Meet DeltaHub, Epidemic, InnoLab, mPOR and SaleSqueze! These are the Slovenian startups that have convinced with their ideas and entrepreneurial spirit and have become the finalists, competing for the prestigious title of Slovenian Start:Up of the Year 2022. The award, which for the fifteenth year in a row has been given by Start:up Slovenia in cooperation with the Slovene Enterprise Fund, the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and active stakeholders in the Slovenian ecosystem, will be presented on 21st June to the company that through their achievements, actions, reputation and development potential, represents a new generation of Slovenian innovative entrepreneurs.

 
The finalists will first introduce themselves to the renowned expert jury on 2nd June at the SBC - Slovenian Business Club in Ljubljana. But there can only be one winner! The startup that impresses the jury the most with its potential and convinces them that it has something more will become the Slovenian Start:Up of the Year 2022.
 

Could the next Slovenian unicorn be hiding among the shortlisted finalists? Let's see! Read on to get to know 5 of the most promising startups on the Slovenian startup scene, their products, achievements and aspirations for the future.

 

DeltaHub

DeltaHub is a young, fast-growing startup company with a dedicated team. They develop innovative products that inspire the user and improve their health while working at their desk. Their product Caprio falls into the area of healthy lifestyle in the workplace, which is considered a growing industry in the target markets. The advantage of Caprio, besides its minimalistic design, is that it was developed with the help of doctors, which allowed the team to develop the right ergonomic design. The key benefit of the product is that it follows the movement of the user's hand, which is not possible with other solutions on the market. 

 

 

In a very short period since its establishment, the team has managed to penetrate global markets, where they have promoted themselves mainly through digital marketing, as they mostly operate in the B2C segment. Their main market is currently the United States of America, where they have more than 40% of their customers, followed by Canada, Germany, the UK and Australia, and in total, they sell in more than 100+ countries around the world.

Website: https://deltahub.io

 

Epidemic

Slovenian startup Epidemic is inspiring with its solution for connecting brands with influencers via social networks such as Instagram and Tik Tok. Epidemic's business idea relies on the authenticity of its nano and micro-influencers, of which they already have over ten thousand in their database. They are constantly expanding it with the help of artificial intelligence and finding the right matches. We are talking about influencers with a few thousand followers at most, sharing the products and services of companies they trust. 

 

 

The value of this form of marketing has already been recognized by many Slovenian and foreign companies on the market, including Wolt, Barbie, Pampers, Hooray Heroes, Fisherprice, Mercator and Petrol, which use selected nano- and micro-influencers to increase both visibility and sales. Epidemic is also one of the recipients of the award for its use of artificial intelligence under the sponsorship of Amazon Web Services (AWS). 

 

Website: https://epidemic.co

 

InnoLab

The InnoLab story was started by Teja Bajt, founder of Innobox - a science experiment box. She is a molecular and cell biologist by education and heart, and her greatest joy is to pass on her passion to children. Innobox is a science box that introduces children to science through fun experiments, which can be carried out at home. Each box includes 2-3 experiments from different areas - biology, chemistry, engineering, the human body, physics and more.

 

 

The team tries to make the experiments as varied as possible, and with the help of detailed but easy-to-understand video instructions in Slovenian, children can carry out the experiments together with their parents and see an explanation of each topic (scientific background). In 2021, they were also featured as one of the 8 selected companies on the popular TV show Štartaj Slovenija, which has given them great visibility in the domestic market. They are now preparing to expand to the Italian market, entering through Amazon.

Website: https://innobox.si

 

SaleSqueze

The SaleSqueze team believes that ordering from manufacturing companies should be easy. So their mission is to develop a platform for manufacturing companies to help them simplify the ordering experience for their B2B customers, while at the same time organizing and automating their internal, mostly manual, order processing and communication processes.

 

 

 

The company's vision is to provide an easy buying and ordering experience for complex, technical products, in a way that is similar to existing solutions from the B2C world that customers already know and use. SaleSqueze improves customer satisfaction for manufacturing companies, drastically reduces the cost of sales, increases employee satisfaction, and most importantly, eliminates manual work by largely replacing emails and phone conversations in order processing. The company is addressing the area of digital transformation of sales processes in manufacturing, which is the biggest opportunity of our generation. SaleSqueze employs 18 team members in Slovenia and the platform is already used by more than 50 Slovenian companies.
 
Website: https://salesqueze.com/

 

mPOR d.o.o.

The newly established company mPOR originates from the Laboratory of Biocybernetics of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana. Their business idea is the HF-EP high-frequency electroporator, which works on the principle of electroporation - a method that temporarily increases the permeability of cell membranes using electrical pulses. It can be used by experts to deliver active substances into the cell (chemotherapy), DNA (gene therapy) and locally induce cell death (ablation). And how is this solution different from those already known to the profession? The electroporators currently on the market generate 100 μs-100 ms pulses, which are very uncomfortable and often painful for patients due to the irritation of pain receptors and muscle contraction. The mPOR company has thus performed the world's first human study confirming that high-frequency 1-3 μs bipolar pulses significantly reduce muscle contraction and pain.

 

 

Their product has been used since the first prototype in the Biocybernetics laboratory and the Oncology Institute. It has given researchers an unprecedented competitive advantage to study areas where their colleagues cannot, as they do not have the equipment to do so. To date, they have been able to carry out as many as ten biomedical research studies using the high-frequency device. 

 

Website: https://mpor.eu

 

Which of these 5 innovative ideas will win the prestigious title of Slovenian Start:Up of the Year 2022? You will find out on 21 June!

 

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Content support for recipients of P2, SK75 or SI-SK financial products under the "de minimis" scheme is co-financed from the Slovene Enterprise Fund and the European Union from the European Regional Development Fund. This is implemented on the basis of the Content Support for Funds Recipients (SMEs) Programme in the 2018-2023 period, under the Operational Programme for the Implementation of the European Cohesion Policy 2014-2020.