Science & Tech
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FIVE companies aspiring to be Europe’s future digital market leaders of the future, were honoured at the 2016 Slush conference, the largest conference for high-tech start-up companies in Northern Europe which took place in Helsinki. The winning companies were selected by a high-calibre jury consisting of representatives from business, media and academia.
With the Digital Top 50 Awards, Google, McKinsey & Company and Rocket Internet sought out the most auspicious start-ups, scale-ups and tech for social impact companies. To celebrate Europe’s flourishing tech scene, five companies aspiring to be Europe’s future digital market leaders of the future, were honored at the 2016 Slush conference, the largest conference for high-tech startup companies in Northern Europe which took place in Helsinki. The winning companies were selected by a high-caliber jury consisting of representatives from business, media and academia.
Everledger, the first category winner, convinced the jury with its innovative business approach of using blockchain technology as a platform for ascertaining provenance and combating fraud. The company offers an immutable ledger for diamond ownership and related transaction history verification for insurance companies, owners, claimants, and law enforcement agencies. It can be easily scaled to other valuable goods markets and hence satisfy the demand for safe transactions and greater transparency.
On the scale-up, Seerene impressed the jury by showing how it can help IT companies to address one of their most critical challenges: driving IT change and managing software. Seerene provides revolutionary insights and analytics by analyzing software performance, creating visualizations and delivering key performance indicators to advise companies on how to work with software developers and service providers in the most suitable, enhancing efficiency.
“The winners in the B2B sector made a deep impression on the jury. The impact that both could have on the industry is tremendous. Everledger and Seerene have analysed the market closely while developing their business models which are proof of their having an in-depth understanding of the challenges companies are facing in their respective markets today. Both of our winners could contribute to a beneficial change within the business world”, Karel Dörner, McKinsey, senior partner, said.
Hey Habito is another winner. It simplifies and streamlines the entire experience for mortgage seekers in the UK by applying chatbot technology combined with artificial intelligence. Hey Habito is revolutionizing the complex and time consuming process of finding the right mortgage when purchasing a home. The user receives the best recommendation within minutes.
Bragi designs inventive technology in the field of wearables. By recording key biometric data, tracking movement and providing audible coaching, the scale-up aims to converting the world of smart headphones.
“Building a great B2C company means building an outstanding product. Our winners in the B2C sector have both developed innovative solutions to fulfil an unsatisfied demand. Habito and Bragi offer technology-based solutions for the needs of today’s customers”, Oliver Samwer, CEO of Rocket Internet, said.
With its main target being to resolve a social problem and to have a sustained impact on society, the Peek Vision Foundation was highly impressive with its strategy of building sustainable eye care capacity in low and middle-income countries. It is enabling a fundamental system change in eye diagnostics and cure based upon innovation. As a legal manufacturer of medical devices, the company created a portable eye examination kit. The Peek Vision Foundation, a UK-registered charitable organization, owns the company and the generated profits are gifted to the Foundation. By offering a solution that extends the access to eye care globally, the Foundation does not stop at the diagnostic, but rather incorporates an end-to-end treatment process in order to achieve massive social impact.
“The Peek Vision Foundation not only serves a good purpose by enhancing access to high quality eye care, it also utilizes mobile phone apps, hardware and in-depth scientific testing, which makes it a worthy tech business we want to support through the Digital Top 50 Awards. facilitation of the management and monitoring of patients’ treatment anywhere in the world, combined with the empowerment of all healthcare workers to diagnose eye diseases is a target to which we want to contribute”, Torsten Schuppe, VP marketing at Google, said.
All category winners will be invited to Google’s I/O event in California, and will receive consulting and coaching sessions with McKinsey, and will be provided with management feedback from Rocket Internet.
The top B2B, B2C Start-ups and Tech for Social Impact winners will be awarded a cash prize of EUR 50,000 each towards their company.
— Dec 1, 2016 @ 18:20 GMT
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