“Having a promising business idea is one thing, but it is much more difficult to build a company on its foundations and turn it into reality.” This is how our article from last August, in which we reported on the birth of the new Czech incubator Fintech Booster, behind which the Prague developer Applifting company.
The first round of this ten-week incubation program is now over. And although none of the award-winning companies are actually active on the market yet, it clearly showed that Czechs can look forward to really promising startups in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), financial literacy or digitization of law firms. It is precisely in these areas that the trio of winning companies consisting of M&AI, Savelio and Bill Systems operate, and their next steps will now be precisely the announced practical development. During it, they can at any time seek the help of Applifting, which has extensive experience in the development of fintech software – for example, it worked on mobile and cloud banking applications of Erste Group Bank and BankID. In the roles of partners, the program was supported by Visa, Microsoft, Deloitte, as well as the Mavericks law firm in cooperation with Solidpixels and Innovatee.
“In ten years of developing applications for the largest financial institutions, we have observed various pitfalls that prevent innovative startups, even with revolutionary ideas, from entering the fintech market. For example, when developing BankID, we experienced how difficult it is to solve API integration so that we receive the same information from all banks, so that one application can work across the entire market. A similar process is complex and expensive, which can reliably discourage founders. We see a huge benefit for new projects in the industry, so with Fintech Booster we wanted to give these founders a chance to bring something new and help them get off the ground,” says Jiří Ettler, head of the said incubator.
In order for young people to understand finance and lawyers, the administration has decreased
M&AI, the most successful project in the accelerator, explores the possibilities of artificial intelligence to optimize and accelerate mergers and acquisitions processes. It promises a revolution in the speed of large transactions and received a total of 30 thousand crowns from Applifting, the Depo Ventures fund and Visa, while the other two awarded fintechs will receive rewards of 20 and 10 thousand.
In second place behind M&AI is the Savelio application, which aims to improve the financial literacy of young people by offering them clear tools for managing personal finances. The founder of the company is Maxim Mašín, a student of the University of Economics, who was joined by co-founders Lukáš Oslzla and Matěj Krček. The application is intended to allow users to collect all their financial matters, such as accounts, investments or loans, in one place and thus maintain a better overview of them. In addition, each profile will receive personalized financial tips.
Serial From the peak follows how budding entrepreneurs with an interesting business story or an idea for a new product or service are doing.
If you have an idea for us or know of someone in your area who meets one of these conditions, we would be very happy if you would contact us. Please send your ideas to [email protected].
In third place was the Bill application focused on the digitization of processes not only in law firms, with the aim of increasing efficiency and reducing the administrative burden. The system of Antonín Wingender, Dominik Zalabák and Vít Šilhavý will not only be able to monitor deadlines and maintain order among legal files, but will also help with data evaluation, namely in such a way that, thanks to the software, it will be possible to verify, for example, the political exposure of selected persons.
From theory to practice
After a theoretical foundation in the incubation phase, startups are ready for practical acceleration, product development and market entry. Whether they will succeed is, of course, still up in the air – less than half of new companies survive 10 years after they were founded. However, the aforementioned Applifting, whose turnover has been exceeding the 150 million crown mark for several years in a row, certainly succeeded.
“The entire run of the incubator confirmed to us that validation is an essential aspect of any starting project. Thanks to this phase, individual projects have a significantly higher chance of succeeding on the market,” says Ettler.
The founders of Applifting, Vratislav Kalenda and Filip Kirschner, have been advocating for the support of the Czech developer community for a long time. “We organize events, give lectures at conferences, created a bootcamp for young developers or an incubator. By opening our offices in the form of coworking spaces, we offer technology startups to be right in the center of the action,” adds Kalenda.
Tags: digitization leading role Czech Republic proven startup incubator Fintech Booster incubator winners
-
