2012 European Venture Contest selects Award Winners in Berlin

Dec. 11, 2012 - PRLog -- On the December 6th & 7th, Berlin was host to 130 high-tech startups companies from across Europe. These entrepreneurs gathered at the 6th edition of the European Venture Summit [EVS], Europe’s leading venture marketplace, to ‘pitch’ their business proposition to over 120 venture investors (venture capital investors, business angels and Corporate Venture Partners) looking for the right company to invest in. These investors also rated these companies’ presentations in order to rank the 25 best European high-tech companies in the European Venture Contest 2012.

The Venture Contest and Summit play an active role in the financing of European high-tech startup companies and the resulting job creation and economic growth. Berlin Senator for Economics, Technology and Research, Mrs. Cornelia Yzer noted: “[The supply of] Risk capital is crucial for the sustainable growth of startups. Berlin has seen an ‘explosion in startups’ in recent years and is a true vibrant and creative capital. But it is vital to attract international venture capital investors to invest into the local startup community through initiatives such as the European Venture Summit (EVS). The European Venture Summit was hosted by Investitionsbank Berlin, sponsored by Dealmarket, Newion Investments and Morgan Lewis and organized by Europe Unlimited.

European Venture Contest 2012 [EVC] – Awards for Top 10, Top 25
Each of the 130 entrepreneurs presenting at EVS had been pre-qualified at one of Europe Unlimited’s 18 pan-European qualifier events throughout the year. In Berlin, the pitches of the 130 entrepreneurs were reviewed by more than 120 investors and experts present in 3 different streams: ICT, Cleantech and Life Sciences. Following question & answers after the presentations, the investors rated the Finalists on 7 criteria. Using all the review ratings on the 7 criteria from the participating investors, organizer Europe Unlimited computed the results to identify the Top 25 of the European Venture Contest [EVC] 2012. These 25 best rated enterprises were then voted for preference by the EVC – Selection Jury, who was in charge of bringing this down to the Top 10. The European Venture Summit thus acted as the selection ground for the Top 10 of the European Venture Contest [EVC] 2012. The Selection Jury was chaired by Christian Nagel of Earlybird Venture Capital (President ICT), Bernhard Mohr of Evonik Industries (President Cleantech) and Davide Turco of Intesa San Paolo’s Atlante Ventures (President Life Sciences) and involved some of Europe’s most active venture capital funds.

The Top 10 of the European Venture Contest 2012:

ICT:
Bitbar [FI]
Conferize [DK]
Falcon Social [DK]
iTraff Technology [PL]

Clean Technologies:
Benjamin [DE]
Camfridge Ltd [GB]
ROMO Wind [CH]

Life Sciences:
Abacus Diagnostica Oy [FI]
Crisalix [CH]
WISE s.r.l. [IT]

The Top 25 of the European Venture Contest 2012 (Top 10 in bold):

ICT:
Bitbar [FI]
Caliopa [BE]
Call Trunk Holdings Ltd [GB]
Conferize [DK]
Falcon Social [DK]
Graduateland A/S [DK]
iTraff Technology [PL]
Nachbarschaftsauto [DE]
The Eye Tribe [DK]

Clean Technologies:
Benjamin [DE]
Camfridge Ltd [GB]
Geothermal Anywhere [SK]
ROMO Wind [CH]
Sensile Technologies [CH]
Tidal Sails AS [NO]
TRI-VIZOR [BE]
XYLOWATT SA [BE]

Life Sciences:
4a medicom GmbH [AT]
Abacus Diagnostica Oy [FI]
Biosyntia [DK]
Crisalix [CH]
GELTIS [IT]
IPOTUBA [NL]
Medichanical Engineering [DK]
WISE s.r.l. [IT]

The 2012 European Venture Contest
The European Venture Contest already in its 8th edition aims to identify and qualify startups that have the capacity to grow rapidly on a global scale and are seeking investors or business partners to help them realize their ambitious growth plans.

It is Europe’s largest startup contest with 18 qualifying events across Europe to which over 850 innovative companies applied. Over 500 innovative companies were pre-selected to present their businesses in Lisbon (PT), Skopje (MK), Lausanne (CH), Thessaloniki (GR), Brussels (BE), Leuven (BE), Aarhus (DK), Bilbao (ES), Toulouse (FR), Berlin (DE), Istanbul (TK), Horsens (DK), Copenhagen (DK), Torino (IT) or Belgrade (SR). The winners at these events (Top 25%) were selected on the same 7 criteria by the participating investors and invited to present at the European Venture Summit in Berlin as the Final of the European Venture Contest 2012.

Evaluation criteria of the European Venture Contest 2012
Companies applying to and participating in the EVC were evaluated on all qualifying events, online reviews and the European Venture Summit as the EVC Final on the below 7 criteria:
• Business potential - The extent to which the potential market of customers for the presented product is attractive and the business model is strong
• Team experience - The extent to which the company team has skills and experience to grow the business and is able/willing to work with industry & research
• Product / Technology merit - The extent to which the technology or product solutions developed are state-of-the-art and well advanced compared to the competitors
• Competitive position - The extent to which the intellectual property of the company and its competences and strategic relations are outstanding
• Investment or partnering interest - The extent to which the demand/offer to invest in or partner with the company is well defined and potentially attractive for partners
• Project profile quality - The extent to which the information available from company profile sheet is complete, clear, balanced and convincing
• Presentation Quality [If applicable] – The extent to which the presentation clearly portrays the key points mentioned above

The Organizers
Europe Unlimited is since 1998 a much-needed transnational hub for high-tech start-ups and fast-growing entrepreneurs raising their contacts, profile and investment readiness with venture capital and corporate investors. Europe Unlimited organises international investment and partnering forums and programmes with thousands of participating high-tech entrepreneurs, venture capital investors, corporate partners, university tech transfer groups, innovation policy makers and specialist advisors. Europe Unlimited also supports the International Venture Club (www.iventureclub.com) as well as Tech Tour (www.techtour.com), Europe’s leading collaborative platforms for respectively international investors and growth entrepreneurs.