Tag: equity free prototype support

Two men interested in technology have started to solve the problems of the courier service, both on the part of the customer, who until now had to wait for the courier with the ordered goods at home, and of the couriers who were having trouble with people who are not at home to receive the parcel. The solution is the ParcelSea smart mailbox, which allows you to use parcel and food courier service in a contact and communication-free manner. The idea received a special prize of 5,000 euros from Samsung in the autumn round of Prototron 2020.

Everything originated from the men’s own experience and concern when it was necessary to wait at home for a courier for goods ordered online. “By mapping the problem, we realized that the couriers are also concerned – often, when the courier arrives, people are not at home to receive the parcel. Of course, we initially had more questions than answers: where to start, what resources do we need, what is our value proposition? We realized that we needed to start with the materials and tools we had, and we built the first concept out of cardboard boxes, glue, bolts, and nuts and finished with spray paint. The first result greatly boosted our confidence. The second prototype was already made of finer materials and techniques, and we were very satisfied with the result,” said Andres Sampka, one of the authors of the idea.

Crazy development

From then on, everything progressed at a crazy pace. In October 2020, the men filed a design patent; in November, the first two prototypes were successfully tested on both electronics and hardware. The first MVP product was ready for Christmas; on January 20, smart mailboxes were installed for test customers in Tallinn, Viimsi, and Pärnu, and the production of smart mailboxes started.

In addition to the founders Andres and Indrek Jürgenson, who covered skills starting from IT & hardware development, strategic thinking, and operations management, the ParselSea team was joined by Tanel Raun, an expert in logistics who has a thorough knowledge of the courier world and top engineer Timo Tolmusk, who makes sure that the entire product development process runs on its right tracks.

The smart mailbox is working

“We are now sure that the smart mailbox works in different weather conditions, and it is time to focus on real use cases. We started asking beta testers and couriers for feedback so that the smart mailboxes produced by April would already take into account different situations, parcel sizes, and everything we can’t predict today. At the same time, we will introduce our product to courier companies so that by April 2021, everyone will know what a smart mailbox is and how to deliver different packages there,” said Andres, and added that cooperation with Omniva, DPD, COOP, Selver, Prisma, DHL, UPS & others is already going on.

We applied at Prototron with the expectation of gaining additional momentum from the startup landscape experts through practical advice and homework. It was also interesting to see how other startups, who are more or less in the same stage. For example, Product Market Fit and One-pager Homeworks were particularly good, directing us to organize previous analyzes of the market, goals, and value proposition. The whole structure of the program was logical, and I see that it will be of great benefit to those who have not been in the field for a long time. At the same time, there are many former leaders on our team, but when making a new startup, you can often get confused and different opinions about priorities may arise. Thanks to the advice received at Prototron, we put together a good enough pitchdeck to make presentations to investors before the finals.
– Andres Sampka, founder of ParcelSea

This year’s first round of Prototron, Estonia’s first smart ideas fund, is over. A total of 70,000 euros was shared between five teams in the spring round. Ideas like a new generation alarm button, automated road surface marking robot and solar park analytics solution were judged worthy of funding.

According to Jana Budkovskaja, CEO of Prototron, innovation is an important keyword in the ideas that received funding in this round. “This is precisely in the point that people are often so used to existing solutions and as if in a comfort zone that they don’t know what better to want. In most cases, however, innovation will most likely be better, faster or more efficient, and if we don’t think about it before, we definitely will after personal contact or need, ” she explained, adding that with Prototron ‘s support, the teams are now starting to develop solutions that break many existing patterns of action.

The beneficiaries of Prototron’s 2020 spring round funding are:

– The 10Lines team received 25,000 euros and is starting to develop a robot that can mark and paint pavements at the same time. Til this day, it has been a process that requires significant human and time resources that a robot can easily substitute and perform.

– With a 10,000 euro funding, the Abbuco team will set out to develop a solar park analytics solution that collects and analyzes information from parks set up by different manufacturers to maximize its benefits.

– LifePatch is a new generation marine alarm button based on NB-IoT (narrow band internet of things) that sends an SOS call to the cloud system. This helps to find the person in distress at sea much faster and better, because the positioning of the alarm signal with the help of the cloud system is much more accurate than before. The team received funding of 10,000 euros.

– A Funding of € 20,000 euros was provided to the Magnalysis team, which is developing a solution to make magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cheaper and more user-friendly. The solution helps to bring the information of MRI examinations into cloud technology, so that it would be available to doctors everywhere, and artificial intelligence would be able to analyze the results of the examinations and assist in preliminary diagnosis. All in all, the solution would make the work of doctors much easier.

– The Milo Appliances team received 5,000 euros to develop a so-called smart kitchen surface with a magnetic motor. Instead of having several separate appliances in each kitchen, such as a blender, food processor, mixer, etc., there is one smart countertop and compatible containers.

The most successful of the campaigns carried out on the co-financing platform Fundwise was AG Vibez, who is developing sound choreography clothing that helps, for example, the deaf to perceive music through the vibrations of sound. The team raised 905 euros with the campaign, a total of 29 teams raised 7,423 euros.

Prototron was founded in 2012 by Swedbank, TalTech and Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol, in 2020 the University of Tartu became another major partner and the fund expanded to Latvia. By now, Prototron has financed 79 smart ideas with a total of nearly 965,000 euros, and the teams have raised more than 28 million euros in follow-on investments.

In addition to the founders, the city of Tallinn, BuildIt Latvia, Samsung, Hedman Lift, Fundwise, Veebimajutus.ee, LMT, Amazon Web Services and BASIS ID offer mentoring and support services to the teams.

This years second round will start in November. Applications can be submitted until November 15th at www.prototron.ee.

On May 17th on the main Estonian startup conference Latitude59 we announced the winners of Prototron springround at the main-stage of Latitude59. 4 teams got 60 000 € to turn their ideas into reality.

The biggest grant – 25 000€ was given to Lumebot – a self-driving snow removal robots are more than 10x cheaper to make than snow plows. This allows each parking lot to have a dedicated snow removal robot(s). Through continuous work, it is able to keep the parking lot clean 24/7. Autonomous snow removal robots that start working as soon as it starts snowing.

10 000€ was worth the idea of Futuclass – an educational virtual reality game that brings awesome science experiences to classrooms. A game where players solve interesting and fun pre-made science puzzles and learn by doing. Science experiments in VR are cheap, safe and easily accessible. Like Rakett69, but in VR.

Team Unsinkable Robotics got 20 000 to build an underwater robot that could perform several tasks underwater without an operator. The robots reduce the need for divers to perform dangerous and time consuming tasks such as mine detection.

Kibu.energy wants to empower the inhabitants of the smart city in the usage of renewable energy by offering a foldable solar panel that can be deployed in balconies, terraces or gardens. It integrates storage and can be plugged in directly to a wall socket.

Autumnround is less than 5 months from now. Get inspired and apply before October 15th.

Toomas Türk/ Chief Specialist in Innovation at Tallinn City Enterprise Department

The City of Tallinn is a good place for testing prototypes. There are enough people, businesses, locations with different orientations here as well as other resources needed to test and develop services/products and create new startups and businesses. First of all test the market and then bring your product to the world.

Certainly, every Prototron applicant has very cool thoughts on how to make the Estonian capital better by testing new business models while always having a global dimension in mind.

Use the existing data

For example, one good way to test you solution is to think about improving the services currently provided by the City of Tallinn. Choose your favorite area of activity or suitable keyword from the list of services on the Tallinn website www.tallinn.ee – familiarise yourself with today’s situation and create your own solution-idea prototype. Don’t forget to have a look at Open Data databases, where you’ll find real data that can help you create new business opportunities or solve everyday challenges.

Test the market with supporting of the startup ecosystem

Tallinn has a very supportive and constantly evolving business ecosystem. For example, Tallinn has cooperation agreements with most Estonian universities. If you are a student, find out from your teaching staff, supervisor or dean, which projects are currently in progress and how you can contribute.

If you are creating a prototype or company and are looking for help in the form of a mentor, with creative economy product or service please contact the Tallinn Creative Incubator or with technology-based products Startup Incubator. There is a clear indication of their value proposition, what they want from you for it and how you can apply for it. Of course, you can always take part in various hackathons and business competitions that take place periodically in Tallinn.

Bring product to the world with new contacts

The most successful leaders of the Tallinn business community are clusters. A cluster is a combination of companies and organizations whose members cooperate and compete simultaneously. Cluster leaders are people with very good contacts who can guide you fast to the right contact or company in Estonia and abroad. If your successful product or service is for export, then after testing or marketing it in Tallinn, it is possible for the next reference to find contacts from twinned towns of Tallinn.

There are several major events and conferences in Tallinn where the city plays the role of organizer or supporter:

• Tallinn Innovation Forum MELT,
• The biggest robotics event Robotex,
• Conference of the Tallinn Music Week ,
• Dark Nights Film Festival PÖFF,
• Biggest startup conference Latitude59,
• Artificial Intelligent conference North Star AI jpt.

, etc.

With great pleasure, we are partnering with the Prototron Fund, which has great potential for testing and implementing ideas for the development of the City of Tallinn. Tallinn is a city where bold ideas and thinking far and wide are always welcome!

Ragmar Saksing / Head of the field of Green Technology, Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol

Green technology is a relatively new industry, and as with any new direction, it creates some doubts in people. The representatives of large and old industries are particularly distrustful and to dispel these doubts, I will briefly explain the nature of green technology and its benefits for entrepreneurship.

The main goal of green technology is to reduce the impact of human activity on the environment and to improve the environment. It is a sustainable and environmentally friendly technology that to the maximum extent utilizes renewable energy sources and materials. At the same time, energy use is minimal and/or, the created materials are recyclable. It is important that the products to be created are environmentally friendly throughout their life cycle.

Chemistry vs. physics

Today’s economy is largely chemistry based. At the heart of such an economy is the extraction and recycling of mineral resources. The economy of the future is more physics based, utilizing all the operating forces and renewable energy. For this purpose, new business models are created that define how we have been used to doing business so far. From an entrepreneurial perspective, this means generating revenue through change.
Smart entrepreneurs welcome change, seek and find new opportunities. They develop companies in a multi-layered manner, on a wide scale. Smart entrepreneurs do not get rich at the expense of the environment; they make the entire business climate better while taking the environment into consideration.
A very simplified example of this is solar energy. People do not buy solar panels just because they have a green state of mind. Solar panels are installed to save money and/or generate revenue. Solar energy can be widely used, and while doing that, the environment becomes better. The useful life of most solar panels is 25+ years and who would not like to live in a house, drive a car or scooter and do it for free?

New opportunities in traditional areas

In particular, the decentralization of central systems is one of the areas that should be observed in the development of green technology. Energy savings, energy efficiency in buildings, alternative energy sources, and energy use, food production, recycling of materials, transport and logistics bring along many new opportunities. In all of these areas, science-based businesses are gaining momentum, where smart entrepreneurs help fund scientific inventions.
A contemporary man emerged about 200,000 years ago, the first proof of agriculture dates back to 23,000 years, the industrial revolution began less than 300 years ago. In this time scale, one should not underestimate the formation of nature during 3.8 billion years. People have invented plenty of things and reaped a lot of economic benefits from the inventions. In the future, we could look at nature as a catalog of products, where all the achievements have benefited from 3.8 billion years of research and development. Now our challenge is to put it to work for humankind cleverly.

In the second round of Prototron in 2018 the Expert Committee decided to give out funds worth of 62 500 euros. In addition teams were able to gather additional funds on the Fundwise platform.

In total almost 300 ideas were submitted out of which 5 reached a successful funding.

• Pillirookõrs, which is making straws out of reed is already a brand well-known for a conscious consumer. In addition to a straw they’re now developing a material based on reed to develop alternative single-use plates or cups based on reed. They were supported with 20 000 EUR.
• Vetik is working on a marine algae based natural and healthy red colorant to substitute current unhealthy ones used in the cosmetics industry. They were supported also with 20 000 EUR.
• Decomer Technology received 7500 EUR from Prototron, in order to develop a novel water-soluble packaging material suitable for food and other industries.
• Captain Corrosion is developing handheld corrosion management device and providing corrosion-related consultations. Funding received: 7500 EUR.
• Questcity is developing an VR-augmented professional platform for designing and completing interactive quest-excursions. Funding received: 7500 EUR.

The winners will be awarded with a six-month free incubation space at Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol and legal assistance from Hedman Partners and an opportunity to use the Mektory labs and the premises of the Tallinn University of Technology. Veebimajutus awarded winners with 6 months of free web hosting and e-mail services together with know-how on website development.
For the first time the the winners were consulted by the team of Fundwise – how, when and for what can crowdfunding be used. In addition they had a chance to experience it first hand and collect additional funds.

Prototron fund is put together by Swedbank Estonia, TalTech, Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol and tallinn city. Next round of Prototron opens in January. You can submit your ideas via our web until 15th of March 2019.

Few days after the announcement of TOP40 teams, they gathered to Mektory for some useful tips and knowhow about all the relevant subjects for startups – crowdfunding, intellectual property protection, how to validate product/service, what to keep in mind making a webpage and how Swedbank and Science Park Tehnopol can help the teams.

Starting this round all Prototron winners get 6 months web hosting and e-mail service for free from Veebimajutus.ee, plus all their know-how, how to make a really good web page. How, why and what, Marko Toom from Veebimajutus.ee made it all clear.

Software development

Taavet Tamm from Singelton said, they are following a simple narrative: software is about
making machines work for humans. It is important to understand, do You need custom software for Your business and figuring out what and how to build based on business needs and goals.
Five steps to working software:
1) Understand your user flow
2) Prototype & create user stories
3) Get the estimates for budgeting
4) Prioritise & decide
5) Build.

Finances

The core message of Vahur Vallistu from Swedbank was – there has never ever been more money for startups on the market, as there is right now. Use it!
Jelena Žovnikova from Fundwise gave a closer look how crowdfunding works for tech startups.

Startup community

Triin Ilves from Tehnopol gave inspiring overview of Estonian startup scene in numbers.
550 startups, 4300 new jobs created, startups paid €35M in employment taxes year 2017, raised over €880M in the last 10 years. Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol helps startups and growing companies by providing modern business and science environment. Tehnopol Startup Incubator invests up to 10 000€ worth of expertise to a start-up company in one year to attract seed round investment or reach the export markets.

IP questions

Intellectual property, investment contracts and other legal issues is the work-field of Toomas Seppel from Hedman Lift. He spoke about, what is intellectual property in terms of startups. It´s copyright, trademark, industrial design, inventions (patent, utility model) but also a trade secrets. How to protect your idea and work in early stages etc.

Thank you, Vahur Vallistu from Swedbank Eestis, Marko Toom from Veebimajutus.ee, Taavet Tamm from Singleton, Toomas Seppel from Law Firm Hedman Partners, Yelena Žovnikova from Fundwise and Triin Ilves from Tehnopol!

As usual, competition was extremely strong. In fact – some of You are already too advanced for Prototron.

Prototron Autumn 2018 TOP40 is:

99math
AIRBOARD
Alpha AR
Animize
AUG-TEX
Bercman Technologies
Bikeep
BLACwind
Bookmap
Cake Print
Captain Corrosion
CarCamped
Carnet
DC Planner
Electric drums
FCQ Trans
Fonopod
Gerbarcher
GReat
Hinga ja Liigu
Inception Labs
Konviscan
Krattworks
Masaki Ihara
MindSweeper
Miniatur Estland
PLASTTEED
Questcity
Ruumab
SecureBadger
SHORTWALK
SmartTrigg
smetrics.io
Sonant Technologies
Strafos
SupplyFind
Univerals photovoltaic-to-grid interface
WalkInsu
Vetik
VROB (Virtual Reality Outside Broadcasting)

Congratulations, we´ll see You soon!
The next important day is November 20th – full day of mentors’ sessions will be held and in the evening The Pitch will take place.
It´s a unique event where teams persuade investors to turn to them! Teams will compete for their ticket to the Prototron autumn 2018 TOP10 and an opportunity to be featured on the Fundwise platform and exercise real-life fundraising! For sure, you will hear plenty of great ideas.

Join us at Tehnopol Venus Auditorium on 20 November 2018 at 19:30.’

Winners will be announced at Mektory, December 6th.

This round we have even more support services for our winning teams. What we have to offer besides up to 35 000€ equity free funding for prototyping, incubation at Startup incubator, R&D mentoring from TalTECH and legal aid form Hedman, training for pitching and media-communication and priceless investor contacts.

All Prototron winners get 6 months web hosting and e-mail service for free from Veebimajutus.ee, plus all their know-how, how to make a really good web page. Winners get mentoring and special price from Fundwise team, how, when and for what to use a joint funding.

Swedbank Estonia, Tallinn University of Technology TalTech, Tallinn Science park Tehnopol and Tallinn city put out 62 500€ in total! Extra funding up to 10 00€ can be provided by Elering for energy BigData projects and Utilitas for projects in environmental technology. Estonian healthtech cluster Connected Health has decided to give a special prize for health connected ideas. The prize includes a 1-year full membership of the cluster to grow your business and develop your idea.

Apply now prototron.ee, deadline is October 15th.

From the stage of Estonian biggest start-up event Latitude59 we have handed out financing for Spring round: four teams will receive a total of 58,300 euros from Prototron to help them implement their ideas. The largest financing tranche, for the amount of 30,000 euros, will go to the Triumf.Health platform which supports therapeutic processes for chronically ill children through play.
‘It was clear from the very beginning that the competition was going to be extremely tough in this round. All of the ideas were well-considered, the teams were motivated, and the applications were justified. The multitude of healthcare-related ideas stood out in comparison to others, and several of them ended up amongst the top ten,’ said Jana Pavlenkova, CEO of Prototron.

The Timey team will be supported by 5,500 euros, and they are developing a smart ‘best before’ indicator for products so that customers are always able to choose the freshest products in the shop. According to Pavlenkova, this solution will, hopefully, soon be seen in the commercial sector. The team picked up quite a few other prizes at Latitude59.
The sewing industry will be suitably advanced by the Beampat team, which will help to consign sewing-related paper cut-outs to history, as cutting-out will now be projected onto the fabric with the help of a small laser projector. Prototron will support the team with 15,000 euros.
‘In the case of the latter two teams, there is clearly a strong link between engineering and smart solutions, for which there is a huge demand in the market,’ noted Pavlenkova.

The figure of 7,800 euros, however, went to the team which has developed a gripper for wheelchair users. Entitled ‘I can grab’, this is a gripper which can be used to pick up objects from the table or floor and which helps to increase the independence of people with limited mobility. As Pavlenkova pointed out, ‘The team stated when introducing their idea that more independence is the greatest dream of anyone with mobility disorders and this invention will help them to achieve that dream’.
A total of 230 ideas were submitted to Prototron’s spring round, with applicants from Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Belarus, Iran, Spain, Poland, and Georgia, as well as India, Tunisia, and Egypt, all of which were in addition to Estonia itself.
Prototron Fund was established with the cooperation of Swedbank, the Tallinn University of Technology, and the Science Park Tehnopol in Tallinn, designed for the financial support of an initial prototype for smart and innovative ideas.
This year, Prototron celebrates its sixth year in business with 130,000 euros of support payments being paid out in total. In addition to financial support, the sharing out of experience and the network of contacts by the Prototron mentors provides added value. For example, financing is accompanied by six months of start-up incubation at the Science Park Tehnopol, free legal assistance from Hedman Partners, and an opportunity to use the Mektory labs and the premises of the Tallinn University of Technology.