Deep in the heart of Krakow, in a billiards hall called The Stage, nine amazing startups appeared before over 150 amazing members of the Polish startup community. They pitched, the parried questions, and in the end, one company one. It was one or the best and most respectful meet-ups we’ve ever held and I’m glad I got to witness it.
Our Krakow pitch-off was a last-minute decision that we created over a weekend. If we had a meet-up in Prague, why not do it in Krakow? I made a few calls and organized a few folks and it came together without a hitch. A summer storm threatened to rain us out but, in the end, it was hot, dry, and loads of fun. KrakowCrunch was on.
The winner of the pitch-off is an early startup called Fashionote. It is a mobile app that you use while reading fashion magazines. It can recognize the items on a magazine page, remember them, and then bring them up later so you can shop for them. “For users it is their personal fashion notebook, for brands is a way to reach potential consumers already interested in their products,” said the founder Paulina Barlik.
The runner-up, AdWorks, came all the way from Israel. It aims to create social job postings by injected job ads directly into your Facebook feed. This allows you to get in front of the right people at the right time.
The other entrants included:
GardenMate – GardenMate is a service that allows you to create your own dream garden.In fact we will guide you through all the necessary steps you need to take. It is aimed at everyone who wishes to make their property awesome in an affordable way. GardenMate was launched in Poland at beginning of this year and is growing by 25% month to month with over 5000 users.
Sheepla – Sheepla improves commerce logistics with improved shipping systems.
MoneySaveApp – This app helps you switch energy providers and save money.
Leevia – Leevia is a petition website that helps people engage others through social media. We want also to leverage our knowledge of the charity crowdfunding market for bringing donations inside the world of petitions.
TurboTranslations – We do fast, professional human online translations 24/7, saving our clients a lot of time and worries, at the same time taking care of all the formalities for our translators, letting them translate whenever and wherever they want to (even in the middle of the night).
AudioTrip – AudioTrip will guide you around the world with stories, turning your smartphone into a personal, local guide. It is a self-publishing media, in which the guides are made by the community of storytellers, tour guides, authorities and amateurs – united to give you easily affordable and accessible tool you can use whenever you travel, with full respect to your independence.
DROmnibus – DrOmnibus was created as a complex tool for supporting the therapy of children with developmental and behavioral disorders (including autism, Down Syndrome, ADHD, mental impairment) and features a progress-tracking system along with a personal organizer of the child’s therapist, based on games for tablets. DrOmnibus was prepared by therapists, tested in therapeutic communities and it’s very appealing for children. It can be successfully used during the meetings with a therapist as well as on their own, at home.