The Startup Competition is a traditional part of the IT Arena conference, providing startups with the platform to showcase their innovative ideas to the general public and get their promotion. This year, we received applications from 138 startups, and after a thorough pre-selection process, we are excited to unveil 45 semi-finalists. Join us at the Startup Competition and see with your own eyes the presentations of the best Ukrainian startups created during the war. 

The full list of semi-finalists of the IT Arena 2023 Startup Competition includes S.Lab, Zeeon, NUMO, AWERTISE, G-MAK, Uspacy, Revisior, Nasnaga, Reservble, Kycaid, Jetbeep Inc, Corner Renovation, Ochi, Beholder, Sorting Machines, Clarity Project, Apixmed, Selpme, Loopo, Consultacia, Aspichi, MySat, Flamework, Kwizbot, ConcreteFlow, Adminix, InVisionaryBox, xTiles, Amsets, and Youstud. In addition to them, the competition will also feature a special category for defense tech startups, introduced in partnership with Brave1, the Defense Technology Development Cluster.

The Startup Competition prize fund increases annually, and in 2023, it equals $489,000. The competition winners will be announced on the second day of the IT Arena, September 30, after the Startup Finals. In addition to monetary reward, winners will receive such prizes:  vouchers for access to cloud services, office spaces, educational programs for startup teams, access to pre-acceleration programs and so on.

The competition will feature a variety of startups, with some having just started development within the last year, while others have been working for a few years. They bring brand-new solutions or innovative reinterpretations of existing ideas to the market. Among the sectors these startups have ventured into are AR/VR, aerospace, EdTech, AI, energy & ecology, healthcare, marketing, retail, and Web3. Let’s take a closer look at a few of them.

AV/VR

Aspichi is a psychology therapist assistant in VR allowing to increase capacity 2-3 times for therapists and 7 times more sessions for patients. Zeeon offers a metaverse for large-scale tech events & education. As the developers say – where Zoom meets Sims. InVisionaryBox is an out of the box AR- & AI-powered SaaS solution for customer engagement and lead generation for modern retail and events.

AI

Adminix – AI-enabled workflow automation software that helps SMBs automate routine business processes and decrease human factors in day-to-day operations. Consultacia is AI powered medicine APP interpretation of tests given the symptoms. This project was created by online medical volunteers, including 50 doctors. Reservble allows guests to reserve tables online in a few clicks, and equips restaurants with AI-driven tools for instant reservation confirmations, efficient scheduling, reduced no-shows.

EdTech

Flamework is an EdTech AI-powered app for professionals to overcome stressful situations at work. Youstud – an educational ecosystem, offers 1×1 lessons for grades 1-11, enhancing students’ knowledge, guiding careers, and enabling university dreams, delighting parents too. Awertise is an automated SaaS platform trailblazing performance ads in the creators’ economy. It links ads with relevant influencers, ensures brand safety, boosts advertiser profit and viewer experience

Martech and Marketing

Loopo is an all-in-one content marketing solution that combines task management and content planner tools to help content teams work more effectively. Kwizbot is an AI-based communication platform helping companies solve the problem of bad customer experience. Revisior is a customer feedback and NPS service that forms a positive brand reputation by improving the quality of service and helping businesses identify and solve customer problems quickly.

Defense Tech

Frontline is building a robotic complex to help sapper teams clear Ukrainian soil from anti-personnel and anti-tank mines safely – with a remotely-controlled robot carrying a mine trawl, radars, munition and integrated mapping software. Mantis Analytics – an AI platform for real-time monitoring of info-space to protect cognitive security of companies, governments and people. Himera offers a tactical communication system for the global defense forces.

The Startup Competition 2023 jury is represented by Marvin Liao, Partner at Rolling Fund Diaspora.vc, Mikko-Pekka Hanski, a Chairman of the Board at the biggest unemployment fund in Finland, YTK, Mariia Tintul, Head Of Business Development at Startup Wise Guys, Andriy Fedoriv, Founder & CEO of Fedoriv Marketing & Innovations, Andriy Zinchuk, 

Managing Partner at ZAS Ventures, and Oleksandr Yatsenko, Principal at SMOK Ventures and Chairman of the Board at Techosystem. 

Our panel of speakers includes seasoned investors and executives with extensive experience working with startups, major corporations, and investment funds. They have a skill for envisioning the future of startups and provide entrepreneurs and developers with valuable recommendations on how to improve their undertakings. Among them will be investors with global names: 

• Paul Bragiel is the founder of Bragiel Brothers, an early stage technology fund in Silicon Valley; invested in 400+ companies including thirteen unicorns: Uber, Stripe, Unity, Zappos, Shipbob, Discord, Carousell, Carro, GoJek, Niantic, Virta, Roblox, and Playco.
• Marvin Liao – investor, a partner at Rolling Fund Diaspora.vc, invested in over 414 Pre-seed & Seed stage startups.

Read more about Startup Competition 2023 prizes and partners here.

Thanks for the support of our partners:

Main Partners: BRAVE1, eō Business Incubators, Techosystem, USF, AWS.

Exclusive Partner: iClub

Gold Partners: Nat coworking, LIFT99, Startup Wise Guys (EU), Civitta, GlobalLogic, KITRUM.

Silver Partners: Sigma Software, “Polish-Ukrainian Startup Bridge, Cooperation Fund Foundation”, Genesis, Unicoway.