Company Koofr Ltd. is the winner of this year's competition of start-up companies Start-up of the year 2013. At today’s award ceremony taking place within the international business conference PODIM in the Hotel Habakuk in Maribor, the director of the company Damjan Matičič received the winning crystal statue symbolising the Slovenian start-up of the year 2013 from the hands of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Alenka Bratušek, MSc. Cheque in the value of 10,000 EUR and program CEED Slovenia was given to the winner by the expert manager of the competition Matej Rus, MSc, and the director of the Slovene Enterprise Fund, Maja Tomanič Vidovič, MSc. Company Eforma d.o.o. received the special recognition for the ‘Best written business plan’.
Koofr Ltd. is a company developing software for cloud computing. It was created in 2013, but the start of the company development goes a year before that. The Koofr team prides itself with years of experience in the field of software development, management of start-up companies and leading projects. Their main product Koofr is a web and mobile interface for accessing different systems of data storage, and it enables saving, managing and distributing files with the use of an individual cloud based on the existing customer hardware. The team paid close attention to the support of the so called object data storage that enables building large memory systems resembling the ones owned by the biggest global companies, but by using normal, affordable hardware. Primary customers are the providers of internet services and telecoms all over the world who can now offer the service of saving data in a cloud to their users with the help of Koofr. The company is also associated with leading global hardware manufacturers with the purpose of integrating hardware and software solutions into new, integrated products. The company is a member of the Technology Park Ljubljana.
For their victory, the company received a money award of 10,000 EUR, business training in the centre CEED Slovenia and a crystal statue that was made in the glass factory Rogaška in collaboration with the Slovenian fashion designer Maja Ferme.
Company Eforma d.o.o. develops IT solutions in construction and architecture, and connects users and providers with the application MojMojster. According to the expert board, it prepared the ‘Best written business plan’ that’s clear, objective and clearly explains their solution and a potential for a successful business.
The winner of this year’s competition was chosen amongst five finalists by the 13 membered expert committee consisting of prominent entrepreneurs, investors, representatives of support environments and professors, and chaired by prof. dr. Miroslav Rebernik. Finalists were chosen from all the received applications by the pre-selection committee chosen and were as follows: Koofr Ltd., Eforma Ltd.., HomeOgarden Ltd.., MycoMedica Ltd., and SmartPA Ltd.
At the announcement, prof. dr. Miroslav Rebernik emphasized that ‘each year, more start-up companies apply to the competition and their ideas are more and more elaborated, as well as realistically feasible. Alongside numerous extremely well-visited events in the scope of the competition, we’re detecting that start-ups aren’t exotic anymore, but are rather understood as an alternative carrier path by numerous talented individuals. We’re glad that this entrepreneurial movement is accepted by the support business ecosystem and official institutions. But we have to realize that start-up competitions are only a start of the process that will have to remain monitored by appropriate mentor and consultancy support. We have to create an environment for business start-up talents in order for them to develop into globally successful companies’.
102 companies with business plans registered for this year’s, already 6th, competition. ‘Slovenian competition of start-up companies is starting to assert itself as the main media for recognizing and rewarding future business stars that are trying to put their knowledge and innovative ideas into practice. In the six rounds so far, 361 young Slovenian innovative companies attended the competition, while more than 4500 individuals participated in workshops and various events. For the second year in a row, we acted on the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and connected the competition with the tender P2 of the Slovene Enterprise Fund. This way, the participants of the competition will be able to get up to 25 points from a 100 available within the tender P2 if they ranked well,’ said Matej Rus, MSc, expert manager of the competition Start-up Slovenia.
The gala announcement of the start-up of the year was attended by a record number of people, which shows that it’s one of the biggest business events in Slovenia and represents a height of the events of the first day of the PODIM conference. From year to year, young start-up companies have an increasingly bigger weight in the structure of the Slovenian economy, since they actively contribute towards creating new workplaces, economic dynamics and economic growth. Conference PODIM and competition Start-up of the Year are central national programmes and so traditionally contribute towards encouraging business activity in Slovenia.
The holder of the competition Start:up of the Year is Venture Factory (IRP Institute). As co-organisers of the competition, the following participate: Technology Park Ljubljana, Slovene Enterprise Fund and Ministry of Economic Development and Technology. Strategic partners of the competition are RC IKT from Kranja and Technology Park Primorje. As strategic partners from business, Nova KBM with its Business Centre NKBM and Microsoft Slovenia with Microsoft Innovation centre are participating. The strategic national partner is the Slovene Association of Technology Parks and Incubators and the promotional partner is SPIRIT Slovenia.
