online – Free
At Emergence Sydney, you have a chance to bring together ecosystems, break barriers, and make your mark with other attendees of Australia’s largest investor conference. Showcase your recent advancements to attract public attention to your solutions by getting your solution in front of 5,000+ potential partners and investors, who consistently scan Emergence events to find the next startup that is going to skyrocket.
#16: Attentive
Funding: Series E
Investors: Tiger Global, Bain Capital Ventures, and 18 more
Employee Size: 1.1K
Revenue: $4.5B+ ( wrap up)
#Unicorn
Attentive is a SaaS company that provides personalized SMS messages for marketing purposes.
SMS marketing is not dead yet; it’s just overly automatized. If they’re used in the right way, text messages can keep your customers active and loyal to your brand.
You can create sign-up units (for notifications) on your website and grow your customer/subscriber list, customer segments for more personalized and target-oriented marketing strategies, and get detailed reports afterwards!
Ranked #12 on Forbes Cloud 100 List in 2021, Attentive proves it’s one of the most promising startups of its time.
#10: Elmo Drive
Funding: Pre-Seed funding (raised £350K)
Backed by: Constellation Automotive Group
Transportation is the leading contributor to carbon emission rates in the UK, with 26%.
For the UK to achieve its Net Zero target, all vehicles -including light-duty and heavy-goods vehicles- must be pulled out of use.
It means acceleration of the transition process to electric vehicles.
Elmo is a mobility-as-a-service company that provides different subscription plans for electric cars -just like Spotify or Netflix.
The subscription fee includes insurance, repair & maintenance services, and safety measures.
What this means for European startups
On one hand, this lack of funds means European startups are forced to mature early on, focusing on generating revenue and profits, as opposed to growth alone, which U.S. startups tend to prioritize. In my own startup experience, a lack of funds and an unproven track record meant my concept, an online pdf editor, was funded by my full-time profession until I could grow the concept to a profitable stage.»
On the other hand, this means that Europe tends to miss the boat on innovations that are pioneered by unproven entrepreneurs. Some of the largest U.S. technology companies, such as , were founded by young entrepreneurs, and did not generate profit for many years.
Thus, the probability of producing European «unicorns» is relatively limited in comparison to the U.S. market. Which begs the question, «Is Europe’s unfavorable startup climate self-induced?»
Related: The EU Is Not Entrepreneur Heaven — But It Could Be
Fibery — 4-е место
Фото: dev.by
Fibery — no code-система, которая позволяет компаниям собирать решения для управления своими процессами и организации знаний. В качестве основных инструментов софт использует виртуальные доски, таблицы, документы, графики, списки и различные объекты. Сервис подходит для школ, венчурных фондов, консалтинговых компаний, разработчиков программного обеспечения и других организаций, которые работают с большим объемом информации.
В продвижение продукта ребята не вкладываются: «Реклама таких инструментов очень хорошо расходится из уст в уста. Грубо говоря, если продукт очень полезный, его и рекламировать особо не нужно, он сам „взлетает“. Если же продукт средний по качеству или очень сложный, то сарафанное радио уже не работает. Нужны вечные продажи, много объяснений и рекламы», — пояснил основатель проекта Михаил Дубаков в интервью порталу dev.by.
Сейчас проект зарегистрирован в США, основная часть сотрудников переехала в Польшу и на Кипр. В 2021 стартап привлек более $ 3 млн инвестиций и планирует вложить средства в масштабирование проекта.
Delivery Hero (Германия)
Delivery Hero. Доставка еды онлайн
Заказ еды онлайн – это сегодня часть повседневной жизни многих людей. Но когда в 2011 году в Берлине была основана компания Delivery Hero, идея стартапа из Европы была еще относительно неизвестна, и ее было трудно оценить. Система взимания ежемесячной платы с участвующих ресторанов и одновременного взимания комиссии за заказ вызвала обеспокоенность у многих инвесторов. Но успех этой концепции был очевиден уже в первые несколько лет, добавлялось все больше и больше ресторанов, а с 2014 года к ним присоединились многочисленные инвесторы. Всего через год стартап смог обойти многих конкурентов и получил оценку в 2,8 миллиарда евро. В 2017 году Delivery Hero даже обнародовала эту информацию, увеличив стоимость компании до 4 миллиардов евро.
Startup Events in Northern Europe
Latitude59
The event takes place in Tallinn, Estonia, and online to provide founders with networking opportunities, chance to hear discussions with top international players, participate in pitching rounds and meet their future investors.
Website | Location: Tallinn, Estonia
TechChill
Usually taking place in Riga, Latvia and online, the conference is one of the biggest startup events in the Baltics. In 2022 TechChill will be held in Milano, Italy. The aim of the conference is to bridge the gap between knowledge, network, and skills.
Website | Location: Riga, Latvia
sTARTUp Day
A business festival in Tartu, Estonia that brings together startups, traditional entrepreneurs, investors, and students, with the goal to celebrate entrepreneurship and connect like-minded people.
Website | Location: Estonia
Slush
Slush is a startup event in Finland that’s bringing the global startup ecosystem together. Thousands of startups and investors attend Slush annually and engage in the agenda’s stage program, side events, as well as networking.
Website | Location: Helsinki, Finland
Что случилось
В рамках международной конференции EMERGE вышел отчет EMERGE 100 Report. Он содержит список из 100 самых перспективных стартапов в регионе New East (более 20 стран из Центральной и Восточной Европы).
Для отбора стартапов использовался скаутинг и рекомендации партнеров EMERGE — ключевых игроков стартап-экосистемы New East.
Партнеры EMERGE, которые поучаствовали в составлении отчета
Компании отбирали по таким критериям:
- возраст до трех лет;
- инвестиции до $3 млн;
- MVP;
- трекшен;
- прогресс в течение 2020 года.
Данные собирали через анкету с более чем 30 вопросами о проекте и команде. Среди них:
Meet The League Of 10 From NASSCOM Emerge 50 Startups
Cyclops Medtech : Founded in 2015 by Niranjan Subbarao, Srinivas Dorasala, and Ravi Nayar, Cyclops MedTech is medtech startup working on vestibular, surgical and eye-tracking solutions for masses. The company was conceived with the idea of developing a vertigo diagnosing device at an affordable cost. Its cutting-edge, complete balance assessment platform Cyclops BalanceEye is an assessment tool that encompasses hardware, software, and Machine Learning module on the Cloud.
elastic beamFounded in 2015 by Uday Subbarayan and Bernard Hardguindeguy, the security startup leverages its in-depth API intelligence to provide a precise and accurate detection of API misuse, coupling Coupling AI with real-time data. It has already developed the third generation of its product and is available for hybrid clouds, public clouds, or on-premise. The product’s innovation lies in the fact that unlike generic behavioural analytics tools that don’t take into account API-specific usage, it leverages its in-depth API intelligence to provide a precise and accurate detection of API misuse.
Hug Innovations: Founded by Raj Shekhar Neravati in 2014, the Deeptech/IoT startup has built a smart watch named Hug Smartwatch that employs gesture control for various activities like playing music and so forth. The smartwatch has an SOS button which could be pressed in danger. This will send an immediate message and help family and friends to live track the location. Interestingly, the watch has customized maps to show the user the nearest hospitals and police stations-basically emergency services they can contact if family and well-wishers are not available.
INDIQUSFounded by Sunando Bhattacharya, Shiva Kumar and Swati Samaddar in 2013, IndiQus Technologies has developed apiculus CSP, a cloud business platform that enables enterprises and cloud service providers to run their businesses on the cloud. The Big data and Analytics startup has deep domain knowledge in managed Cloud services and has developed Open and flexible solutions that service providers, enterprises and telcos can adopt to enhance their Return on Investment.
Intellicar TelematicsFounded by Karn Makhija and Kaushik Raju in 2015, the startup provides real-time tracking with 80 features to enhance safety and security of fleet. The Big Data and analytics startup is offering customers the experience of using futuristic vehicle telematics solutions. These are making fleet management easier and more convenient.
Minjar Cloud SolutionsFounded by Vijay Rayapati, Anand and Aparna Sharma in 2012, Minjar Cloud Solutions with its Botmetric cloud solution helps enterprises take data-driven decisions. The Botmetric cloud management platform covers all the aspects of public cloud management – security, cost and operations. Botmetric uses ML and AI to create smart context-aware Cloud fixes for saving costs, achieving security compliance, and DevOps automation.
Stellapps Founded by IIT and IIM alumni Ranjith Mukudan, Ravishankar Shiroor, Praveen Nale, Ramakrishna Adukuri, and Venkatesh Seshasayee in 2011, Stellapps leverages IoT, Big Data, Cloud, Mobility, and Data Analytics to improve Agri- supply chain parameters, including milk production, milk procurement, cold chain, animal insurance and farmer payments. Stellapps’ launched its SmartMoo platform, which is capable of supporting data arising out of tens of millions of liters of milk through milk production, procurement and cold chain flow across millions of farmers.
Uber Diagnostics Founded by Ashim Roy and Avin Agarwal in 2013, Uber diagnostics has come up with an automated healthcare diagnostics solution, Cardiotrack. The device employs ML, IoT Big data and AI to analyse the scans of ECGs and provide accurate predictive diagnosis and interpretation for faster diagnosis.
Uniphore Software Systems Founded in 2008 by Umesh Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi, the big Data/ Cloud startup provides speech analytics, virtual assistant and voice biometrics. While the speech analytics product auMina mines conversations, listens to words and uses them to improve service delivery and increase revenue with actionable insights, virtual assistant akeira is a smart and intuitive virtual assistant solution that makes premium service delivery seem effortless through a human-like machine interface.
Tier (Германия)
Tier — электросамокаты, экологично и безопасно
Если вы осмотритесь по улицам Европы, то обязательно обнаружите тот или иной электросамокат от прокатной компании TIER. Берлинский стартап стартовал всего два года назад, но смог собрать 30 миллионов евро в качестве стартового капитала. Среди инвесторов стартапа из Европы также были громкие имена, такие как бывший пилот Формулы 1 и член жюри DHDL Нико Росберг. Компании удалось совершить более миллиона поездок по Германии на своих 40 000 электронных скутеров в течение месяца с момента начала аренды.
Это делает TIER одним из самых известных стартапов Европы.
5. N26
| Startup | N26 |
|---|---|
| Co-founders | Maximilian Tayenthal, Valentin Stalf |
| Industry | FinTech |
| Headquarter | Berlin, Germany |
Top 10 Startups in Europe — N26
N26 is a cost-free «deposit account» that you can open directly from your smartphone or desktop in less than 8 minutes. Any time, as many times as you choose, you can deposit cash or moves money from another account. You can also borrow cash from the account at an ATM, transfer cash to other accounts, or use the bank or direct debit card to buy cash.With a conventional bank, the N26 bank account and Mastercard can do little but comfortably from both locations. Each account is secured in all countries where N26 is available by the German Bank’s Payout Scheme up to €100,000.
9. TransferWise
| Startup | TransferWise |
|---|---|
| Co-founders | Kristo Käärmann & Taavet Hinrikus |
| Industry | FinTech |
| Headquarter | New York, NY |
Top 10 Startups in Europe — TransferWise
TransferWise is a cheap means of transferring money from the U.S. to nearly 80 countries. Any of the highest exchange rates you can find. You may use a bank account or a credit card to finance a payment, but the receiver needs to have a bank account. People who want low costs and a strong web interface internationally when they submit money.People who want low costs and a strong web interface internationally when they submit money. For certain nations, the fixed cost is a mix of about $1 to less than 1 percent of the transfer volume. Higher credit card rates. In comparison to banks and other firms, TransferWise does not bill its transactions with exchange rate markups. The mid-market average, fluctuating minute by minute, is aimed.
3. Monzo
| Startup | Monzo |
|---|---|
| Co-founders | Gary Dolman, Jason Bates, Jonas Huckestein, Paul Rippon, Tom Blomfield |
| Industry | FinTech |
| Headquarter | London, UK |
Top 10 Startups in Europe — Monzo
Monzo is a smart banking option as an app-based mobile bank. It features a Debit Card for MasterCard that operates much like a standard current account, the only difference is that it all runs online. In 2015, Monzo Bank was initiated as Mondo for the first time. It gathered momentum as one of the most quickly expanding campaigns funded by the crowd in history, which raised a million dollars in minutes. Today Monzo provides a new form of banking; a smartphone app handles and operates an account completely. Monzo provides features to boost your budget, help you learn, coordinate your finances and incorporate practicalities to handle your daily finances.
Lalamove — платформа ускоренной доставки по требованию
Приложение Lalamove связывает пользователей и водителей в разных городах, чтобы обеспечить доставку в течении 1 часа. Азиатская логистическая платформа Lalamove, только что получившая раунд инвестиций серии F под руководством фонда Sequoia China, продолжает наращивать скорость выполнения заказов и доставки грузов по требованию.
Рост бизнес-проекта за 5 лет: 459%
Год основания: 2013
Местонахождение: Гонконг
Финансирование: $2,5 млрд (серия F)
По состоянию на 2021 год платформа Lalamove насчитывает более 10 миллионов клиентов и огромный пул из 70 000 водителей в качестве ценных пользователей своей платформы. Клиенты и водители могут быть найдены в течение 12 секунд, а доставка завершается в течение 55 минут.