At the beginning of this year, we took a look at the Austrian scene and tried to come up with a list of five promising startups to watch out for in 2015. It’s been difficult to narrow this list down, but we’ve decided to go with just 5 startups from different sectors. All of them entered the market within the last two years and each of the listed startups has something special to add to the digital economy in 2015.
1. Keyper: You’re probably already using your mobile phone to buy public transportation tickets, cinema tickets and/or concert tickets, right? But why do we use a handful of different apps to buy tickets online? Keyper is a neutral mobile solution which allows you to install a single app and, from within it, access different systems and event organisers. This neutral mobile solution saves space on your phone memory and helps you to organise all your tickets in one place. Keyper aims to provide the fastest way to receive mobile tickets, share them with friends and discover new events. The app will soon be available for iOS and Android. Keyper is based in Wiener Neustadt, a small town near Vienna, and was founded in the fourth quarter of 2013.
2. Journi: This Vienna-based startup which provides you with the easiest way to record your trips offline and on the go. Journi, which was founded in 2014, even lets you keep your friends in the loop without extra effort and for free. Think of the Journi app as your personal travel journal or even your travel blog if you like. You can take photos and notes, and Journi automatically connects them with the locations and creates your trip route, making it easy for you to remember all the places you’ve visited. Journi makes your life easier during and after your travel ventures. The app is available for iOS and Android. Give it a try!
3. Global Rockstar: Founded in 2014, Global Rockstar is a music platform for artists and fans, offering new ways for musicians around the world to generate awareness, promotion, audience participation and revenues. Global Rockstar conducts the world’s largest online music contest; fans can vote for their favourite artists for free via social media, and they can also support the artists via paid votes (Supervotes, where the artist gets 50% of the net revenues from each Supervote). In return, the voter receives unique rewards from the artist. Artists can raise additional revenue from donation-based crowdfunding and from brand-sponsoring possibilities. During the National Preliminaries, starting on the 1 September, fans pick a winner from contestants in their own country. Then, in the Global Finals, all national winners compete for the grand prize of $25K. So far, the Vienna-based startup has secured €719K in seed funding.
4. Hitbox.tv: This global innovator in gaming and e-sports live-streaming focuses on providing a delay-free experience between streamers and their viewers. In short, this Austrian startup aims to bring interaction on a level that hasn’t been achieved in the industry before. Hitbox’s chat functionality is based on HTML5 and its interaction-focused features allow the culture of sharing and community that has driven the meteoric growth of live-streaming to be realised in new ways. The company’s partnership programme lowers the barrier to entry for gamers aspiring to turn their passions into careers so everyone can “Live! it up”. The Vienna-based startup was founded in 2013.
5. Zizoo: Founded in the fourth quarter of 2013, Zizooboats is digitalising the boat rental industry, which is still behind any other travel sector. Coming from Vienna, they are building a global digital booking platform and community, similar to “Booking.com for Boats” in combination with an Airbnb-like community model (reviews, communication, location-based apps/services). Their current focus are charter companies who operate in the boat rental market and aim to create a global booking framework. Zizoo aims to make boat holidays affordable and accessible to everyone, with bookings starting from €45 a day. The young platform also provides charter companies with a photo and editorial service and a powerful inventory management tool.
By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!
[…] recently announced their top five Austrian startups to look out for this year, and Zizoo, the leading global boat rental platform, was included on the […]
so – what´s the kick on those me-too-companies like “Zizoo”?
What´s economically the idea? So many people, who need (!) to earn money… who will make all these bookings? How long will it take, to get any chance of ROI?
Daid anybody calculate the market based rates and earnings?
And whatfor a webpage, which provides nothing else but boats, available on hundred other agency webpages as well?
Unbelievable to create hype-sentences like “best startup” (???) and unbelievable that investors obviously (?) send money…
To charter private like rental AIRBNB-alike oder UBER is not possible
It is not possible to charter a boat without licences, often local companies for VAT and other taxes needed, special and expensive insurances, security equipment asf asf…
It is naiv, to think, the local regulations could be ignored….and the clients?
Where would they go for?
Where is the base if pricvate charters? An Odyssey arriving at the startopport? What, if the rented boat ids technically not clear? How will a private owner find adequete replacement (and will he, he ll loose all the moeny from that, many can´t afford to do so)
Being 25 years in the yachtcharter amrket and knowing the local and international regulations very well, I am astonished … at least astonished… and I don´t think, this or other similiar “great startups” will survive