Year: 2016

The autumn round of Prototron applications has ended in October – and the participating teams presented really innovative ideas. On Friday, December 9, the winners were announced. This time, 6 teams were awarded a record-breaking sum in total amount – 44 000 EUR.

Prototron CEO Jana Pavlenkova says: “This time we have the opportunity to support innovative ideas in a bigger amount, thanks to our partners”.

The experts have chosen the following teams to receive funding:

Covisual – developing communication software to help engineering and construction teams save time and avoid errors while working on a construction design remotely, in a way that all users can follow each other’s movements and actions on the blueprint in real time. Received funding 10 000 EUR

Gelatex – developing gelatin-based leather-like textile to help mass fashion or furniture brands use eco-friendly materials and earn profit at the same time with using technology that is affordable, easily scalable and patentable. Received funding 10 000 EUR

Hairvel – developing and producing haircare ingredients that help haircare producers make their consumer products more effective, milder for environment and user-friendlier by using biotech. Received funding 7 000 EUR

HackMotion – helping learn snowboarding by tracking body movements with smart clothing and providing real-time audio feedback. Received funding 7 000 EUR

The Ministry of Environment has chosen to fund the teams, whose ideas contribute to the environmental policy:

TarkEnergia – developing computer heat based radiators to help electrical heating users save on power bills with lowered rates thanks to the profit created by computers. Received funding 5 000 EUR

Sphebiotics – the system that improves efficiency of getting solar power from any surface: from the roof, from the hills around the farmhouse or from the water surface. Received funding 5 000 EUR.

“Since Prototron fund has started (in 2012), there has been tough competition in every application round. This autumn round almost broke the record with almost 200 applications received. I am happy that we received dozens of applications from Ida-Virumaa and Southeastern Estonia, and some of them even reached the final round. We see that there still is a need in funding among entrepreneurs during the prototype creation phase.  Also, in the final round we had high-quality ideas and the experts had to think hard before making their decision”, – says Heiki Raadik, Director of Corporate Banking at Swedbank.

Tea Varrak, Vice-Rector for Innovation and Business Relations of TTU (Tallinn University of Technology) acknowledges the teams who received Prototron funding, as well as their business plans’ quality. She is glad that all smart  solutions have practical value. Varrak says: “It is a pleasure to see a team in this list, who has also reached the final round in this year’s startup competition Mektory (by TTU) – TarkEnergia. Ideas like this efficiently combine engineering and entrepreneurship, and both of them are vital for innovation”.

Jaak Raie, CEO of Tehnopol, stated, that the business incubator has enough space for teams who work on brave, smart ideas. He states: “Now we have 35 enterprises in our incubator, who appreciate the coaches’ and mentors’ counsel. We do our best, so the next Prototron teams could focus on developing their ideas. We are glad that the sponsors’ network (including among others the university, science park and Swedbank) perfectly meets the enterprises’ interests”.

194 smart ideas were submitted to Prototron for the round ending in October. One third of them came from the regions “in focus”: Tartu, South-Eastern Estonia and Ida-Virumaa. The ideas were evaluated by the expert council of Prototron, including: Jaak Raie (Tehnopol), Heiki Raadik (Swedbank), Jaanus Tamm (Defendec), Yrjö Ojasaar (Solon Partners), Andrus Oks (SmartCap), Margus Uudam (EstVCA) and Madis Raukas (TTÜ). The winners were announced on 9 December at the StartUp Day in Tartu.

The goal of Prototron foundation, established in 2012 by Swedbank, Tehnopol and Tallinn University of Technology, is to provide financial support for beginner entrepreneurs and inventors for building first working prototypes. So far over 1,700 smart ideas were submitted to Prototron. 47 teams received financing in total amount of ca. 530,000 EUR.

The next round of Prototron applications is already open. Send us your ideas before 1st of March 2017. Applications can be submitted online at www.prototron.ee/en.

Eastern part of Estonia was an area of focus this investment round in Prototron. The result as half of TOP10 are teams coming from the regions, makes a good start to enhance the innovation and business development all over the country.

The most promising startups to watch are listed in the alphabetic order along with brief descriptions of their ideas.

Avionica – is developing a standard-compliant transponder module to help drone operators to enhance safety in the airspace and make it easier to comply with regulation by transmitting their location.

Covisual – develops communication software to help engineering and construction teams to save time and avoid errors while working on a construction design remotely, in a way that all users can spectate each other’s movements and actions on the blueprint in real time.

Degritter – develops an automatic record cleaning machine that helps DJ-s, audiophiles and vinyl enthusiasts to take care of their record collections thoroughly and safely using ultrasonic cleaning.

Gelatex – develops gelatin-based leather-like textile to help mass fashion or furniture brands to use eco-friendly materials and earn profit at the same time with using technology that is affordable, easily scalable and patentable.

HackMotion – helps to learn snowboarding super-fast by tracking body movements with smart clothing and providing real time audio feedback.

Hairvel – develops and produces haircare ingredients that help haircare producers to make their consumer products more effective, milder for environment and end-user by using biotech.

Sofable – develops an office table for future workplace. A multifunctional piece of furniture that makes the atmosphere in the office more creative.

Sphebotics – the system that improves efficiency of getting solar power from any surface: from the roof, from the hills around the farmhouse or from the water surface.

Tark energia – is developing computer heat based radiators to help consumers using electrical heating to save on power bills with lowered rates thanks to the profit created by the computers.

VitaBug – offers alive biomass cultivation service of insects for pest control in organic farming and biological growth factor serum production for cosmetic and pharmacological industry to satisfy the need for environmentally friendly solutions.

Next step for selected TOP10 teams is presentation of their ideas before Prototron Expert Committee on 5th December. The ideas will be evaluated by the expert council of Prototron that includes Jaak Raie (Tehnopol), Heiki Raadik (Swedbank), Jaanus Tamm (Defendec), Yrjö Ojasaar (Solon Partners), Andrus Oks (SmartCap), Margus Uudam (EstVCA) and Madis Raukas (TTÜ). The winners will be announced on 9 December at the StartUp Day.

194 smart ideas were submitted to Prototron for the round that ended on 15 October. One third of those came from the regions: from Tartu, South-East and North-East of Estonia.

As of today, the experts and the pre-assessors of Prototron have reviewed ca. 200 submitted ideas and selected the ones with the most potential to success of which Prototron can contribute in a most efficient way. The selection process was the real challenge – this is why 22 teams get the chance to develop their ideas in this round. 

 

In the upcoming weeks these teams will get personal mentoring and will be able to participate in the training offered by partners of Prototron in order to improve and develop their ideas. Everyone’s goal is the same – to be selected for the top 10 and get opportunity to pitch their idea before Prototorn Expert Committee.

 

“Many technical solutions were submitted in this round. The ideas from TOP22 are very diverse. Sadly, some of the great ones did not make it this time, but we really hope that the teams will take our expert advice into account, adjust their applications accordingly and take part in the spring round,” says the CEO of Prototron Jana Pavlenkova.

 

Below the selected 22 teams are listed in the alphabetic order along with brief descriptions of their ideas:

 

Avionica – is developing a standard-compliant transponder module to help drone operators to enhance safety in the airspace and make it easier to comply with regulation by transmitting their location.

BiipMe – a smartphone application that helps to organize lives of HIV-positive people in such a way that all vital and necessary tasks for maintaining the quality of life are performed in a timely manner.

Covisual – develops communication software to help engineering and construction teams to save time and avoid errors while working on a construction design remotely, in a way that all users can spectate each other`s movements and actions on the blueprint in real time.

Degritter – develops an automatic record cleaning machine that helps DJ-s, audiophiles and vinyl enthusiasts to take care of their record collections thoroughly and safely using ultrasonic cleaning.

Gelatex – develops tgelatin-based leather-like textile to help mass fashion or furniture brands to use eco-friendly materials and earn profit at the same time with using technology that is affordable, easily scalable and patentable.

Generic actuator for agile human augmentation – develops a calibration unit for a PWM-controlled pneumatic cylinder used in development of exoskeletons and bio-mimicry systems in the construction of robots.

Grifters Wallet – makes smart wallets with Bluetooth to help people protect their valuables by connecting their wallet with their smartphone.

HackMotion – helps to learn snowboarding super-fast by tracking body movements with smart clothing and providing realtime audio feedback.

Hairvel – develops and produces haircare ingredients that help haircare producers to make their consumer products more efective, milder for environment and end-user by using biotech.

ISPM – develops a system for monitoring industrial processes, the purpose of which is to boost production efficiency by up to 15%.

Limestone – creates a game with a unique mix of player beloved genres such as fighting game and tactical combat. It is driven by intense story line and has unique adaptive adrenaline pumping gameplay..

Octant Blockchain – develops Octant Blockchain software to help  financial institutions and  financial-technology companies to make  their services more available, more trusted and independent with blockchain technology.

theO – develops a smart indoor air quality monitor to keep your family healthy and energetic.

Smartel – develops smart access service to the short term rental owners, by making the door to open  in right time to the right person – it is easy, secure and economy..

Sofable – develops an office table for future workplace. A multifunctional piece of furniture that makes the atmosphere in the office more creative.

Sphebotics – the system that improves efficiency of getting solar power from any surface: from the roof, from the hills around the farmhouse or from the water surface.

Tark energia – is developing computer heat based radiators to help consumers using electrical heating to save on power bills with lowered rates thanks to the profit created by the computers.

TempID – a software and hardware solution, that optimizes obtaining information on the patient’s health and improves accuracy and traceability of data in order to improve effectiveness of treatment.

VitaBug – offers alive biomass cultivation service of insects for pest control in organic farming and biological growth factor serum production for cosmetic and pharmacological industry to satisfy the need for environmentally friendly solutions.

Vulcan – develops a full-stack predictive maintenance platform to prevent cold households and to reduce the costs from stove downtime for enterprises by helping pellet stove users change their igniters before failing.

WalkTalk – develops an application that uses augmented language reality and geolocation. Just think about a city that speaks with you and helps you to practice any language you want.

Wurniture – develops a robotized furniture production platform to help e-shoppers furnish their homes with designer wood furniture using our online user interface, which allows to customize the key features of a piece of furniture.

 

During the Mentorship day on 17 November only ten teams will be selected for presenting  their ideas before Prototron Expert Committee on 5th December. The ideas will be evaluated by the expert council of Prototron that includes Priit Alamäe (Nortal), Jaak Raie (Tehnopol), Heiki Raadik (Swedbank), Jaanus Tamm (Defendec), Yrjö Ojasaar (Solon Partners), Andrus Oks (SmartCap), Margus Uudam (EstVCA) and Madis Raukas (TTÜ). The winners will be announced on 9 December at the StartUp Day.

At a seminar on “Cooperation Prototype” held on Tuesday on Tallinn Entrepreneurship Day, a prototype as the visibility of an idea and how to obtain cooperation with customers and investors for the next stage was discussed. At the seminar, under the leadership of CEO of Prototron Jana Pavlenkova, a mentor of Prototron Pirko Konsa, Prototron Alumni Shipitwise CMO Sander Gansen, and Toomas Seppel, and a lawyer from the law firm Hedman Partners & Co OÜ, participated in the discussions.

The following quotes were the highlights.

Pirko Konsa
“Instead of building a product, it is safer to build prototypes – so you can test and rebuild all the necessary parts in order to then bring the perfect product to the market.”
“A drawing is also a prototype!”
“Innovation is always fast, but do not be afraid of it.”
“Zeal to create something unique and different is what you cannot buy for your salary.”
“The theft of an idea is possible at some levels, but Estonia is so small that the society can be let down only once. Information moves quickly, and after that, the perpetrator will be shunned by society. ”

Sander Gansen
“In order to enter the market, there is no need for a new product. What is needed is something that you could immediately sell in order to earn the first 100 euros.”
“Enthusiasm makes people work five months without being paid and four months without sleep.”
“In order for a product to be completed, there must be a larger vision of how the problems can be solved.”

Toomas Seppel
“Ideas are free; they do not belong to anyone as long as someone does something with the idea. So long as the product does not have a patent, anyone can copy it, so it is a race against time. ”
“First, the investors will look at the team – whether they are willing to work for their idea without being paid and without sleep, and secondly they will look at the business model, or whether the thing the team is working on corresponds to the business model.”

In the current round of applications, we expect ideas until October 15. Submit your idea!

SprayPrinter – grant 8,000 euros
SprayPrinter is an innovative wall printer, which helps you to print the design or image in your smartphone in to just about every wall.
The team of SprayPrinter began operations last October. Today the start-up company has passed the Tartu Science Park Buildit acceleration program, received 8,000 euros at the Prototron prototyping contest, won the Ajujaht competition, filled 159% of the desired result in Indiegogo crowdfunding. In total investment in the order of 100 000 have been involved.

Smart Load Solutions – grant 8,500 euros
Smart Load Solutions has built a smart appliance for better planning the work of factories and power plants. The appliance s suitable for various automated facilities in order to keep the machines working just when the price of electricity is cheapest. Saving both in energy and in money.
Madis Uuemaa is a 26-year-old founder of Smart Load Solutions. The business magazine Forbes has placed him among 30 most successful young entrepreneurs under 30 years of age.
The Expert Panel of Prototron saw in him the potential already in 2014, when it granted to him 8,500 euros for prototyping. It’s worth keeping an eye on his doings!
A clip of their activities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=115tT_RZIjk

coModule – grant 10 534 euros
27-year-old Kristjan Maruste is the founder of CoModule and belongs to the 30 most successful young entrepreneurs under 30 years of age ranked by the business magazine Forbes. Kristjan’s formula for success? Let it remain a mystery, or see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3io8sl-8ovo

However, under his leadership, has been developed coModule platform, which can be used to display information on battery charge of electric bike or scooter in the smartphone. At the same time, it is also possible for the vehicle manufacturer to track where and when their scooter or bike moves. Ingenious! So thought the Expert Panel of Prototron and gave them 10,534 euros for the development of the appliance. This was the beginning of the success story.

Lingvist – grant 9900 euros
One of the first Prototron beneficiaries. The team is developing a cross-device language learning novel method working in a nover language learning method that makes teaches any foreign language to any one student in 200 hours. For that is used collation and analysis of the vocabulary of different languages and the optimal learning program is calculated. The author of the program is an Estonian doctor of theoretical physics Mait Müntel who had to learn the French language in CERN and coined an algorithm that helps to acquire a foreign language in 200 hours.
With the involvement of an investment of total of around 1 million euros from different investors, Lingvist continued development; by now the company has announced that it will receive as an A-series investment 8 million dollars, or more than 7.4 million euros to enter the Japanese market.

Why in the current application round of Prototron, clever ideas are expected from the regions of East Viru County and Southeast Estonia?

Our goal is to declare that the current Prototron application round is open to all people who have an idea on how to solve some problem. It can be something that makes the life of a specific region or community better and is not suitable for using elsewhere. We want to find those ideas also from outside of Tallinn, to give them the opportunity to do something great. Have you noticed how the simple but ingenious solutions to various problems help to make our daily lives better? Let us share these ideas with others, and it can become a successful enterprise, like Lingvist or Sprayprinter.

Does it mean that start-ups from Tallinn are not welcome this time?
On the contrary, the Prototron application rounds are always welcome to all ideas, regardless of gender, age, education level or place of residence of the team members. Since its establishment in August 2012, the Prototron application rounds have received about 100 to 150 applications, 38 ideas have been funded for a total of 400,000 euros. Experience shows that the majority of the teams are active Estonian startup community members. In order for the information on Prototon and its opportunities to made it out of the narrow circle, we are now aiming at the different in regions of Estonia, this time in East-Viru County, South-East Estonia and the Tartu region, where the members of Prototron are going to introduce the nature of the fund and to inspire local enterprising people.

If I have a wonderful idea that could grow into something bigger, what should I do?
To begin with, find and start a team with which to develop the idea further. With the best will in the world, one person is not enough to engage in product development, sales, and financial affairs. Then send your application to www.prototron.ee. All teams will receive feedback from the experts of Prototron even before the deadline for the application round, so you can quickly find out whether the idea has the potential to receive funding from Prototron or not. Certainly, our experts also share guidelines on how to make your applications or ideas even better, so that the team will be able to defend their idea in front of the Panel of Experts.

We accept applications until October 15 at 23:59 www.prototron.ee

solO is the first underfloor heating thermostat in the world, with a direct connection to the electricity markets. It is designed for people who have electric floor heating at home. The thermostat smartly turns itself on when the electricity price is very low, and it turns itself off when the price hits the roof. This artificial intelligence will keep the floor constantly warm, and the savings can be seen in the monetary figures. It sounds like a dream, right?

But it is not, precisely because this idea came out as one of the recipients of funding from the Tallinn round of Prototron.

solO completed cooperation with two companies: SLS (software) and THE Systems (hardware), so the winners are two companies and the customers.

The areas of responsibility of the teams are as follows: Henry Liimal and Thomas Tasuja (delivery of the thermostat hardware), Mart Uuemaa (beautiful appearance of the thermostat), Allan Puusepp (top-level artificial intelligence algorithms) and Madis Uuemaa (search for cooperation partners).
The product is currently being piloted, and the first customers are planned to have installations in the coming winter – so that people will have a warm floor and not waste too much money.

“We definitely recommend taking part in the Tallinn Prototron round. In Estonia, this is the best place to start testing and development of your idea. It will definitely contribute a lot to winning if the team has a sparkle in their eyes when pitching their idea,” said Madis. It pays to listen to him because he has tangible results to show!

Submit your idea: www.prototron.ee before 15 October.

The state of apartment buildings in various regions of Tallinn is not the greatest, many of them are in need of renovation, and here is the solution – Creatomus helps housing associations and residents of panel houses of the capital city to compare different types of solutions for the renovation of a house or apartment. Creatomus helps the process of ordering the necessary products/materials, and to find the right builder.

The four-member team of Creatomus has now built a technical solution with which they are able to carry out the first pilot projects. They are planning to reach the first customers (housing associations of housing blocks) within 6-9 months. “We are currently looking for housing associations, who would be willing to participate for free in our pilot project,” said chief executive of Creatomus Renee Puusepp. In addition to Renee, Taavi Lõoke (project leader of apartment building renovation solution), Kaiko Kivi (technical director) and Martins Untals, who is the consultant of business and technical solutions are the other professionals who operate in Creatomus.

In the case of Prototron, Renee highlighted the clear format and the decision-making process. “Protoron is a simple and suitable financing scheme for start-up companies. I would recommend that the participating teams would use the opportunity to get initial feedback from the Prototron mentors, which is even more important than the financial reward. For example, participation in the Tallinn round of Prototron led us to several very important persons in the city of Tallinn,” said Renee.

Submit your idea: www.prototron.ee before 15 October.

Bikeep operates today in several cities around the world; it has installed a total of 400 smart bike parking lots, and it has a huge contract with San Francisco in its pocket. With the help of Prototron, smart electric bike charging stations and parking lots are also emerging in Tallinn.

“In the future, the share of electric bikes on the streets is increasing and, therefore, the need for locking them is also growing. To help ensure ease of use and battery life for longer rides, it is reasonable to charge electric bikes while they are parked. The interest for such charging stations has shown up in lots of places, and in spring, a prototype station will definitely be up and running Tallinn,” said Kristjan Lind, who is responsible for customer relations and sales in Bikeep. The team also includes Oliver Nuut, whose area of responsibility is designing and manufacturing the charging station, Ainar Estra, who is engaged in the development of the charging modules, and Meelis Haidak, who develops control the processes for charging.

In regard to receiving funding from Prototron, Kristjan noted that the whole process forces one carefully think through the product life cycle (from product development to sales) and allows the winners to come up with a clear plan for and support for the realization of their idea. “This is a good opportunity for bringing your exciting product ideas into reality,” said Kristjan and added that definitely the most important part of the product is understanding potential customers or how to design the product according to their needs

Bikeep has understood the needs of its customers and will continue its flight to stardom.
You have the opportunity to do the same – send an application with your smart idea to us at www.prototron.ee.

Applications can be submitted until 15 October!

During the Entrepreneurship Day that took place on Tuesday, 4 October, the winners of Prototron Tallinn Round were announced. The three winning teams received over 20,000 euros in total. The Tallinn Round welcomed ambitious ideas able to make life in the capital better and easier.

The expert council awarded the following participants of the Tallinn Round:

• Bikeep team (6,000 € of funding) with the idea of smart bicycle parking lots that provide for secure and easy locking and the solution for charging electric bicycles;
• solO Thermostat (4,460 € of funding) that develops a smart thermostat that makes electrical heating more environmentally friendly and cheap;
• Creatomus team (10,000 € of funding) that develops the digital market for construction works and materials that allows owners and buyers to plan construction and repairs with help of 3D technology.

According to the head of the innovations commission of Tallinn City Council Andres Kollist, Tallinn has always been open to innovative new ideas. “In order to find new ideas that can make lives of residents and guests of Tallinn easier and more comfortable, we decided to cooperate with Prototron – one of the most successful Estonian startup foundations. In the Tallinn Round three ideas with great potential were selected – in the nearest future they will make life in Tallinn even more comfortable,” says Kollist and adds that preference was given to solutions that can be used as widely as possible. “The number of those using bicycles as their main means of transportation in Tallinn is growing constantly and safe parking of bicycles is the major issue for such people. Improvement of living environment and home renovation will become significantly simpler with use of 3D technology. Saving on electricity is also important – the funded innovation will help many people with budgeting. This is why we can’t wait to see the prototypes and the actual products entering the market,” Kollist explains the reasons for selecting the particular ideas.

114 ideas submitted for the Tallinn Round demonstrate that there are great many proactive and initiative people in the capital who wish to change living conditions in the city and the urban environment to the better.

“Simple yet smart solutions to various problems help to improve our daily lives. I am very happy that so many ideas were submitted for the Tallinn Round, and I hope that our experience will inspire other cities, major regions, smaller communities and individuals alike. We welcome ideas from everyone – regardless of their place of residence. The new Prototron round has already started and will end on 15 October,” adds Jana Pavlenkova, the chief executive officer of Prototron.
Prototron foundation, established in 2012 by Swedbank, Tehnopol and Tallinn University of Technology so far has provided financing to 35 ideas for the total amount of 380,000 euros. Some of them grew to become international success stories – Lingvist, Flydog, coModule, GlobalReader and Sprayprinter. Sponsors of the foundation are the Ministry of the Environment, the city of Tallinn, Utilitas and Hedman Partners.
Applications can be submitted until 15 October: www.prototron.ee.

More information and contact details:

Jana Pavlenkova
Chief executive officer of Prototron
jana@prototron.ee
www.prototron.ee