7 more days….
Till we meet the startups ready for the 2012 Venture Connect challenge on the 31st of May in Bucharest!
Hear it from the finalists themselves as they make the finishing touches to their presentations:
Blueseed: www.blueseed.co
Blueseed is a Silicon Valley startup working on launching a cruise ship 22 kilometers from the coast of Silicon Valley, in international waters outside the jurisdiction of the United States. The location will allow entrepreneurs from around the world to start or scale their companies without the need for US work visas. They will work on the ship, flagged in The Bahamas, and will be able to travel to the mainland using easier-to-obtain business/tourist visas. The revenue model consists of residential and commercial rent, equity in each startup onboard, event space rental, and proceeds from TV shows, educational seminars and other media activities that will take place on the ship.
To date, 850 entrepreneurs from 245 startups in 50 countries have expressed interest in locating their startups on the ship. The project has received wide media coverage in the American an international press, from Associated Press and BBC to TechCrunch, USA Today, Financial Times, The Economist, La Tribune, El Pais, and Reuters.
Blueseed is co-founded by a Romanian entrepreneur (Dan Dascalescu, who will be attending Venture Connect) and two American partners.
Advanced Ideas (Heroes of Alcor): www.advancedideas.ro
Heroes of Alcor is a game designed by Advanced Ideas Studio.We are a full service interactive web agency. We design brilliant websites, games, mobile apps. and innovative social media applications for countless companies.Heroes of Alcor is a multi player online game centered around a sci-fantasy environment.Think about a sci-fi environment like StarTrek with fantasy graphics from Lord of the Rings mixed up by our talented art team into a cocktail of superb space environments with millions of stars and planets to explore and conquer. A space adventure introducing a great story, fascinating new characters and challenges. The whole game concept and story is meant to attract the hard core gamers the so called “big whales” that spend lots and lots of money for virtual in game goods, achievements and character upgrades.We target a hardcore gaming audience, most of them located in US, UK and Russia.So, we have a great game with a great story, we have the talent, the technology and the tenacity to build it and we need your financial backing to make it happen.
Orasulm.eu: www.orasulm.eu
Mobile city guide and social network which improves going out experiences by relevant information offered where and when it is needed. Orasul Meu is designed as a local city guide, bringing together state of the art technology and a well documented content database. Its objective is to provide an optimal going out information about places, events and special offers in Bucharest and other large cities in Romania, putting people in contact with their cities.
InfoZone: www.infozone.bg
Infozone is a mobile application and web service for real-time precise targeting, interaction and attracting clients via special offers and promotions. It is state-of-the-art service with unique functionalities that is intended mostly for emerging mobile markets. The platform is scalable and could be branded and filled in with data for specific market and/or industry by importing available data base and could be offered as ready technical solution to local partner. There are available prototypes of the mobile application for Android and iOS. The business was launched in July 2011 in the city of Ruse in Bulgaria. The founders are Emiliyan Enev (General Manager and majority shareholder), Emil Stoyanov (Chief Technology Officer) and Boyan Petkov (Chief designer).
Bugtopia: www.bugtopia.net
BugTopia is a real time, multiplayer, browser game, developed using only HTML5 technologies. Because we are multiplatform (PC, Mac, iPad, Android), we have real-time experience between players, and we can deliver a desktop gaming feeling on a web environment, we believe the market potential is very high addressing both the casual and the dedicated player at the same time. Also, we are using the F2P sales model, which is proven to be the best commercial approach to online gaming.
Mavenhut: www.mavenhut.com
MavenHut transforms classic casual games into social multiplayer experiences, on mobile and the web. Our first game, Solitaire Arena, is already successful on Facebook, attracting over 15,000 players in less then two months. We are an Irish-registered company, with senior co-founders that have been active for more than 5 years in social gaming.
MavenHut recently “graduated” Startup Bootcamp Dublin, which is considered Europe’s top business accelerator (affiliated to the TechStars network). During the program the company has received the People’s Choice Startup award. Our aim is to become the world’s leading brand associated to classic multiplayer games within the next 2 years.
Optima: www.optima.ro
Optima Group is a system integrator for mobility and process automation with 10 years experience in providing automation solutions for sales, stocks and assets. The company is specialized in software solutions developed internally using Microsoft technology and third party software controls. The software solutions developed involve a front end interface running on a mobile device and a back end interface running on an corporate server.
The solutions developed by the company range among the best in their segment: Sales Force Automation, Asset Management, and Warehouse Management. The systems, which are delivered together with hardware components as a turn-key solution, have been implemented by leading organizations such as: Ursus Breweries, Interbrands Marketing & Distribution, FrieslandCampina Romania, Banca Comerciala Romana, Banca Romana pentru Dezvoltare, British American Tobacco, Ministerul Finantelor, ANAF, RAAPPS, Carrefour, Intesa San Paolo Bank, etc. The company employs 25 professionals, with dedication towards mobility solutions, in two offices: Bucharest and Cluj Napoca.
CommisionForce: www.commissionforce.com
CommissionForce – the first crowd-sales solution in Europe that offers companies the opportunity to promote themselves both offline, as well as online, thru large numbers of commission-based agents. CommissionForce was founded in 2011, as a reaction to the tough global economic crisis. It offers a performance based solution to the slowing economic engine: a way for companies to access a massive online and offline distribution channel in a matter of days, with minimum fixed costs and reduced pressure on cash flow (“pay when you get paid”). At the same time, it offers professionals a way to earn additional motivating income. Commissions offered to agents are not set by CommissionForce, but by the companies entering the program, based on their intended profit margins, reduction in fixed costs, willingness to attract and motivate sales agents and what the competition is offering.
Iptelis: www.iptelis.ro
Iptelis is a cloud based Unified Communications service for small and medium size company. The company’s goal is the launch of an Internet VoIP communication service, oriented to the business segment and in particular to SMB (small and medium business) market for Romania. The hosted PBX service (and hosted Unified Communications) is a new generation of Internet services. Hosted PBX services are delivered to end users using standard broadband Internet infrastructure. The service is aiming to replace traditional phone equipments installed on customer premises and more, to add the new collaboration and productivity functions opened by Internet, VoIP and cloud technologies.
ZyWay: www.zyway.com
ZyWay replaces paper forms with mobile forms and helps companies get faster, better business reports and insights at lower cost. ZyWay offers a simple online cost effective solution for small companies and in-house product for enterprises.
RealColors: http://realcolors.makan-studios.com/
Real Colors is a mobile app that helps designers find color inspiration in the real world, around them. It is a tool that automatically “drills” for harmonious color palettes in the photos taken with the mobile phone.
It was reviewed and apreciated by Google’s Android Staff (http://bit.ly/K7qDHF). Almost 10.000 people are using the app and loving it (4.6stars on Google Play).
Our vision is to help people be more creative with color. The team that will make this vision possible is:
- Andrei Blaj, Technology Engineer, 10+ software development experience
- Catalin Morosan, Mobile Engineer, 10+ software development experience
- Mihai Iova, Idea Engineer, 10+ design experience
Find out more about RealColors: realcolors.makan-studios.com
WebVanity: http://www.webvanity.net/
WebVanity is a Bulgarian startup company staying behind the idea: MyTeam – sport social network. With their innovative social platform they create one of the leading sport social network portal in Bulgaria, the platform has also iPhone App version. The portal is 5 times awarded including 1st place for Website of the 2010 in BG Site 2010 competition, 1st place for Website of the 2011 on Web Awards 2011 competition, and 2 awards for innovative StartUp project in Bulgaria.