Vienna, the capital of Austria made world famous for its rich cultural heritage and beautiful city streets that play host to a delicate blend of historical culture and dynamic innovation.
Amidst the backdrop of coffee houses and classical ballrooms, Vienna’s startup ecosystem is accelerating. The cosmopolitan city is the birthplace of four unicorns, the first of which, Bitpanda, picked up a massive €223 million in funding to be valued at €3.48 billion in 2021.
Vienna is a startup city on the up. It has a vibrant student community full of fresh talent and forward-thinking minds ready to generate new solutions for new generations and eager to scale the career ladder. It’s a city that is seen as a diverse and dynamic place to live and thrive. It has a great level of connectivity, a good standard of living, plenty of entrepreneurial opportunities and a fun social scene. It’s also earned itself an impressive track record for gender parity and inclusivity.
One of Europe’s most active VC’s, Speedinvest has its headquarters in the Austrian capital. Its start-studded portfolio includes the likes of Europe’s best-financed escooter startup Tier and insurtech wefox, as well as successful Austrian startups including unicorns Bitpanda and GoStudent. It also launched an €80 million Climate & Industry Opportunity fund just last year.
Last year, Vienna saw more than €1 billion invested and this year has been just as exciting with lots of big funding rounds and exciting startups hitting the headlines. With this in mind, we wanted to put a spotlight on Vienna’s up-and-coming startups. So, we curated this list of 10 promising startups from the capital, all founded post-2019 and all super-innovative.
Heylog: Early-stage startup Heylog, founded at the beginning of 2022, is bringing enhanced communication methods to Europe’s logistics industry. The software essentially makes conventional chat tools, like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Viber fit for the industry, enabling dispatchers to stay in touch with their drivers on the channels they most like and that are most convenient. The tool means external drivers and subcontractors don’t have to install endless apps to keep in contact, is DSGVO compliant and brings all documents and information into one place. It allows for enhanced team collaboration and also allows dispatchers to switch off easier when they aren’t working as it allows users to hand over messenger conversations and journeys to team members. Easy communication along the entire supply chain – exactly what a pressured industry needs.
Ataleo: Born in 2021, Ataleo is on a mission to digitize workflows for everybody – making businesses more efficient. The no-code tool simply standardizes and optimizes workflows to make them more interactive, intelligent and streamlined. It also pulls them onto mobile devices, so teams can be more connected than ever before. Ataleo also automates the post-processing of gained information and enables the integration of different SaaS tools in workflows. Users can generate their own workflows using a graphical workflow builder. Traditionally, manuals and workflow guides rely on text, photos and videos. While text and photos are hard to understand and are outdated in today’s digital world, videos are often too long and unengaging. Ataleo’s integrated tool is a new approach and it’s certainly an interesting proposition.
Schrankerl: This innovative startup is on a mission to help busy people get fed – foreseeing the ‘hangry’ office lunch rush and giving caterers new revenues. Founded in 2020, the startup offers SMEs fresh, sustainable and varied food delivered straight to the office. Employees simply open the app, without needing to pre-think and pre-order, and can choose what they want to enjoy for lunch, breakfast or even a mid-afternoon snack. The dishes are then delivered, coming from regional food partners and offering restaurant-quality plates at a fraction of the cost. The software also learns the preferences of each office so it can match tastes and offer better suggestions. After the days of home-office, many employees are returning to the office, but finding they miss having a fresh lunch – this tech offers a tasty option and the startup is growing fast having now raised about €435k.
Visplore: We all know that we are in a data-driven world – data forms business processes, government decisions and whilst the world has gone digital, data has become an incredibly powerful force. But preparing data in order to measure it, in order to actually use it, is a tedious, complicated process. We need data oversight to make actionable intelligent choices, but getting to that point can be tricky. This is what Visplore wants to change. Founded in 2020, the startup makes the analysis of large, dirty time series data intuitive and efficient, offering ready-to-use tools to understand correlations, patterns, trends (etc) much faster. The tool means that dealing with dirty data, such as outliers, anomalies and process changes is much simpler, ultimately helping data be even more useful and unlocking its full value. The startup has now raised over €1 million.
Jentis: Tracking data might be fundamental to business processes and strategy these days, but, (thankfully), it needs to be done in a way that respects privacy and complies with constantly evolving ePrivacy and GDPR regulations. Companies need to collect and track data but do so in a regulated world – which isn’t an easy task. SaaS startup Jentis wants to make it simpler, empowering companies to better collect and then access data. Founded In 2020, the team has now raised about €4.5 million and grown to about 40 people – fast-paced growth indeed. The tool can be set up automatically and easily integrates with existing data collection tools. Jentis is an international team of developers, data experts, mathematicians, marketing experts and scientists who aim to revolutionize the way online data is handled.
Revo Foods: Founded in 2021, Revo Foods is making big changes in how we approach food production through high-precision 3D food printing technology. The food tech innovators are focusing on making our diet more sustainable by giving sustainable alternatives to seafood – all the more interesting given Austria’s landlocked geography. Revo Foods offers seafood that is made 100% out of plants, giving our oceans much-needed respite. At the end of 2021, the young company expanded to bring its products to Germany, Denmark and Spain. The startup was also part of the EIT Food Accelerator Network in 2021. Plant-based diets are increasingly more common, and while we all become more and more aware of plastic pollution in the oceans and overfishing, Revo Foods are bringing an innovative (and tasty) alternative to consumers across Europe.
Inoqo: Founded in Vienna in 2020, Inoqo is helping us make more informed and sustainable consumption choices. The aim is to help generate a more sustainable production-consumption cycle by providing scientific-based data on the environmental, social and biodiversity impact of grocery products. The app passively tracks your grocery basket, analyzes it and then gives insights on how the purchases are aligned to environmental priorities and social values. The young company has the vision to empower consumers with better choices, with the end goal that this will create healthy competition between companies to produce more responsibly. Sustainability is at the forefront of most of our minds and the Inoqo app is a perfect companion to help us bring this into our everyday life. The team has now raised about €2.4 million.
Gropyus: This startup based in the Austrian capital is aiming to make sustainable living a reality. The startup uses tech to empower a sustainability-first approach to developing and constructing buildings. Europe’s cities continue to need new buildings and homes and they need to built in a way that is forward-thinking and planet conscious – this is what Gropyus are enabling. The startup looks at homes as products that can be created both sustainably and affordably, embedding it into every step of the construction process, from design through production, construction and finally to asset management. The construction industry now has an easy way to go sustainable and planet-friendly, and it’s an exciting tool with global potential. Founded in 2019, the young contech startup has already grown to over 200 team members and raised about €100 million in funding and is valued at an incredible €350 million according to Dealroom.
Coinpanion: Taking on the crypto world, Coinpanion was founded in 2019 with the aim to make crypto more accessible. The crypto world has been growing for some time now, but the majority of people don’t really know their bitcoin from their ethereum. This is where Coinpanion comes in – to simplify the market for everyone with a seamless and secure entry point into this complex world. Coinpanion automatically manages cryptocurrency investment and offers the option of setting up savings plans. With the Coinpanion app and online access, users always have an overview of their investment. In 2021, they got a €1.8 million funding boost and have now raised a total of about €5.8 million.
A:head bio: Founded in 2019, healthtech startup a:head bio is developing new therapeutics for the treatment of brain disorders. The startup takes a drug discovery approach based on human cerebral organoids which is a revolutionary technology allowing for the generation of mini-brains from human stem cells in vitro. They capture the essential aspects of human embryonic brain development including brain patterning, formation of brain ventricles, differentiation into the various neuronal and supportive cell types and their correct three-dimensional arrangement. Led by Madeline Lancaster and Juergen Knoblich, the company has now raised about €4.5 million and is making impactful developments in the health space.
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