Atelier Riforma Re4Circular helps to optimize, reuse and resale textile waste

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04/01/2022

The Green Alley Award finalist 2022 we present you today is Atelier Riforma, also from Italy, which aims to sustainably disrupt the textile industry. They developed a digital platform – Re4Circular – based on AI technology which helps to optimize, reuse and resale textile waste. Elena Ferrero and Sara Secondo founded Atelier Riforma in 2020 and the startup thus counts into the high share of 39,5% of female-founded startups among the applicants for the Green Alley Award 2022. However, female entrepreneurs are still underrepresented in the startup world, but there has been an increase by 10% between 2009 and 2019. We need more female-founded startups for several reasons, but probably one of the most important ones highlighted by the German initiative #startupdiversity, is that when founding a business, women focus more often on social and sustainable innovations than men, which are especially relevant regarding future and societal development.

So, let’s hear what our experts in this field say:

In your experience, how is being a female leadership tandem? Do you see certain benefits, and would you agree on the statement that the world needs more female entrepreneurs?

We are quite proud to be two female founders: becoming a woman entrepreneur from scratch is satisfying, because it often means having overcome limits that the male counterpart never has to face. However, we are convinced that the goodness of a project depends little on the gender of the founders, but on the values they bring with them.

We still see few women in the startup world, but we are happy that the situation is changing and we hope that our example can encourage other young women. Sometimes being a woman is also an advantage: for example, when you are in the middle of an audience where most of the participants are men, you get more attention (even if “attention” does not always mean “credibility”).

We do not know if the world needs more women entrepreneurs, simply women should have the same opportunities as men, in any profession. We just hope that one day we will no longer be surprised to see a woman in a leadership position, because it will be the norm.

Lately, even the textile industry is trying to become more sustainable. Change is happening, since many big players are working on tackling their waste problem and partner up with second-hand markets or higher-end industries. Why do we still need your solution?

It is certainly positive that many fashion brands are trying to implement initiatives to reduce their environmental impact. A lot is being done, compared to 10 years ago, and this makes us very happy. But that’s not enough! Often these are small initiatives, disconnected from the whole context – when they are not sheer greenwashing strategies.

We need a systemic solution, which could massively direct post-consumer clothes – which are the most difficult to recover, compared to pre-consumer waste – towards circular destinations, such as reuse, recycling, refashioning or other upcycling strategies.

At the same time, it is necessary to push and facilitate as much as possible fashion brands to produce their clothes starting from the already existing material and stop extracting new virgin resources. And these are precisely the goals that we have set ourselves with our solution Re4Circular.

What has been your last greatest success (apart from making it to the Green Alley Award finals)?

Our latest great success was being selected among more than 1300 startups from around the world for the Startupbootcamp FashionTech acceleration program, one of the most important accelerators in Europe for fashion tech.

You’re still in an early stage, where do you see your startup in 5 years from now?

Actually, we look like an early-stage startup, but we’re not! Our project was born in 2019, with a different business model. We initially threw ourselves headlong into the problem, doing a very hands-on activity: collecting used clothes and creating a network of tailors so that the garments could be repaired and have a second life. However, we saw that this model was difficult to scale and could have a limited positive impact.

So, we took advantage of this experience and tried to improve it. And so the idea of Re4Circular was born in 2021. This technology and this new business model have been carefully studied in order to have a greater positive impact.

In five years, we see Re4Circular as an industrial machine, used throughout Europe by all the companies that collect used clothing, in order to direct them to circular destinations rather than to landfills.

Complete the following sentence: Our solution helps to save the world because…?”

… it reduces the amount of textile waste that is dispersed into the environment; we help instead to use waste as a secondary raw material for circular products.

Take your chance and watch Atelier Riforma pitch their idea live on stage in Berlin on 28th April. Register here and meet our finalist in person.

Source Green Alley Award

Agree innovation to reduce food waste

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StartupValley

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03/31/2022

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We start our series about our Green Alley Award 2022 finalists with Agree from Italy, who was the winner of our public voting and therefore the first startup to enter the finals. They developed a plant-based edible coating from agricultural by-products to help supermarkets, wholesalers, and farmers to increase shelf life of fruits and vegetables to avoid rapid degeneration. A great innovation to reduce food waste! And let us just briefly go back to another great thing: the exceptional result of this year’s voting: a total of 6,663 people participated and Agree got 2,078 votes – what a success!

First of all, wow! What a result, it seems like you have quite a large base of supporters already. How did you establish this, or do you think your innovation just perfectly meets current consumer needs?

To be honest, it was a wonderful surprise to see so many people interested in our project. Initially, we only counted on the energy of friends and colleagues that have already known and believed in our project. However, after a couple of days, we noticed a growing interest in our project, far beyond our expectations. At some point, we even captured the attention of Italian journals reaching out to us, wanting to learn more about Agree and our solution.

We didn’t expect such an interest in our project, but we do know that nowadays people, in general, are more aware of the different eco-friendly alternatives for a more sustainable world. We believe that the interest in a project like ours is also driven by the latest legislation about banning single-use plastics in Europe. France and Spain have already banned them, and we believe that more countries will be adopting similar measures soon.

Our proposal is presented as an alternative to plastic wraps for fruits and vegetables, which at the same time aims at reducing the food waste problem. Like us, many of the Green Alley Award participants proposed solutions and alternatives to tackle the single-use plastic and plastic waste problem. We saw amazing projects and we’re glad to be among such innovative and impactful ideas!

How likely do you think are producers or farmers to adopt your innovation instead of keep using plastic packaging? Did you receive feedback already and can estimate the market acceptance?

We did get in contact with local producers and farmers and learned that they are open to adopting solutions like ours. We are still talking to them and the rest of the stakeholders of the supply chain to hear about their experiences and problems to get a better idea of how to face the food and plastic waste issues as good as possible according to their current needs. In general, we are not proposing merely coatings, but more an eco-friendly solution for our customers. The goal is to reduce the food waste within their processing and packaging steps and to avoid the excessive use of plastic or expensive alternatives, which means a saving in economic and environmental terms for them.

By collaborating with our customers and stakeholders, we can develop customised solutions for them and face the food waste problem together as well as reduce single-use plastics. That’s our main mission.

You are Italy-based. A country that is quite at the forefront when it comes to circularity and the number of startups there is constantly increasing. How did your location affect your business idea and now the development of your startup Agree? Do you think that it’s likely that Italy will become the new circular innovation hotspot?

Being based in Italy strongly influenced the origin of our idea. In our team, we all have a strong connection with food and its culture, and that’s why for us, understanding the food waste problem and trying to tackle it was a necessity. We live in Piedmont, a region famous for its food culture and tradition. Piedmont is also rich in high-quality agricultural products, but also in by-products that we can use as raw materials. Hence, we decided to embed this circular approach in our business solution.

Even if we are only just starting with our project, our goal is to contribute to the Italian innovation ecosystem for the circular economy, which is currently growing and inspiring more and more students and researchers from various countries to innovate in Italy. Many people including investors are now understanding the power of innovation and where it can lead us here in Italy. We are looking forward to seeing how the Italian ecosystem will continue to grow.

You are planning to get a patent on your technology from April 2022 on, what are your next steps?

In the upcoming months, we would like to go more in-depth regarding the food and packaging systems and gain a better understanding of the different mechanisms that are responsible for food waste in the vegetable supply chain. We also aim at getting a comprehensive overview of the problems related to the excessive use of plastics and of what alternatives might be.

Currently, we trying to establish more partnerships with local farmers and fruits dealers to launch our first pilot project soon. The idea is to start to test our solution and model as soon as possible, we are aiming for the second half of 2022. In the meantime, we are promoting activities of food waste awareness on social media and in particular events looking to create a solid community of food activists that believe in a more sustainable and circular economy.

Please complete the following sentence: Our solution helps to save the world because…?”

It can increase the availability of food

It can reduce food loss and waste problems

And it can improve the use of natural resources (water, energy, and soil) and avoid more CO2 emissions

Take your chance and watch Agree pitch their idea live on stage in Berlin on 28th April. Reg i ster here and meet our finalist in person.

Source Green Alley Award

It’s key to learn from your mistakes and improve

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03/30/2022

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Rens launched the Elemental hoodie which will entry into the metaverse as the first 2022 units are accompanied by a Hoodie NFT

Please introduce yourself and your startup Rens to our readers!

I’m Jesse Tran, Co-Founder and CEO of Rens Original, the Finnish eco-startup behind the world’s first sneakers made from coffee waste and recycled plastic. I’ve lived in Finland for 10 years since I moved from Vietnam to pursue my bachelor’s degree at Aalto University. My co-founder – Son Chu – and I founded Rens back in 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. We both have extensive backgrounds in Fashion, manufacturing and e-commerce as Son worked at Zalando and I had founded my previous startup FactoryFinder, which helped to connect small European fashion brands with sustainable manufacturers in Asia.

In 2019, we launched the World’s First Coffee Sneaker via Kickstarter, raising over half a million euros from over 5.000 customers in 100+ countries worldwide and became the all-time largest fashion Kickstarter campaign in the Nordics. Since then, we have been continuously growing and expanding, with Germany and the UK being our top markets in Europe.

Now, we just launched our first apparel collection, the Elemental hoodie, which will also mark our entry into the metaverse as the first 2022 units are accompanied by a Hoodie NFT.

We believe that we are living in an era where the digital and real worlds are merging. We have built Rens as a brand for the young generations and therefore, we need to be in the spaces and worlds that our community is. The metaverse is an extension of the real world and as we provide sustainable products for our community to travel between continents and countries, we want to provide these same products to them to travel between different worlds and universes in the digital space.

How did you get the idea of Rens?

The word “rens” has a few different meanings around the globe and shares a connective thread between them. From the Far East, Confucianism brings us REN (without -s) describing altruism and especially the AWESOME FEELING you get when you do something good for other people. In the West, “rens” is found in Scandinavian languages, meaning “clean, unpolluted, and pure.” These two combine to define Rens: feeling awesome about doing good for people and the world around them.

Why did you decide to start with Rens?

Son and I have been sneakerheads forever. Everything started in a coffee shop when we were discussing how there are so few options for sustainable sneakers that actually look good. Most of the time, sustainability equals sacrificing style and vice versa. That’s when we decided to create the pair of sustainable sneakers that we ourselves want to wear every day. Now we are expanding it to other clothing categories, yet using a combination of waste-based and organic materials mixed with the best innovative technologies.

What is the vision behind Rens?

Rens’ vision is to provide sustainable fashion wearables that are cool and edgy for the young generations no matter if they are in the real world or in the metaverse. Our physical products will be designed and produced by combining waste-based and organic materials and the digital wearables will be created in the greener blockchain technologies. Being part of the metaverse won’t only let our community enjoy their favourite sustainable fashion in any world but also allow us to bring the crypto wealth back to the real world to solve real problems such as environmental and social issues that matter.

How difficult was the start and which challenges did you have to overcome?

We launched our Direct-to-consumer webstore right before the pandemic in early 2020. That was probably one of the most challenging experiences of the entire process, navigating the brands through the COVID “era”. Production was delayed, logistics was heavily interrupted and we struggled to deliver the products to customers in time. However, at the end of the day, we managed to weather the storm and grow the brand ́s global presence via our own website and Zalando with our biggest markets including the US, Germany, the UK, and Finland.

Sustainable materials are way more expensive than synthetic ones and that had been a challenge for us, as we want to offer products that are environmentally friendly but affordable for young people. Choosing Kickstarter and pre-order for our launches also helps the sustainable focus, as we only produce under demand cutting energy usage and material waste.

Rens only uses GRS, FSC and RCS certified materials from the first step of the production until the last-mile shipping in order to reduce climate footprint and it’s not easy to find the right partners and suppliers that comply with these credentials.

Lastly, entering the metaverse as a sustainable brand has been one of our biggest challenges. We are fully aware of the detrimental environmental impact that the Crypto’s proof of work has, that’s why we had to make sure to work with the greenest and most sustainable technologies available in the metaverse. For that matter, we decided to create our NFTs in Polygon, a blockchain that together with Tezos, is the most sustainable option due to their energy-efficient Proof of Stake. On top of that, we will completely offset the energy usage of our NFTs with Aerial to invest in environmental real-world projects.

As people travel from the real world to the metaverse, so do their wealth. However, we have only a real world with real environmental and social problems to solve. By targeting the consumerism in the metaverse, we can create financial assets to re-invest back into the real world to support projects that actually matter.

Who is your target audience?

Our targeted audiences are the younger generations: young millennials, Gen Z and the upcoming Gen Alpha. We aim to educate all the members of these generations that are in the metaverse about sustainability and its importance, as well as educate our sustainable community in the Web3 and its benefits when being sustainable there too.

What is the USP of your startup?

I think that our Unique Selling Point is that we are the only sustainable fashion brand that was born and is yet community-based and that provides wearables both in real life and the metaverse.

Can you describe your typical workday?

Both Son and I work more hours than we should. It is very difficult for startup founders to keep a balance between their business and their professional life but we are learning how to deal with both one step at a time. We mainly focus on meeting our different teams both internal and partners/suppliers which already covers the main part of our days. After that, we manage different paperwork, look for innovations and research new ideas, plan new launches, and do many more tasks.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Rens in five years?

As the CEO, I hope I can educate the mass members of our target about sustainability and Web3 as a positive relationship by proving to them that it is possible. As for Rens, we want to continue to be one of the leading sustainable fashion brands in both the physical and digital worlds.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

I think it’s very important to listen to your team. As the CEO, I know many general things about multiple disciplines but I’m not a specialist that’s why I work to make sure to listen to every team member’s opinion and feedback both in collective and individual monthly sessions. When we ideate a new product, the whole team is involved from scratch to the final product. Then, we involve our community by pre-launching before producing. Rens is based on community, from the inside and from the outside.

It’s key to learn from your mistakes and improve. Both my co-founder and I had made many mistakes in the way: from choosing materials to management techniques but I’m
proud to say that we always learn our lesson to avoid the same mistake to happen twice. As a startup, most of the time we work by trial error and we learn what works and what doesn’t for our team and for our community.

Offer unique products and services to your audiences and make them participate in them. People want things that make their lives easier and better as well as to feel part of a community.

Thank you Jesse Tran for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Autobrains Announces $120 Million Series C Funding

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StartupValley

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03/11/2022

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Autobrains Announces $120 Million Series C Funding Bringing Self-Driving Into Full Autonomy, Solving the ‘Impossible’ 1% Error Margin

Autobrains, an AI-pioneer mobility company that develops revolutionary self-learning technology for advanced driving assisted systems and autonomous driving, today announced the final closing of Series C funding amounting to $120 million led by Temasek together with both existing partners Continental and BMW i Ventures as well as new participants Knorr-Bremse AG and VinFast.

This funding is set to advance Autobrains’ technology, accelerating development to become the next generation of autonomous vehicles and mobility. Autobrains will use this funding to further refine its self-learning AI learning technology capabilities and expand into new domains such as trucks. With existing and new OEMs and Tier-1s from this latest funding round, Autobrains will grow their commercial reach into new global markets and expand sites in Asia, Europe and the U.S. Rapidly on the path to full autonomy, Autobrains is delivering the solution to the challenge that has eluded competitors: solving the 1% margin of error in autonomous driving.

“The immense success of this most recent funding round demonstrates that Autobrains is a key player in leading the future of mobility which will be powered by AI,” said Karl-Thomas Neumann, Autobrains’ Chairman. “It’s invigorating to see the degree in which our self-learning AI solutions to ADAS and autonomous driving are transforming the next generation of mobility to create real automation.”

2021 showcased unprecedented demand for ADAS and AVs, with trillions of dollars being poured into the self-driving industry, the demand for better and safer solutions is expected to continue to spike in the coming years being driven by legislation and NCAP testing. However, despite great advancements in recent years, the unsolved predicament of self-driving applications continues to be AI technologies’ shortcomings in unusual scenarios.

“Autobrains’ technology holds the promise we have all been looking for to create the paradigm shift in the industry to self-learning AI, bridging the gap to fully autonomous driving,” said Thuy Linh Pham, Deputy CEO VinFast. “Autobrains captured our attention by applying self-learning AI software, as opposed to traditional software that is based on manually labeled data, to make self-driving vehicles adaptive to unprecedented behaviors in real-time. We expect that Autobrains will actualize this ambitious goal into a reality in the near future.”

Current market solutions are unable to cover unpredictable edge-cases without more complex, self-learning-based algorithms – these are essential push factors in order to truly transform the automotive industry. Autobrains’ self-learning application thwarts these challenges. Developing advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving solutions, Autobrains’ AI technology is designed to learn like the human brain, through neural networks, and process information the same way as humans. The avant-garde approach applies ‘human learning’ by using a signature-based technology, enabling cars to learn, collaborate and interact with the real world with no supervision, utilizing data and scenarios from the car’s surroundings to enable decision-making just like the human brain, in real time.

“We feel that Autobrains’ technology has parlayed autonomous vehicles into the tangible present, bridging the industry gap with our breakthrough AI technology,” said Igal Rachelgauz, Autobrains’ CEO. “Our newest product offers unparalleled features to any other technology on the market, functioning with a higher degree of accuracy and capability to predict even the most challenging scenarios like school zones, construction sites, even off roading. Our mission is to become the market leader in providing self-driving solutions that are safer, more affordable with superior performance in edge-cases.”

Autobrains’ new and refreshing commercial approach applies its open-AI platform, tailored to each of its partners’ specifications. This vastly differs from current solutions that offer a black box software bundle and chip in a ‘one size fits all’ offering, which of recent has become apparent to no longer suit the market demands. Requiring less computing power that is 10x less than existing systems, lower energy consumption and reduced cost of up to 40%, Autobrains has the precise solutions for the next generation of vehicles and mobility.

“Autobrains’ proven self-learning AI technology has the potential to disrupt ADAS and HAD development in the truck industry. The Autobrains video perception software operates in a fundamentally different way from traditional deep learning systems. The Autobrains approach requires less data and computing power, which can significantly reduce development times and costs. In addition, it is independent from the underlying hardware,” says Dr. Jan Mrosik, CEO of Knorr-Bremse AG and responsible for the Commercial Vehicle Systems division on an interim basis.

Dr. Jürgen Steinberger, Member of the Management Board of Knorr-Bremse Commercial Vehicle Systems adds: “This groundbreaking technology enables Knorr-Bremse to react quickly and flexibly to the various requirements in the commercial vehicle business, which is characterized by a wide variety of vehicle types with different installation situations and newly upcoming legislation. This flexibility is especially needed for certain markets in Asia. That’s why this strategic investment fits well into our ADAS and HAD strategy for the commercial vehicle sector.”

Picuture Source Autobrains

Source Text: PIABO PR GmbH

A Complete Guide to Successful Cold Calling

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StartupValley

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03/07/2022

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Cold calling is considered a tough job, with a high probability of the caller’s proposal getting rejected. However, statistics show that people continue to pick up calls from new companies and even attend successive meetings.

Research by Zippia revealed that around 70% of buyers admitted to having accepted one or more sales calls in the past year. More than 80% of these buyers stated they had agreed to schedule sales meetings after a connection initiated through a cold call. Around 60% of B2B C-level executives say that they prefer being contacted over the phone.

The statistics clearly show that cold calling has a great deal of untapped potential. If it is a part of your job, read on to find out how you can improve your abilities.

1. Research Before Calling

Around 90% of call receivers say that cold callers do not learn their needs before calling. This feeling can cause resistance before you even initiate your pitch. Furthermore, if you do not know the recipient’s position or the company’s pain points, you will only be able to give a general outline of your product or services. To increase your chances of success, it’s prudent to go through their and their company’s social media presence on platforms like LinkedIn. Your research will allow you to personalize your calls and tailor your strategies accordingly.

2. Show Clear Solutions

A successful sales pitch understands the needs of its target audience and shows exactly how it fulfills them. You need to customize every script per the recipient of your call and lay down exactly how your proposition is of value to them. Your research should allow you to identify the company’s pain points, ask questions about those pain points to engage the recipient in the conversation. You need to be clear in communicating the results they can expect after using your service. Make sure you are prepared to show how they are better than your competitors’ solutions. Your prospects are more likely to invest if they know what to expect.

3. Let Your Script Be a Guide

To make your call successful, you should aim to start a conversation. You need to encourage questions and tailor your responses accordingly. Not everything can be predicted, so be prepared to deviate from the script when necessary, and note down such instances to prepare better for your next call.

4. Practice

To improve your calls, make sure you practice a few scenarios. Going through your call recordings will further facilitate your practice by allowing you to infer your own pain points and weak spots. Make sure you use decent call recording software to ease the process. As the CEO and co-founder of YOU advises, believe in yourself, and you will succeed.

Endnote

Referring to successful sales script examples before drafting one will further enable you to hone your pitch to perfection. Here’s a successful sales script examples pdf file to let you ace your cold calls.

Author Harry Wilson

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Find the best people and empower them

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03/04/2022

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Gavan technology is based on our ability to extract proteins from a wide variety of plants

Please introduce yourself and your startup Gavan to our readers!

Hello, my name is Itai, I am a serial entrepreneur with a passion to build new companies, create value and always make sure there is something good for the world. Gavan has given me the opportunity to engage with one of the most challenging problems in the food industry: How to create quality food by using fewer resources, via sustainable practices.

How did you get the idea of Gavan?

Gavan was established during a quest for new tastes by Uri Jeremias, a famous chef from Acre, Israel. This initiated the work with Spirulina.

Our mission is driven by a deep-rooted commitment to unlock botanical resources to create bioactive ingredients. Longtime collaborators Uri Jeremias, a famous chef of the restaurant who brought his groundbreaking culinary knowledge and passion to the ingredients industry, and Allen Hazan, with rich experience in designing processes and products, were inspired to create the new technology after meeting me and Baruch Dach, a marine biotechnologist and inventor. The new perfect blue was the brainchild of our inventive synergy, leading us to form Gavan in 2020.

Why did you decide to start with Gavan?

We have a passion for strategizing sustainable solutions. We started developing new technologies in that respect. The spirulina was our first source and we succeeded to extract three different and valuable products from Spirulina making use of the entire biomass. This was our landmark to develop a full sustainable platform.

What is the vision behind Gavan?

Our unique technology is based on our ability to extract proteins from a wide variety of plants. In fact, the blue pigment from spirulina is a small protein. Our vision is to deliver the best-in-class affordable, plant-based protein to the food industry that can be customized to meet customer needs with respect to the protein properties.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

The start was relatively easy, we had a mission and people who believed in us. The real challenges we faced began later on, once we started the transition from technology development in the lab towards production.

Who is your target audience?

We are targeting food and beverage manufacturers who looking to use natural colors in their hot and cold drinks. Our pallet of colors includes beyond blue, green and purple. All high temperature resistant.

What is the USP of your startup?

We have a game-changer plant -based extraction platform. It enables us to create unique natural, vivid blue colors with resistance to high temperature and low pH making them perfect for pasteurization. We have more innovative plant-based products in the pipeline.

Can you describe your typical workday?

That is a great part of my job. There is no typical workday. It is certainly not a nine-to-five job and very hard to explain what it is. Every day is a new adventure.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Gavan in five years?

Gavan will be a significant company in the plant-based protein and coloring market offering unique protein complexes that poses high functionality on one hand while enable to produce the exact color, scent, and taste of the protein.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

So many books have been written with tips for founders. For me, there is one important tip that guides me throughout my career and should be considered by founders or any manager in that respect. Find the best people and empower them. I have an amazing team in Gavan and I am so proud of them and what they have achieved.

Thank you Itai Cohen for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Be patient and persistent

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StartupValley

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03/03/2022

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LastBasic unites inventors with designers and engineers from around the world

Please introduce yourself and your startup LastBasic to our readers.

My name is Alejandro Turell, I’m the CEO and Founder of LastBasic. I set up LastBasic as an industrial engineer in 2017, using the learnings I gained from my master’s degree in Organisation Engineering, Project Management and Business. LastBasic is the first-of-its-kind industrial design and engineering platform which allows inventors to turn ideas into functional prototypes. The platform unites inventors with designers and engineers from around the world to create a product prototype at a fraction of the time of traditional, offline methods and at costs of up to 60% less than traditional engineering consultancies.

How did you get the idea of LastBasic?

I worked in a traditional engineering consultancy for some time after my graduation, and quickly grew frustrated with the industry’s traditionalism. Engineering consultancies are built for big companies with huge budgets to come forward with their product ideas, which is hugely limiting for the average person. People who have great tech ideas might not know how to proceed, nor have the time or budget to become a full-time inventor alongside existing commitments, but that doesn’t mean their idea is any less valuable.

These consultancies are not designed for inventors working alone, or as a freelancer or as a side project to their full-time job. The up-front cost of working with a consultancy can be extremely high, and even if an inventor does manage to raise the funds, they often find that they lose control of their design.

Why did you decide to start with LastBasic?

I wanted to revolutionise this archaic industry and open product development up to a broader range of people. During my business master’s programme, I learned about the sharing economy model, and knew that this was the right way forward for the engineering industry. This model, which is based on sharing access to goods and services within a community, could offer lower costs than traditional consultancies, as well as increased efficiency and a higher-quality output for inventors. Combining this knowledge with my engineering background felt like the perfect step to making the industry work for everyone.

What is the vision behind LastBasic?

LastBasic believes that everyone should dare to create real-world solutions to real-world problems, without financial barriers or overly complicated processes. We aim to become the biggest global meeting point in hardware technology creation and interaction, using a digital approach to link inventors with designers and engineers. For LastBasic, inventing should be underpinned by a community of likeminded people exchanging concepts and ideas, not limited by budget or time constraints.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

I didn’t really have any money to build the company, so I had to focus on bringing in the right people to help me succeed rather than focusing solely on capital. I knew my project was a little out-of-the-box and non-traditional, so it was difficult to find people I could trust. Luckily, I was able to find colleagues with the right energy who saw value in my idea, and the business grew from there. Some people give up when they experience these kinds of challenges, especially when those around you in your personal life doubt your idea. I knew I had to stay focused, blind almost, and shut out these critics to succeed.

Who is your target audience?

At LastBasic we have two clear camps: our inventors and our experts. The inventor audience is incredibly broad; for example, we’ve worked with a serial entrepreneur, with years of experience creating products, and we’ve also worked with a local politician who had no experience with any of this, just an idea. The ideas are what make our target audience – it doesn’t matter who you are, what experience you have, or what you do, it just matters that you have an idea that you want to make a reality.

Our experts are a global community of designers and engineers who are specialists in their field. They are as diverse as the inventors are, each bringing a unique skillset that they use to create a part of an inventor’s idea.

What is the USP of your startup?

LastBasic is a home for anyone to invent, innovate and develop new economical prototypes in an easy and accessible digital environment. The platform unites inventors with designers and engineers from around the world to create a product prototype at a fraction of the time of traditional, offline methods and at costs of up to 60% less than traditional engineering consultancies.

Can you describe your typical workday?

I always start my day with a big cup of coffee and with my mind full of new ideas. After organising my thoughts and setting the day’s priorities, I meet my colleagues at the office. We have to start by getting up to speed on whatever happened during the night, because as we are a global digital platform, it is important that we don’t miss any opportunities that come through whilst we were sleeping.

For any startup and even more so for a leader, it is difficult to have a fixed daily schedule, as things evolve rapidly from one day to another. But, usually after a variety of different events and meetings with external partners, investors, and other stakeholders, I can move onto the rest of my day. My schedule is usually full of paperwork, troubleshooting tasks, and ad-hoc strategy meetings. These might not sound like the most exciting parts of my job, but they’re often the kind of tasks that get the best results, such as successfully closing a funding round or hearing positive feedback from a member of our expert or inventor community.

After a busy work day, spending time with my family and friends is the best way for me to recuperate my energy and start afresh the next day.

Where do you see yourself and your startup LastBasic in five years?

Our vision is to become the biggest global meeting point in hardware technology creation and interaction. We want to be a market network of tech trends for inventors to exchange concepts and ideas, providing a technical support ecosystem for entrepreneurs, SMEs, and corporations. The next three years will be spent defining and growing our three main pillars: inventors (our clients), revolution (the platform/innovation), and creation (our experts). We want to increase our presence, brand image and reputation in the UK, Europe, and US markets through marketing efforts as well as build partnerships with SMEs, corporations, engineering associations, universities and other organizations and institutions.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

1. Be patient and persistent – if the market needs your solution, it will happen. Build fast and don’t fall into the trap of perfectionism, because there is always time for improvements. Make sure you start testing and validating as soon as you can and the sooner you start selling, the better.

2. You have to shut out the noise from those who say that ‘this won’t work’. If you really want something that will disrupt the industry you have to be a little bit blind and a little bit crazy to make it happen.

3. Trust in yourself and your team. A founder isn’t supposed to have the ability to do everything, you just need to have the ability to bring the right people on board at the right time to support you in your endeavour.

More information you will find here

Thank you Alejandro Turell for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again

The days are long but the years are short

By

StartupValley

-

03/01/2022

0

Lovevery Playthings are made with sustainable, organic, and natural materials that are good for your child

Why don’t you briefly introduce yourself and Lovevery to our readers?

I’m Jessica Rolph, Cofounder and CEO of Lovevery. I’m Roderick Morris, Cofounder and President of Lovevery.

JESSICA ROLPH: Lovevery is a stage based early-learning program, sold by subscription, that helps parents feel confident they are giving their children the very best start. All of our playthings are designed in house, and each Play Kit includes thoughtfully created toys that support all kinds of learning within a developmental window-language, math, physics, fine and gross motor skills, and social-emotional learning.

Why did you decide to start a company?

JESSICA ROLPH: I’ve always been passionate about early childhood. As I began my family I started to look for a more thoughtful way to play. I discovered a doctoral thesis on infant brain development that had all these detailed, nerdy, cool things that I could do. It felt really natural and simple and I never looked at our toys the same again. My child and I were connected and I had confidence that I understood what he was hungry to learn. I wanted to share that feeling of confidence with other parents. Lovevery brings confidence to parents who want to make playtime smart.

RODERICK MORRIS: When Jessica came across the doctoral thesis, I was working at Opower—an American software company that helped families save energy—where I managed marketing, operations, and helped lead the team through its IPO. I got a call from Jessica, and we started talking about the research and experimentation that she’d been doing building her own toys at home. It became immediately clear to me that she was onto something and that we should team up to pursue it further. In 2017, we launched with Lovevery’s first product: The Play Gym.

What was the biggest challenge in founding Lovevery?

JESSICA ROLPH: At my first company, Happy Family, getting to product market fit was a challenge and we really struggled in the beginning. We had to pivot multiple times to find products that would best suit both our customers and retailers. Learning from that experience made a difference when we were trying to get Lovevery off the ground. Rod and I were determined through lots of parent testing to get our first product right. We had so many initial designs that didn’t work, and kept going back to design and testing. While it took us a while to get there, our first product—The Play Gym—became a top-selling product in the category right off the bat.

Can you start with an idea when not everything is perfect yet?

JESSICA ROLPH: The truth is, it may never be perfect in your own mind. I would suggest taking the emotion out of it (so incredibly hard when you’re pursuing your dream) and just figure out a way to everyday be taking that next baby step. If you break the big vision and inevitable problems into incremental to-dos, you can make a ton of progress. For Lovevery, what took the idea from incubation into the “okay we’re really going to do this” was teaming up with Rod. I believe in partnerships, and needed Rod to make Lovevery really happen. He is strategic, creative and particularly good at making quick, hard decisions.

What is the vision behind Lovevery?

RODERICK MORRIS: Everything that we do at Lovevery is driven by our mission to be a support system for families. It can feel overwhelming and hard at times to sift through and determine what you actually need and what exactly is happening in your child’s brain.

Lovevery is a simple, verifiable, and holistic resource for families. We know that making it easy to tune into your child’s development helps eliminate that feeling of overwhelm, encourages meaningful parent-child connection, and ultimately leads to greater outcomes for more children.

Who is Lovevery’s target group?

JESSICA ROLPH: Lovevery’s customers, like all of us parents, are caregivers who want the best for their children. They’re tired of the overwhelm when it comes to what their child is learning. They are asking questions like ‘does this plastic toy with flashing lights and electronic sounds help my child?’ And they are looking for a more intentional approach to parenting that puts them in touch with what their child is hungry to learn at each stage. They also want products that are sustainably made with materials they can feel good about. And they appreciate that Lovevery is here to help.

What is special about the products?

JESSICA ROLPH: We are a simple, verifiable, and holistic resource for families. We provide supportive and informative content, along with sustainable playthings designed by experts and grounded in decades of educational research. We aren’t some kind of top-down authority; we know that great parenting is a mix of intuition and reliable, timely information. To help build confidence, we always deliver our messages from a place of empathy and solidarity.

What sets you apart from other providers?

RODERICK MORRIS: Lovevery is different because we don’t see ourselves as a toy company—we are a holistic early child development program.

Our products and books are tailored to each stage of a child’s development from 0 – 48 months. We design original playthings that make the most of a child’s desire to learn.

Parents and caregivers are also looking for a smarter, more informed approach to supporting their child’s development. In the Play Guides and App that come with the Lovevery subscription, we provide expertise from neuroscientists, speech and language experts, Montessori educators, occupational and physical therapists, and social psychologists.

Where is Lovevery heading? Where do you see yourself in five years?

RODERICK MORRIS: Lovevery has already become an essential resource for parents around the world. We recently launched our subscription Play Kits program in the U.K. and Europe, which was an important milestone for us. Our goal is to continue listening to our customers, expanding the business, and creating new products that serve children all over the word for more years of their early development. Our long-term vision is to support every part of the parenting experience throughout early childhood. We want to be truly accessible to as many families as possible.

What 3 tips would you give to aspiring female founders?

JESSICA ROLPH: “Don’t get bogged down by the idea of what success should look like. Instead let yourself be guided by your passion, curiosity and the impact that you want to have on the world.”

“It all comes down to purpose. Instead of framing it as “reaching the top”, think of what will allow you to live the most fully and to share your unique talents with the world. Success is likely to follow.”

“My mantra right now is: the days are long but the years are short. This feels very true for my life as a parent and as CEO. I’m always trying to find a way to be more present and enjoy the journey.”

Picture Jessica Rolph with family (left) nd Roderick Morris with family

Thank you Jessica Rolph and Roderick Morris for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Learn to deal with rejection early

By

StartupValley

-

02/28/2022

0

Imburse, companies can solve their most pressing payment problems

Please introduce yourself and your start-up Imburse to our readers!

I am Carl, the CFO and co-founder of Imburse. We founded Imburse with a single goal, to simplify how companies access the global payments ecosystem and embed financial services into their operations. We provide our clients with a low code platform and the expertise to deploy new payment technologies, workflows and providers into their organisations via a single connection.

Imburse was founded in February 2018 and has grown rapidly since then. We are backed by some of the worlds leading technology investors and have over 50 employees across our offices in Zurich, Lisbon and London. Our clients include large multinational insurers such as Generali and Swiss Re. We have also developed key partnerships with renowned consultancies and core system providers, making our solution more readily available for our enterprise clients.

Prior to founding Imburse I had an extensive career in finance spanning a number of disciplines where I witnessed the challenges of technology integrations and financial operations first-hand.

How did you get the idea of Imburse?

We were forced into it as a pivot actually. We had a completely different business in 2012, in the flight tracking space. Our business model was to sell flight-delay insurance to consumers, and we needed to be able to do real-time payments to meet customer expectations. Unfortunately, the insurer we worked with did not have that functionality available and was not prepared to develop it. It would have cost them $ 500,000 and taken an estimated 15 months to deploy. We wanted to make our business a success of course, so we built what we thought would be a temporary solution. This was the beginning of Imburse. Our solution garnered a lot of interest, so it became clear to us then that this was the main pain point that needed to be solved.

Why did you decide to start with Imburse?

Many of the founders had started companies before and once we got an inkling that there is a problem that needed addressing and that companies are willing to pay for, we invested more time in understanding it. We found out that companies really struggle with technical integrations to payment providers and technologies, both from a time and cost perspective. It’s a common hurdle for many companies, especially those that rely on legacy IT systems. In short, we understood that this was a huge problem that companies are willing to pay for, it’s cross-vertical and it has global reach. These are great foundations for a start-up.

What is the vision behind Imburse?

Most corporations today are hampered by their own process inefficiencies, lack of access to specific skills, and, of course, budget constraints. A lot of resources, both financial and human, are wasted on helping complex and old systems cope to meet ever-evolving customer needs. We free up companies from these restrictions, allowing them to deploy their resources to build better companies, better products and generate more value for their customers. We focus on solving the payments integration problem, so that companies can allocate their resources to core business areas, all whilst still optimising and future-proofing their payments system. Aside from enabling connectivity to the payments world, Imburse also provides the payment expertise needed to make more informed business choices.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

The start was difficult. The main challenge is to get early investors excited about B2B software. The problems are sometimes more difficult to understand and not as well-known as customer pain points. In addition, B2B deals take longer to conclude and the solution needs to be essentially operational before it can be sold. The pool of early-stage investors who have a good B2B software market appreciation is small, but we managed to attract some of the best early-stage investors out there. This allowed us to invest in the product and grow the company successfully.

Who is your target audience?

We target medium and large corporates, specifically those with complex corporate structures, old IT systems or multi-market presence. This can include insurance, banking, utilities and healthcare, amongst others. Our solution is geographically agnostic, despite our initial focus on European markets.

What is the USP of your start-up?

With Imburse, companies can solve their most pressing payment problems whether the challenges are on the collection, pay out or data side. Through our platform, companies can access any payment provider or technology available in any market. This enables them to offer any payment method they want, from more traditional payment mechanisms to alternative payment methods and vouchers. Most importantly, we are accessible to enterprises with older, legacy IT systems and old finance processes. This means we are best positioned to solve the payments integration problem for any corporate globally.

Can you describe your typical workday?

I typically start my day with a workout which is usually followed by some time playing with my young daughter. After this we have a family breakfast and I spend some time getting the family ready for their daily activities.

I start the workday around 9:00 and prefer to spend my mornings on high concentration tasks, often involving financial, legal and compliance topics. This leaves my afternoons open for team engagements and strategic focus areas. I make sure I am home for an early dinner and am normally online for an hour or two once I have put the kids down for bed in order to close out open topics and prepare for the next day.

Where do you see yourself and your start-up Imburse Payments in five years?

In 5 years, Imburse will be the “go-to” solution provider for corporates and SMEs for anything related to the topic of payments. We will be a strong team sharing a common mission, and excited by the opportunity to grow even further into other industry verticals. Imburse will be a globally recognised brand in the B2B software space with a reputation for delivery and bringing value to our clients.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Don’t be afraid to spend money early on to ensure you build a solid foundation. Know what resources you need in order to achieve your next milestone and raise enough money to give yourself the scope and runway to achieve this. This includes allocating resources to get the proper legal advice and structures in place early on. The right advice really allows you to move through investment rounds and closing deals faster.

Secondly, hire more, earlier. We learned painfully how hard it is to hire good people and how long it takes. Spend time very early on to define your hiring strategy.

Lastly, learn to deal with rejection early. You need to find the right balance between taking feedback to improve your offering and ignoring negative people that may not understand your offering. There are unfortunately some investors who look to justify why not to invest, rather than look for opportunities to invest, and this means you will probably get more “no” than “yes”. It is an opportunity to learn.

Thank you Carl Strempel for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Try to maintain a healthy work life balance

By

StartupValley

-

02/16/2022

0

twoplus Fertility: twoplus Sperm Guide an effective, at-home fertility treatment

Please introduce yourself and your startup two plus Fertility to our readers!

I am Dr Benjamin Tee, co-founder of fertility tech startup twoplus Fertility. twoplus Fertility has developed the twoplus Sperm Guide – an effective, at-home fertility treatment to help increase the chances of natural conception by aiding more sperm cells to reach the egg.

How did you get the idea of twoplus Fertility / why did you decide to start it?

My wife and I faced our own problems conceiving. We were excited to start a family together after spending time on our careers. However, the longer the process took, the more frustrated we became. Fertility doctors eventually diagnosed unexplained infertility. I decided to channel my frustrations into understanding fertility and conception. I was surprised by the lack of a simple and effective home-based solution for couples that also preserved the privacy of the process. Most of the fertility products out there are focused on fertility tracking or incremental product improvements. None have concentrated on providing new, ground-breaking solutions to improve sperm transport to the egg.

What is the vision behind twoplus Fertility?

First and foremost, we wanted to ensure that couples have alternative options to achieve successful natural conception before or whilst seeking medical intervention. Sperm count among men has halved in the last 40 years while couples still struggle to get accessible fertility care. In other words, fertility health is declining among the adult population but the solution landscape has not changed much for the past decade. Focusing on solutions that make fertility care more accessible, frequent and affordable will help to unlock tremendous value for couples. This is a huge, relatively untapped, market opportunity.

The twoplus Sperm Guide is an effective, at-home fertility treatment to help increase the chances of natural conception by aiding more sperm cells to reach the egg. The small, comfortable device is used during sex to help sperm get to the right place. The device mimics cervical cap insemination, preventing leakage of sperm after sex, while also increasing the amount of sperm which reaches the cervical mucus. Without intervention, less than 1% of sperm reach the egg. The twoplus Sperm Guide has been shown in in-vitro testing to increase the effective sperm count by approximately eight times.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

twoplus fertility started mid pandemic and our main sales channel has been via our e-commerce store. There was a lot of engagement as couples decided to take the opportunity to start a family during the pandemic. When we started twoplus one of the aims was to reduce the barrier to quality fertility care. Even prior to the pandemic, getting access to fertility help was a challenge for most people around the world. The pandemic accelerated this further. We therefore had to carefully manage supply and demand at a time when people were searching for alternative solutions more than ever before.

Who is your target audience?

Our target audience is couples who have been trying to conceive for more than 6 months without success. The Sperm Guide can be used before, or whilst seeking, medical intervention.

What is the USP of your startup?

Our USP is providing an affordable option for couples to improve their chances of natural conception at-home by ensuring that more sperm reaches the egg during sex, as well as preventing sperm leakage afterwards.

Can you describe your typical workday ?

In a start-up your schedule tends to change a lot so we end up having to deal with a lot of spontaneous tasks that are time bound. Our days are usually packed with internal meetings and meetings with shareholders. No two days are the same and there is always something new to look forward to. We also try to make time to talk to our users and of course invest lots of energy in to new product development based on what are customers tell us they want or need.

Where do you see yourself and your startup twoplus Fertility in five years?

We are currently developing new products that will soon be ready for launch. There is no shortage of opportunities in the fertility space! Our longer-term aim is to become a one-stop hub for fertility solutions. We have big ambitions: we want to help 1 million couples conceive over the next 10 years.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Try to maintain a healthy work life balance. Spend some quality time with your family and friends which will help keep you rejuvenated and mentally healthy.

Always ask for feedback and maintain healthy discussions. It will help you understand different angles to a problem you are facing/solution you are developing.

Don’t stop trying and don’t be afraid of failures. One of the most common obstacles we face is coming up with revolutionary ideas that don’t always pan out. Each failure presents you with a new learning opportunity and gives you the path towards success

Thank you Dr Benjamin Tee for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.