This article about the Demo Day was contributed by the Startup Novo mesto team.
On the “winterish” afternoon this past Saturday, five judges declared the winner of the KickUP accelerator program in StartUP Novo mesto – a small but sharp startup community based in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. The winner of the KickUP accelerator programme is a cloud storage web and mobile-based app called BillScan.
The first generation of the KickUP Accelerator came to an end this Saturday, 25 January, with an open event – the KickUP Demo Day. Four startup expert judges listened to six pitches and chose the winner that received a trip to Rockstart Accelerator in the Netherlands and a free six-month Web Office service from Si.mobil, a Slovenian telecommunications company.
The six startup ideas that were running for the title were: Cupidsaveme, a web and mobile app that helps to keep relationships interesting and alive. The second one was a startup idea from a team of teenagers called eSkiing, a mobile app for skiers which allows users to compete with friends, take challenges, break boundaries, share statistics and earn badges on ski slopes. Badges bring you discounts in the ski resort, nearby restaurants, hotels, sport shops, etc. The third competitor was the education platform DobraPraksa, a platform where teachers share their examples of good teaching practices.
Photo credit: Startup Novo MestoThe fourth startup was BillScan, a web and mobile cloud storage document system app for organising bills, invoices, warranties etc. for personal or enterprise usage. The fifth pitch came from an all-girl startup called Fleekaboo, a community platform that connects fashion designers with people who have piles of clothes they don’t wear anymore. The last pitch was by LaceNANO, a hardware company which re-invented the tattoo-making machine. With a new technology, it makes tattooing easier for tattoo artists and less painful for the customers.
The four judges Sonja Vlašič (Infotehna Group), Peter Pohar (D.Labs), Damjan Malis (DietPoint) and Marko Pirc (Lumu Labs) had a tough job on their hands. After a long and heated discussion behind closed doors, they decided that the winning startup idea was BillScan. This was a big push for the team of three, Luka Picelj (CEO) and the two programmers Simon Vesel and Mitja Cerovšek, just before their MVP launch date in a couple of weeks.
For the small startup community in Novo Mesto, the Demo Day was an act that puts them on the map as one of the most exciting startup communities in the region and beyond. The organisers would like to thank the main sponsors and partners of the event: Rockstart Accelerator, Si.mobil Center Novo Mesto, Mozilla Slovenia and Razvojni Center Novo Mesto.
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