Did you know that Polish startup ecosystem, with its 3000+ startups, 300+ coworking spaces, 130+ VCs, plenty of acceleration programmes and tech conferences, is one of the most developed in the CEE region?
There is a growing investment appetite in Poland, ranking the country#1 in CEE by number of venture capital rounds and #2 by invested venture capital. Success stories such as Booksy, Docplanner and Brainly, are clear examples of the potential of the Polish tech ecosystem and what it has to offer. If you’re thinking of expanding to the region, don’t hesitate to access their supportive ecosystem of innovation hubs, coworkings and accelerators, led by the likes of Google Campus Warsaw, The Heart and organisations like Startup Poland. Without a doubt, the Polish startup scene is certainly packing a punch.
Staring down 2021, here are 10 of the most promising young Polish startups founded between 2017-2020, who all have fast-growing teams, are working on innovative missions, and are also showing promising signs, such as raising funding in the last year.
Uncapped – Dubbed as Europe’s first revenue-based finance provider, Uncapped offers an alternative to traditional debt and equity funding to startup founders. Born in 2019 out of the founders’ own frustrations with the limited funding options available, Uncapped offers founders access to working capital between £10,000 and £1 million for a flat fee of 6% and gets repaid through a revenue share. In September 2020 the startup raised a whooping €21 million to keep supplying European entrepreneurs with better funding opportunities.
Vue Storefront – Vue Storefront (founded in 2017) is setting the new standard in e-commerce by enabling merchants to freely plan and manage every stage of a customer’s journey. As one of the most complete PWAs (Progressive Web Applications) for e-commerce platforms on the market, it can transform any commercial platform into a smooth and pleasant experience. Currently used by over 250 e-stores and over 100 partner agencies, it recently raised a €1.25 million seed round from Movens VC and SMOK Ventures.
GeneMe – GeneMe (founded in 2018) is a Gdańsk-based biotech startup, pioneering swab-based genetic test kits. In the wake of the corona pandemic, the startup has developed and patented a universal protein (polymerase) for RT-LAMP testing, which allows the production of highly accurate, rapid, molecular genetic COVID tests. Their flagship test, FRANKD, is completed on-premises in 13-25 minutes with no laboratory involvement and is validated with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The spin-out from The Institute of Biotechnology and Molecular Medicine (IBMM) raised a €5.2 million round of seed funding in late 2020.
Microamp Solutions – Founded in 2019 as a response to the ongoing 5G revolution, Microamp Solutions is working on innovative mmWave infrastructure for future 5G networks. The company helps leaders in multiple sectors start rolling out 5G coverage and it offers 5G solutions such as power amplifiers, mmW transceivers and RF Front-End for 5G base stations. Poland’s National Centre for Research and Development and Polish Agency for Enterprise Development have financially backed them with grants to pursue their vision of building 5G infrastructure.
Talent Alpha – Founded in 2018, SaaS platform Talent Alpha is helping organizations measure and manage ‘tech talent’. The platform gives total visibility into the technical and soft skills available to an organization including permanent staff, potential candidates, contract workers or on-demand Tech Talent available on the Human Cloud.
Nevomo – Hyperloop company Nevomo is developing a new generation of high-speed railways. Their hyperloop-inspired mag rail train will run on existing railway tracks upgraded to accommodate high-speed travel, with no need to build new infrastructure. The company plans to launch full-scale tests in mid-2021, bringing the technology closer to implementation. Furthermore, in December 2020 together with 12 consortium members from 8 European countries, they received a grant under the Shift2Rail initiative, aimed to facilitate the emergence and development of hyperloop technology in Europe.
Sundose – Sundose is a manufacturer of data-driven diet supplements. Using data collected from an online health survey, Sundose nutritionists develop a personalised mix of vitamins, minerals, omega-3 acids, probiotics and antioxidants for each customer. 30 supplement sachets are then delivered on a monthly basis to support users’ health goals & lifestyle. The startup is quickly gaining traction and investor’s attention. In 2020 it raised a seed round amounting to €1.2 million and joined the Google for Startups Accelerator.
neptune.ai – Warsaw-based neptune.ai (founded in 2017) is focused on the data science realm. As an experiment tracking hub, they bring organization and collaboration to data science projects. Having landed a Series A funding round of approximately 2.5 million in January 2020, the team is committed to boosting more data science projects, from evaluating credit risk to finding the nuclei in divergent images.
HCM Deck – Founded in 2017, HCM Deck is on a mission to make the employee experience more engaging and compelling. Designed for large modern companies, HCM Deck’s employee development platform that offers onboarding, learning, knwoledge sharing and data analysis tools at scale. From team quizes, to communication channels, the HCM Deck has many different products available, and is already used by large companies like Carlsberg, Allianz, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin and more.
SPOKO – Fintech startup SPOKO is offers affordable money transfers to 14 countries, addressing the needs of 1.7 billion adults who have no access to a bank account or can’t afford traditional transfers. The Warsaw-based team offers a mix of online and offline transfer methods, aiming to operate in 51 countries, enabling money transfers to 86 countries.
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