Pitch Day winning startups approved for participation in CES 2022
On the 14th of September, there was a public selection of startups to participate in Consumer Electronic Show 2022, which takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a result, the USF Supervisory Board approved eight startups that will receive innovative vouchers, be exempt from renting space at the exhibition and exhibit their product at CES Eureka Park as part of Ukraine Startup pavilion.
Innovative vouchers are a novelty from the USF. This is a grant to cover the costs of startup representatives’ participation in international exhibitions, conferences, promotional tours, or other international events that take place outside of Ukraine.
The event was organized by the Ukrainian Startup Fund jointly with the Western NIS Enterprise Fund.
Innovative vouchers are given to:
- Comeback Mobility. A smart crutch tips to control the load on the injured leg, combining AI with a simple hardware product.
- Qudi. A mask that allows you to show any emotion (such as Happy, Sad, Confused, Engry, etc.) on your face without identity disclosure.
- Neverdark. A fireplace with real fire for any apartment. It is a smart device that is fully controlled by our mobile app via Wi-Fi. No smoke. No communications. No cleaning.
- Effa. 100% recyclable and renewable toiletries, starting with a paper toothbrush, the only toothbrush that can be recycled.
- Manna. 3D Metaverses are the next phase of the Internet. BIllion users on Instagram and TikTok make stories every day. These users can’t create professional studio content, they can’t collaborate or participate in the experiences available in 3D worlds. MANNA allows real-time 3D content production, collaborations, and interactions in 3D like games, webinars, sales, events using computer graphics and tracking technology.
- Copra. A Ukrainian manufacturer of premium segment speaker systems and amplifiers.
- Esper Bionics. Data-collective robotic prosthetic hands and software platform to improve control of all robotic prostheses.
- Cardiomo. AI-based solution for remote patient monitoring that enables smart, continuous, real-time, and cost-effective monitoring outside of hospital settings.
Who is the jury made up of?
- Jaroslawa Z. Johnson. President and CEO at WNISEF.
- Andrii Sorokhan. Venture Lead at UVentures.
- Olga Kuzmenko. Innovation manager at DTEK.
- Ihor Markevych. Head of Development at Ukrainian Startup Fund.
- Kateryna Degtyar. Chapter director at Startup Grind Kyiv.
- Anton Melnyk. Expert of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine on startup ecosystems development.
- Iryna Novikova. Director of innovations at Tech Ukraine.
- Arkadiy Vershebenyuk. Partner at JKR Investment Group.
- Vasyl Zadvornyy. CEO at Prozorro.
- Vitaliy Goncharuk. Founder of Augmented Pixels.
- Felix Litvinsky. Managing director at Blackstone LaunchPad.
The main criteria for evaluating projects were: team, product, market, the innovative potential for market impact, and relevance to consumers.
Full recording of the pitch can be viewed on our official YouTube channel at the link.
As a reminder: the USF constantly accepts and evaluates applications from Ukrainian startups, which can be submitted on the official website at the link.
Note
The Ukrainian Startup Fund is a state fund launched on the initiative of Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The mission of the fund is to promote the creation and development of technological startups in the early stages (pre-seed and seed), in order to increase their global competitiveness. The process of selecting startups for grants takes place on a competitive basis: companies are evaluated and elected by the board of independent investment experts.
Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) – a $150 million regional fund, a pioneer in Ukraine and Moldova with more than two decades of successful experience in investing in small and medium-sized companies. WNISEF was funded by the U.S. government via the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In 2015 WNISEF has launched a $35 million legacy program focused on export promotion, local economic development, impact investing, and economic leadership.
