DISKUTA, THE STARTUP THAT MONETIZES THE INFLUENCERS’ COMMUNITIES

Diskuta allows influencers to monetize their communities. How does it work? By calling their fans and getting paid for it! In concrete terms, the startup connects influencers with followers who want to talk with them live. The principle is really to chat (hence the name “Diskuta”) with your favourite influencer as if you were asking a friend for news or advice. Influencers make call slots available according to their availability. Then they define the price of the call that their followers will have to pay to chat with them. Their followers just have to book a time slot to chat.   Diskuta : Calling their followers on 1:1 chat to monetise the audience “Our goal is to create a new source of income for influencers and to deliver happiness to followers. “ Additional income for influencers The French startup Diskuta addresses the desire of many influencers to make a living from their content creation activity. Influencers who offer inspiring content to their followers can share their expertise and ideas with their followers. For the content creator, the strategy is simple “Call. Earn.” as the site says. The more calls they make, the more they earn. The site takes a commission but does not charge a subscription fee. “We earn cash, if the influencer earns cash with us, that’s only fair”. An average influencer can quickly earn more than 100€ in an hour, while having a real added value for their followers. Influencer rates on Diskuta vary according to their fame and what they can bring to the follower. The limited time of influencers and the high demand for personalised calls drive up prices, which are generally between €25 and €50 per call, and even more for some celebrities. An average influencer can quickly earn over €100 in an hour, while adding real value for their influencer.   More proximity and backing from the community The aim of the platform Diskuta is also to help influencers strengthen the relation between them and their followers. Basically, personalising the relationship with engaged followers means converting them even more and turning them into ambassadors. It creates proximity and deepens relationships. Content creators can use Diskuta as a way to strengthen their community and share their experience and expertise. “You can call them live, you can talk to them. It makes you want to follow them even more and help them with their personal or professional projects.” Influencers can go further to serve their community, but in a broader sense this time, by offering charity calls! The earnings are then transferred directly to the association by the platform. Safe calls for influencers on Diskuta To ensure security, influencers do not share their phone number. The call module is integrated directly into the platform. And calls are not visible or recorded by Diskuta, they are strictly private!   Personalised content and advice for the followers The one-to-one call is also a real opportunity for the follower to have a more personalised conversation. Who hasn’t dreamt of talking to their idol? Diskuta offers the possibility to talk “face to face” as you would talk to a friend on whatsapp or FaceTime. You can discuss anything and everything, but also ask for advice. Many influencers have an area of expertise, such as fashion, sports, travel. Followers inspired by their content are interested in getting expert advice. What do we talk about with influencers on Diskuta?   On Instagram, Tiktok or Youtube, influencers are everywhere and talk about everything. Each influencer develops his or her own universe with an area of expertise. Let’s take a few examples: Lifestyle influencer, inspiration at the heart of Diskuta calls! “Lifestyle” is very broad. Depending on their recognised expertise, some influencers can guide their community to invest, to travel or even to prepare a world tour. Through Diskuta calls, these influencers can simply become “role models” for their followers. By inspiring them to achieve goals they have already reached, for example. A strong motivation for sure!   Fashion influencer for personalised fashion advice An influencer specialised in fashion can talk about how photoshoots take place (the “behind the scene”), how she chooses the clothes she wears or the brands she collaborates with. Likewise, a beauty pageant can explain her background and help prepare the new contestants. But she will also be able to give fashion tips or her fitness routine to her followers! If the fans follow her, it is because she inspires them. If she inspires them, she can surely advise them!   Sports Influencer for coaching and real feedback Who hasn’t dreamt of debating the match with their favourite sportsperson? Diskuta has made it real! A sportsman or woman can talk about his or her matches and competitions with other enthusiasts. Some of his followers will certainly want to know about his training, or even be mentored in their own training to continue to progress. Parents whose children are passionate about sports will also be interested in having them meet a star in the field. Inspiration guaranteed!

Google invests $145 million in two Indian social networks

Google, which has not been successful in this area, is investing in two Indian social networks. These are the Indian start-ups Glance and Roposo, which are actually owned by InMobi, the leader in mobile advertising in India. Google is investing on social networks in India. The American giant has devoted a budget of 145 million dollars to invest in two start-ups specialising in the activation and monetisation of social media, reports VentureBeat. The Californian company is relying on the liquidity of Google’s India Digitalization Fund. This fund is leading these two fundraising campaigns alongside Mithril Partners, the fund of Ajay Royan and Peter Thiel.   GLANCE, the next big Indian social networks These Indian social networks young but experienced. Glance depends on the subsidiary dedicated to mobile marketing activities of InMobi, the leader in mobile advertising in India. This entity focuses on lockscreen technology that allows users to view content when their phone is locked. InMobi created Glance only in March 2019. It relies on artificial intelligence technologies that provide personalised feeds and content in several languages (English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Bahasa). The solution, called Lockfeed and available on Android, offers content in different categories such as entertainment, sports, fashion and news. It boasts more than 115 million active daily users who devote 25 minutes a day to it. ROPOSO : Snapchat and Tiktok’s future competitor Roposo (owned by InMobil since November 2019) has developed a platform for sharing very short videos on social networks. It claims more than 33 million active users per month who spend 20 minutes a day consuming content available in more than 10 languages. The Roposo application has been downloaded more than 103 million times from the Google Play Store in November 2020. It has clearly benefited from the ban on the Chinese TikTok application. This agreement demonstrates Google’s strong interest in the Indian technology market. Several unicorns, including InMobi, have surfaced in recent years. Above all, it shows that the interest of the Californian giant is still in social networks, where Google has suffered some setbacks. Glance wants to launch in the United States while Roposo may represent an alternative to TikTok and Snapchat. While both are based in Bangalore, India, their parent company already has offices in San Francisco.

5 Monegasque startups enter the MonacoTech incubator in 2020

When you think Monaco, you automatically think about yachts, big cars and richest men on the planet, and not so much about the Monegasque startups. But the Principality has a lot of projects like becoming a leader of fundraising through the tokenisation of assets and developping a state of the art incubator. Indeed, And Monaco is now home to a startup incubator, MonacoTech. And the institution is rather well-born since it was founded by Monaco Telecom but above all by the startupper Xavier Niel himself! It must be said that the first startupper in France is a shareholder of Monaco Telecom. He is even developing 5G in the country! MonacoTech, the incubator of Monegasque startups, has just selected 5 new candidates to be incubated. For this 5th edition of the competition launched, the Principality’s incubator received 38 projects from 13 different countries. Not bad for an incubator founded in 2018 only! The Monaco incubator welcomes start-ups from a wide variety of sectors, under the direction of Lionel Galfré, former director of the IMSEE : AdTech BioTech GreenTech MedTech Yachting, of course! Where better than in Monaco? The Startuppers Club presents the 3 incubated startups that you need to get to know: Carlo (Commerce), our favourite startup at MonacoTech The most Monegasque of Monegasque startups. The Startuppers Club’s favourite! The startup is reinventing the local shopping experience, and has already developed its offer in the Principality. Led by startupper Antoine Bahri, the application has already convinced 66 shops in Monaco to join the programme. In these difficult times for small businesses, this application has everything to please. Created in March 2018, the Monegasque startup’s ambitions are already focused on international markets. Indeed, the Carlo application is currently being tested in Barcelona. The principle is simple: all you have to do is scan the shop’s QR code to be credited with 5% cashback on your virtual wallet. In concrete terms, you don’t need to give your bank details, the shop will treat your credit like a gift voucher! Air Ion Technologies (Aeronautics) Air Ion, incubated in Monaco, develops drones and a 100% electric helicopter. This young Swiss company mainly develops military drones. This startup is made up of a group of engineers, pilots and managers specialised in aeronautics. The small team came together in Lugano in 2017 to found Air-Ion. The startup is located next to the private airport of Ambri in order to carry out tests more easily and to be closer to its first partner SKT Helicopters. But the startup has already collaborated with Antonov as well! Mea Plant (GreenTech) The Italian startup Mea Plant is developing an innovative solution for above-ground cultivation using a non-absorbent substrate. The drops of water, supplied by the irrigation system, remain suspended on a network of wires that make up the innovative cultivation substrate. The concept works a bit like a spider’s web after the rain that holds the water drops. The water is completely consumed by the roots, without any accumulation of mineral salts in the substrate. The water savings made possible by this concept is about 90%. Of course the elements are made of recyclable materials and the whole thing does not need any pesticides or herbicides. Finally, the good autonomy of the solution ends up making it a promising startup in the GreenTech. 2 other Monegasque startups incubated in MonacoTech that worth a look YouStock, an Monegasque startups alumni ! The Monegasque startup YouStock is one of the successes of the MonacoTech incubator. The company makes storage accessible to all. Indeed, Youstock offers a service adapted to everyone and at unbeatable prices. The team comes to your premises and does its utmost to save you time. The services offered by the startup are diverse, from packaging, to inventory and, of course, the storage of your belongings. Thanks to the online inventory, you can request the partial or total recovery of your belongings at any time within 24 hours. Rates are calculated to the nearest cubic metre, which will allow you to take advantage of an advantageous and degressive rate depending on the duration of your commitment. YachtNeeds Yachtneeds allows its user list, mainly made up of captains, crew and shore-based professionals, to chat live. The site and the related application allow you to find and apply for jobs worldwide. Also, a geolocalised directory allows users to search for products and services in more than 600 major ports and marinas. The ambition of this startup is to be the reference in terms of the online yachting ecosystem. What better place to start than the Principality of Monaco!

Scaleway invites startups from Eastern Europe to its Startup Program

Scaleway, the second European cloud computing provider, has launched its Startup Program. With a special edition dedicated to promoting startups from CEE countries, they want to allow young companies to gain business experience and enable them to scale faster. To do so, Scaleway provides them with exclusive access to cloud solutions, technical support, mentoring, media visibility, and the list goes on. Scaleway launches its Startup Program The Startup Program by Scaleway was launched in June 2020. Each month, they onboard five new startups. As part of the one-year program, selected companies receive €3,000 per month in cloud credits to allow them to fulfil their full potential. They also benefit from training with mentors in the fields of IT, product development, marketing, and get the opportunity to establish contacts and cooperate within the international startup community. More and more startups take into consideration where their clients’ data is stored – due to GDPR regulations. As Scaleway is a European company, their partners can be certain that they meet the highest security standards. In the next edition, from October 15 to November 15, the company is focusing on Central and Eastern Europe – only startups from Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine can apply. “Startups from CEE have a drive and energy of their new, fresh ecosystems and to choose a European, and still quite new, multicloud solution as a partner makes a lot of sense for them, and it gives great support for us” says Pascal Condamine, Head of Startup Programs at Scaleway. As he adds, this special edition of the program is a great opportunity for the startups from CEE to join, as they will be competing with a bit of a smaller pool of competitors than usually, as other countries are excluded from this edition. For more information, please visit https://www.scaleway.com/en/startup-program/ or e-mail us at startup-program@scaleway.com The European provider of cloud services in Europe Scaleway is a European provider of cloud services. offering a number of pioneering solutions in the field of cloud infrastructure for professionals. Scaleway is expanding its operations around the world, and currently serves customers in over 160 countries. It has six data centers located in France, the Netherlands and most recently Poland, providing three availability zones.  

TECH SPIRIT BARCELONA ORGANIZES FOLLOWING CANCELLATION OF MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS

Catalan startuppers have proposed to hold “entrepreneurship days”. These will take place between 23 and 27 February, following the cancellation of the Mobile World Congress. Indeed, this global event has been cancelled due to the risks linked to coronavirus. Called Tech Spirit Barcelona, this event will bring together at least 2,500 people. It will be held at the Llotja de Mar and at the Barcelona Tech City Association. It is this association that is promoting the project. Tech Spirit Barcelona: a replacement for the Mobile World Congress The organizers presented this Tuesday the outline of the conference, which will be free of charge. The Generalitat and Mobile World Capital backed this replacement project. After the cancellation of the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona’s business ecosystem has decided to join forces to promote an alternative event. However, the organizers asked to avoid comparisons with the cancelled event. Indeed, the MWC is normally a big event with a global impact and more than 20,000 people attending. The city’s first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, wanted to be confident but thinks it is still too early to see what the economic impact will be. Miguel Vicente, President of Barcelona Tech City, pointed out that last week there was no such event planned. His intention is that it will only take place this year due to the exceptional nature of the cancellation of the Mobile. “We haven’t slept in five days! » Miguel Vicente, President of Barcelona Tech City Tech Spirit Barcelona: Already a success! Airbnb, Cabify, Glovo and Uber have already announced their participation in Tech Spirit Barcelona. In addition, the organizers explained that many of the companies and funds that were due to attend the Mobile conference have confirmed their presence, including 150 investment funds and 40 speakers. Finally, the conference has a budget of around half a million euros and is supported by local authorities, the Generalitat and the Government. “This is a great example of public-private collaboration, a civic and almost romantic movement to maintain the city’s entrepreneurial spirit,” said Miguel Vicente, president of the Barcelona Tech City association, which brings together more than 1,000 companies in the digital sector. Tech Spirit Barcelona hopes to attract 2,500 participants and organises around 50 conferences and activities. Networking and speedating for Barcelona and international start-ups As part of the Open Challenges Innnovation, 120 Catalan and international startups will propose solutions to the challenges posed by 35 multinationals. In addition, the Government of Catalonia will organise networking meetings between 240 companies. Finally, the format is close to that of speeddating, with small 20-minute interviews. Just enough time to pitches your idea and see if common interests can emerge.

TRENDS 2020: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, VIRTUAL REALITY AND KILLER ROBOTS

Unicorns buying unicorns. An $8T opportunity in wellness technology. Empathy in design. Killer robots. Here are the main technological trends that should reshape the industries in 2020. At least, according to the CB Insights report on the 14 Tech Trends 2020. The Startuppers Club goes back over the main points of this report whose conclusions are based on artificial intelligence. Virtual reality and work organisation According to the CB Insights study, virtual reality could well be integrated into the organization of companies to bring people together from far away. Indeed, for several years now, we have been noticing the rise of remote workers and freelancers. But we also note the increase in real estate prices which could push some companies to relocate part of their employees. It would therefore become interesting to make some employees work from home, or in cities cheaper than Paris, London or New York. This is where virtual reality comes into its own! Startups such as Magic Leap or Spatial offer virtual rooms where employees’ avatars can meet. When participants wear the glasses, they feel like they are in a meeting room with others. But startups are not alone on the market because Google, Apple and Microsoft are already on the market. Last year, Google launched a new edition of its virtual reality headset for businesses and Microsoft launched its Hololens 2, also for businesses. Killer robots and ransomwares CB Insights predicts an increase in crimes perpetrated by robots or malware. In 2017, the movie Slaughterbots was released on Youtube. It featured autonomous drones capable of killing. But these drones were also equipped with facial recognition technology. The risk of seeing killer robots is very real according to CB Insights, since all technologies are available today. And they’re not too expensive, so they’re not reserved for states like nuclear weapons could be. Also, ransomwares should multiply and attack key institutions. Last year we saw attacks on the city of Atlanta, the British social security service or the London Stock Exchange. According to a report by McAfee, the hacking ecosystem will grow and concentrate to create more powerful forces. It is expected that in reaction cybersecurity startups will emerge against ransomwares. Cybersecurity will therefore certainly be in the Top 10 of Trends 2020. Artificial intelligence in Trends 2020, of course As every year, artificial intelligence is part of the Trends 2020. Start-ups that are evolving there are raising millions of dollars and the progress made is significant. Machine learning technology should become more democratic. “No code analytics” is seen as the next development of artificial intelligence. Indeed, Chad Meley of Teradata foresees the multiplication of big data platforms accessible to the public in Saas mode. The learning machine will thus become available without computer or coding skills. But while waiting for this to happen you can go and see how to invest in artificial intelligence as of now to take advantage of this trend! But artificial intelligence will not be used only to solve hunger around the world. Deepfakes are the evil counterpart of the benefits of AI. Indeed, DeepFakes should start to be released soon because the technology is already developed. One can think that there will be artificial intelligence startups created to detect deepfakes! Russia and Saudi Arabia to finance large-scale tech startups This is not really one of the new 2020 trends, but it is certainly a trend that will become stronger! Russia and Saudi Arabia have financed very large deals through sovereign wealth funds and should continue to do so. As a reminder, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia has invested nearly 90 billion dollars in the SoftVision fund. The PIF has thus invested 45% of the total amount of SoftVision. SoftVision being one of the largest funds for startups in the world. This fund has moreover taken stakes in a few successful startups such as Slack, and even unicorns such as PayTM. Finally, Saudi Arabia has tripled its startup-focused installations. And “Vision 2030” has set significant targets to support SMEs. For its part, Russia has also been rather dynamic, investing in Richard Branson’s Hyperloop project but also in the Russian Google, called Yandex. Moreover, Moscow has created one of the biggest centres for innovation and start-ups: Skolkovo. This giant incubator created an investment fund “Skolkovo Ventures” in 2018. Together with Sberbank, this new Russian fund dedicated to startuppers should invest in numerous projects. Health and well-being: new markets for $8T Health and wellness will be among the top Trends 2020. Not only medical groups, but also startups and Google are interested in this market which promises to be huge. Indeed, life expectancy is increasing almost everywhere. As a result, more and more people are reaching an age that requires more care: anti-aging, wellness, etc… Google, the tech giant, is already ahead in the field. Its subsidiary Calico Life Sciences is making research a priority. With 2 main objectives: to increase life expectancy and to develop responses to age-related diseases such as cancer or neurodegeneration. Other startups go further by proposing to replace the body organ that no longer functions. Organovo and Celllink propose to use 3D printing technology to print organs. These organs would be made of cultured and interconnected cells. And some solutions already work, such as the artificial heart of the French company Carmat.

POLISH STARTUPS: HOT NEWS OF JANUARY 2020

Every month, StartuppersClub brings you the not-to-be-missed news about Polish startups. Here is the summary in a few points of the month of January 2020. And, if you’re interested in the subject, don’t forget to find out why Poland is the next Start Up Nation. Venture capital funds invest 5 times more in 2019 than in 2017 in Polish startups The financing of Polish startups is booming after a decade of stagnation. Venture capital investment in 2019 was PLN 1.3 billion, or EUR 0.3 billion. This is 8 times more than in 2018! However, 3 Polish startups account for almost half of the investments. Around EUR 134 million were invested in the following companies: DocPlanner, a competitor of Doctolib, 78 million euros. Brainly, a platform for knowledge exchange between students, 30 million euros in July 2019. Booksy, a hairdresser or beautician appointment application, 26 million euros in September 2019 Of course, this is still much less than in France or in the UK: for instance, French startups have raised around 5 billion euros in 2019. Finally, a particularity of the Polish financing market for start-ups is that it is mainly… public! Given the scarcity of funds investing in venture capital in Poland, the state has taken matters into its own hands. 2/3 of Polish sartups have received public funds. But they capped the financial aid at 125,000 euros. Too little to really launch a startup. Paid sabbatical to create a startup According to the Polish Minister of Development, employers are reluctant to grant long-term leave to their employees. However, the government is considering giving this possibility to computer scientists, engineers and programmers employed in large companies who are reluctant to take it up. “We would like to prepare a solution such as maternity leave for a certain period of time. So that the entrepreneur can try to test his idea” – explained the Minister. The regulations are intended to ensure that start-up startuppers would have access to sabbatical leave. It would also secure their reintegration in the event that their start-up fails to get off the ground.   Boomerun, a Polish startup that pays you to walk! Boomerun wants to motivate you to stay active. Every hundred steps registered in the application gives one point. And the points are transformed into vouchers. It’s a new field of economy that opens up according to its designer Tomasz Uściński: #Walkonomics. More concretely, the application works with Google Fit or Apple Health to count steps. The application is partly financed by public funds for the moment while waiting to refine the business model. On the user side, you still have to be a good walker. For the equivalent of 16€ (70 PLN), you have to walk for 2 months about 7000 steps per day! The founder claims that you just have to walk to the next bus stop instead of choosing the closest one to make it easy to reach! We are waiting to see if it works ! Many companies have shown interest including: Apple, Garmin, Xiaomi, Bose, Decathlon, Zara , Zalando, Spotify, Netflix , Google Play, PlayStation, Xbox, Nitendo… The Tauron Progres incubator will host 12 Polish startups The Tauron incubator was created by Tauron Polska Energia, a major Polish energy group. After studying 300 ideas and meeting 35 startups, Tauron Progres has chosen 12 projects on which it will collaborate. The group wishes to develop new services related to the connected home in particular. Some startups integrating this incubator had already benefited from the KPT ScaleUp accelerator program in Krakow.  

EGYPT, NEW HUB FOR AFRICAN STARTUPS?

If you are an avid reader of StartuppersClub, you know that South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria are by far the 3 countries with the most startups. But the report of Partech Africa draws attention to Egypt as the next Startup Nation of Africa! Indeed, African startups have raised 2 billion dollars in capital in 2019. And Egypt is in a good position in these fundraising ranking. This Maghreb country is becoming one of the drivers of technological innovation. Partech Africa has identified and analyzed 250 fundraising transactions carried out by more than 200 startups across Africa. The amount raised has almost doubled compared to 2018 (+74%). But another change seems to be taking place within the ranking of African countries. Indeed, Egypt has moved ahead of South Africa by taking second place in the ranking. The number of successful operations by Egyptian startups are 3 times more numerous. And the amount raised has more than tripled, exceeding the overall African performance, which is already significant. Egypt, Startup Nation in Africa: A state intervention As is often the case with such a large national startup scene, there is a state will. This was also the case for Poland, the next European Startup Nation. Indeed, the government led by Sissi is multiplying infrastructure projects that could facilitate the creation of Egyptian startups. Internet access is on the rise with the development of fiber, 4G and soon even 5G networks. Also, the creation of companies has been facilitated on the administrative level. With a very young population, 60% is under 30 years old, the state hopes that future startuppers can easily create their first startups. All the more so as support programs are starting to develop with private and public initiatives, such as the Flat6Labs incubator. Finally, one Egyptian out of two wants to create a company. However, some challenges still await Egypt before it becomes a hub for start-ups. Indeed, setting up a business still costs around 1500$ and raising funds is still more complicated than in Europe. A startup competition in partnership with France The Egyptian state is trying to help local startups as much as possible. The first Franco-Egyptian startup competition was organized in partnership with France. Indeed, from 6 November 2019, the aim of the competition will be to identify Egyptian startups with high potential. These companies, mainly technological, operate in 3 main sectors. Health, the Sustainable City and the flagship topic of the moment, Fintech. The French business community has brought together some fifteen companies and investors including AfricInvest, Crédit Agricole, Axa, Orange and Thalès. On the Egyptian side, training will be organized by acceleration and incubation programs such as Flat6LAbs, Falak and TIEC. The 7 winning startups will be awarded a financial prize (EGP 750,000, or around €43,000 in total), and all will receive support and guidance from the competition partners.

Latin American startups : Enero 2020

Startuppers Club makes you discover the news of Latin American startups as every month. In January, 2 startups stand out: CocinaLab in Peru and HolaCode in Mexico. HolaCode, a Mexican startup, teaches coding to migrants. The startup HolaCode teaches coding to migrants arriving in Mexico. The kind of project the Startuppers Club loves! 🙂 Indeed, it is not easy to be integrated even if most migrants speak Spanish (and even English). The Mexican startup teaches them to code for 5 months. The students learn to develop in HTML, CSS and Javascript. MIT has ranked its founder as one of the Innovators under 35 years old in Latin America. Hola Code’s business model is simple. Students pay back their education once they find a job. And over there, as in our country, every company needs web developers. Already 70 people have been helped this way. Together with her co-founder Diana Izquierdo, Marcela Torres says that 88% of graduates get a job. It changes their lives. They earn an average of 28,000 Mexican pesos when they leave school, or about €1,400. Above all, they integrate more easily into the Mexican population. While waiting for Hola Code to arrive in our country, read our article to find a training to learn how to code quickly. CocinaLab wins the seventh edition of the StartUp Peru contest Startup Peru organized the 7th edition of its contest. And it is Cocina Lab (“KitchenLab”) that won it amongst other Latino American startups! Offering distance and low-cost cooking courses is the startup’s goal. Thanks to e-learning, the Peruvian startup is revolutionizing cooking classes. Students can subscribe to the courses for 3 months (about 25€) or for one year (equivalent to 80€). They can also take a single lesson for 8€. The price includes the course of course, with a certificate at the end. But also the future chefs are in contact with the teacher! The startup adds 3 lessons each month. Finally, as the program wants to train professional cooks, management and marketing courses are also given. Moreover, 40% of the students registered on the platform are professionals. Finally 25% are abroad (mainly USA and Latin America). The site already attracts almost 150 new customers every month and hopes to continue its exponential growth. Well-known chefs in Peru and other countries such as Chilli should be hired to make the courses even more credible. The StartuppersClub will follow this very promising startup! The Government of Peru creates a 19 M€ fund for Peruvian startups By decree, the government created the Capital Fund for Innovative Entrepreneurs. The aim of the fund will be to invest private or public funds with an investment strategy exclusively focused on Peruvian startups. More specifically, this state fund will invest in private or public funds. The latter will themselves invest in the capital of dynamic and high-impact companies. Beneficiaries will be established startups with potential for rapid growth and expansion. The projects must offer their services in Peru and in the market consolidation phase. The government will endow this fund with 70 million Sols, or €19 million. Finally, the rule establishes that the duration of the investment of the Fund for Innovative Entrepreneurs is 30 years.

POLAND : NEXT START UP NATION IN EUROPE ?

The Startuppers Club has been interested in Polish startups for a long time. Indeed, we are convinced that Poland can become the next European Start Up Nation. The country has a large, well-trained and technology-oriented population. The “StartUp Poland” think tank has just published a report on Polish start-ups over the last 5 years which confirms this. Wrocław, the paradise of Polish start-ups According to Regiony, there are around 4500 technology startups in Poland, which is in the initial stage of the Start Up Nation. Many cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Krakow, Lublin…) host innovative projects and want to encourage the emergence of startups. Each of these hubs has its own specificities, but the most dynamic region remains Lower Silesia. This area is led by Wrocław, close to the German border. According to Startup Poland, two universities in Wrocław strongly encourage cooperation with start-ups, particularly in the medical sector. Startups such as Bioavlee, Infermedica and Nestmedic are good examples. Another reason for Poland’s success as a Start Up Nation is the cost of developers. It is significantly lower than in Silicon Valley. Indeed, a senior developer in Krakow costs around €37,000. But development engineers are very well trained by Polish universities. And what’s more, Poland benefits from a flow of developers from Ukraine in particular, who are equally well trained and motivated. Krakow, Polish startups in Dragon Valley In reference to Silicon Valley, the startups in Krakow are called Dragon Valley. Legend has it that a dragon lived under Wawel Castle. The former industrial zone of Zablocie has been rehabilitated to become a centre for Polish startups. Even if it represents only 10% of the startups, the city competes with Warsaw, which concentrates 30% of Poland’s start-ups. Particularly in terms of financing since 40% of the innovative companies that have raised funds in 2018 are in Krakow. Krakow has rather concentrated its efforts in the fields of robotics and marketing with two universities as well. The investment fund Naspers has also fallen for Brainly. It’s a learning network that also has a presence in New York and has raised $30 million. Manta Ray, the fund of Sebastian Kulczyk (son of the richest man in Poland) has also invested in this startup! The Krakow Technology Park, which offers low rents for young Polish start-ups, has no vacancies. This incubator is the best in Poland! Lublin and Gdansk, rising stars of the StartUp Nation Lublin has become very dynamic for Polish startups over the last 5 years. Samsung has chosen this city to set up its startup incubator in January 2020. Recruitment started by focusing on Polish startups related to cyber security. Samsung announced that it wants to invest in the best innovative companies. Gdańsk specializes in startups related to artificial intelligence. Poland has been training talents in this field and has already experienced successful start-ups. Amazon bought Ivona, a voice recognition software to create Alexa, its intelligent assistant. New startups are already ready to become future successes such as BrainScan, SentiOne or VoiceLab.