There are many great accelerators out there that provide help, mentorship and training for young entrepreneurs and their projects. But for hardware startups it can be difficult to find the right programme and useful support.
So, the Estonian accelerator Buildit saw a need to act in this niche and started their first accelerating round focusing on hardware startups at the beginning of this year. Now, they proudly present their first batch of five with projects from the area of games, communication or tracking solutions.
Photo credit: http://on.fb.me/UFHiQkSupport for long-distance relationships, high heels, & more
While verbal communication works also over long distances, physical contact is a problem unsolved if you are on one end of the world and your loved one the other. Mustino takes up this concern of long-distance relationships and developed a gadget that allows you holding hands with other people no matter where they are.
vumbl designed a necklace-like gadget able to guide you through everyday life. The device delivers information on body details, navigation etc. to your smartphone and gives you directions or conveys information through sensitive vibration impulses.
Bulgarian KOLOS aims to imporve the tablet fun experience and developed the first gaming wheel for your iPad. It comes with senors for a realistic play mode and can be used for nearly 500 iOS games, as the startup claims.
Heimdallr from Estonia aims to tackle the problem of theft and loss of things you hold dear. So they created tags that can be attached to things like wallets, bicycles or even cars in order to track them. The electronic tags will not only interact with your smartphone but will share information to other devices in reach creating a kind of network to find your things again.
Let’s face it: high heels are uncomfortable. To make the wearable still, the team of Heelosophy turned this problem into a startup idea. Their product is a seamless shoe insole that aims at making wearing high shoes less painful and at the same time healthier. Having measured one’s own feet with the Heelosophy app and starter kit, the Tartu-based startup will create fitting soles individually.
The new application window is open now
Having finished their first accelerating round, Buidlit is already looking for their second batch of hardware startups. So if you have an innovative idea for a niche gadget or a device useful for everyday life, you can apply until 20 July on their website.
Buildit will support their teams with up to 20K investment and also provide prototype facilities for their selected teams. Regarding the accelerator’s relevance to the startups co-founder and CEO Aleksander Tonnisson explained: “Most valuable for the startups though is the network of 80+ high-profile mentors. We bring startups together with industry professionals, successful serial entrepreneurs and investors and prepare them to raise the next round.”
While the Estonian accelerator chose five teams for their first batch, they take up to ten teams at a time. They are the only hardware accelerator in Northern and Eastern Europe and focus on supporting their teams in terms of product testing, prototyping, minimising costs for development, design or marketing as well as providing office space.
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