5 innovative companies win the selection of an all-star jury and the support of WIN.
Over 75,000 attendees took part in the four-day hybrid edition of Webit Impact Forum (www.webit.org) on June 28-July 1.
The in-person event in Sofia on June 28 also featured the Finals of Webit’s Founders Games (www.foundersgames.org), one of the world’s largest startup challenges supporting exponential innovations for a resilient and sustainable future. 5 companies from 60 semi-finalists succeeded to win the hearts and pockets of the jury from a total of over 3,000 applicants from 140 countries.
The winners in the finals were selected by an all-star jury chaired by Tim Draper (venture capitalist and founder of the Draper Venture Network, among the first investors in Spacex, Skype, Tesla, BTC, Twitter, Coinbase), Gilad Novik (former Partner at Lakestar, among the first investors in Facebook, Spotify), Dr. Alexander “Sasha” Galitsky (Founder & MP of Almaz Capital with $2 billion under management), Dr. Risto Siilasmaa, (Founder of F-secure, and Chairman of Nokia 2012-2020), Ajay Ramachandran (Founding Partner of ifMagic VC, one of the top 10 US funds), as well as Dr. Plamen Rusev (www.russev.com) – investor and founder of Webit and WIN.
“The selection is extremely diverse in terms of geography and representing a variety of industries – food, mobility, finance, sustainable technology, green planet, media and entertainment. The companies come from countries with very good indicators and a number of already successfully established billion-dollar companies (unicorns) We could not have asked for a better selection and distribution.” commented Dr. Plamen Rusev right after the spectacular Founders Games ceremony. “The fact that Tim Draper spent 2 hours with us and clearly stated the high level of the companies is a clear signal of the great work and potential of our investments” he continued.
Each of the winning companies received an investment award of €500,000, with the opportunity to increase the investment up to €1 million per company after the upcoming meeting of the WIN Board of Directors.
The finalists went through 4 selection rounds and evaluation of over 200 international investors, including EarlyBird, Sequoia Capital, Channel 4 Ventures, Lakestar, Draper B1, and hundreds of others, as well as corporate investors from Sony Ventures, Toyota Ventures, BMW Ventures and others. They all got to know their business models, uniqueness of their ideas, team capacity, financial stability and their market adoption.
Though coming from different industries, business models and countries, the winners have one important thing in common – they are not only successful and fast-growing in their respective markets, they are also making the future of our planet more sustainable.
Here are the 5 winners:
1. The Swedish electric bike company CAKE 0 Emission, representing the Mobility & Urban Tech vertical. They aim to contribute to a zero emission society:
https://www.foundersgames.org/2022/selected.php?id=3458
To date, CAKE 0 emission has attracted a total of €68 million in investment. Their technology has been compared for safety and sustainability to that of Volvo.
2. EcoTree is a Danish company from the Cleantech & Smart Energy vertical that offers a high quality, certified carbon removal solution that pays for itself and builds biodiversity and sustainable forestry:
https://www.foundersgames.org/2022/selected.php?id=3411
To this date, EcoTree has raised a total of €12 million investments. Every year they double their revenue, and in 2019 they had $1.5 million in revenue, in 2020 – $3.9 million, and in 2021 the revenue is $7.7 million.
3. 360VUZ comes all the way from the United Arab Emirates and is representing the Media & Entertainment vertical. The company is building a hyper-connected product to teleport, empower and entertain its users by capturing and delivering live and on-demand 360° video content and interactive experiences. Their mission is to build the ecosystem for VR (virtual reality) to become a mainstream experience for sporting events, celebrity appearances, concerts and more.
https://www.foundersgames.org/2022/selected.php?id=3616
360VUZ has raised a total of $20 million in funding to date, with another $10 million round to close within weeks ($30 million total). The company generated revenue of over $3 million for 2021, with 2022 revenue expected to grow to over $8 million. The company owns the largest library of 360-degree video content in the world, which sets it up for a brilliant future!
4. WechselGott GmbH is a German company in the financial sector, whose platform offers automatic collection of customer insurance and energy contracts and processing through various APIs.
https://www.foundersgames.org/2022/selected.php?id=3444
The company has raised $6.6 million so far. They have signed contracts with some of the largest banks in Austria and Germany, and express ambitions to expand across Europe.
5. Alver World SA is a Swiss company that produces proteins from the Golden, Diamond and Ruby Chlorella microalgae. They are naturally neutral in taste and smell, which makes them easy to include in everyday foods.
https://www.foundersgames.org/2022/selected.php?id=3427
The company has raised $6 million in investor capital to date, with another round to come. Alver has a patent for the most sustainable way to produce protein from algae, which also serves as a binding agent in the production of healthy foods.
Webit’s Founders Games have created the FG6 Index as an indicator that finalists from the past 6 years of the competition have increased their capital 6.9 times after winning at the Founders Games. Some of the most successful representatives from previous editions are WeFarm, Lightyear, TestCard, some of which have increased their ratings and value by more than 10 times.
Investors in WIN (Webit Investment Network) will very soon acquire ownership in the 5 finalists following WIN being one of the most successful IPOs on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Webit and the global community of investors and leaders will further collaborate and nurture together for their future success, to create value for the investors and a better and sustainable future.