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.  

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.