Slush, Skolkovo and the Startups

Slush brings innovators from all over Europe to its slushy shores each year to meet and inspire investors.  During my most recent trip I spent some time with the Skolkovo Stand.  I spoke again with Pekka Viljakainen who we spoke to at last years Slush to get an update on things.

Have you slowed down yet?

Not really!  I am still travelling and have now hit 84 cities (Pekka then turns around and shows me his T shirt).  I have every intention of retiring at 70 but until then I want to support as many startups as I can.  I now work at Skolkovo Ventures and provide support through targeted investing.

What changes have you seen in the last year in the Startup scene?

Many companies in Russia are starting up Venture operations and now after this years elections I feel we are at the most stable we have been in some time.

What plans have you got for the New Year?

Things are pretty organised for our Start Up Village in June and we are working with Slush to organise it.  Startup Village is the most large-scale startup conference in Russia and the CIS countries for technology entrepreneurs, organised by the Skolkovo Foundation in collaboration with the Foundation’s partners.

Sadly Pekka was on his way to another televised interview so we parted ways shortly after and I wandered around the stand and visited with a few of the startups:

Samokat Sharing

Pilot Paper Samocat city presentation

This start up is offering a new form of getting around in town, folding the scooter up makes it easier to take onto public transport and carry overall.  These “stations” can take 10 scooters back to back as well – so very space saving.  Please read the Pilot and Presentation above the image.

Try.Fit

This was a new way to size your shoes.  It literally meant that you had an exact calculation of your shoe size and the right size shoes were selected for you out of a range.

This would make shoe shopping so much easier, most especially online shopping.

The list of the Skolkovo startups at Slush 2017 includes:

Navigine	Powerful and precise indoor positioning for industries
TEXEL MODA	TEXEL MODA uses AI, computer vision and trained body data to help fashion brands compete with Amazon.
Etton Group	Etton Sports Academy is an intelligent system for trainers and the preparation of athletes.
Group-IB – Cryptic	Cybersecurity for the blockchain industry.
SegmentStream	Customer data platform based on a single unified API
HPC Hub	Supercomputers and HPC applications on demand
ROBBO	Free & open-source robotics for kids’ education (ages 5-15) / ROBBO CLUB: franchising for programming & robotics schools.
DRD Biotech	DRD develops rapid tests for brain damage diagnostics: acute stroke, risk of stroke, concussion.
BrainySoft	A system using the SaaS model which automates the operations of financial organizations.
Market Music Technology	A real-time marketing and broadcasting platform that uses AI to tailor media to offline shoppers.
CyberTech Labs	TRIK: a unified robotics platform that makes the creation of smart robots easy, even for non-professionals.
Samocat sharing	Last mile mobility solutions
NDM	Fine powders production using plasma technology.
Company MTM	Step-by-step introduction of a smart environment based on the ??? Software Hardware System
Atlas Biomed	We combine DNA and microbiome technologies with digital health data.
MED.ME	MedMe is a blockchain-based platform that connects patients, doctors, clinics, medical researchers, Health Medical organizations (HMOs) and health insurance companies.
TRY.FIT	TRY.FIT finds the best fitting footwear for confident shopping & high conversion rate.

About the Skolkovo Foundation

The Skolkovo Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in September 2010 by the Russian government with the objective of accelerating Russia’s transformation from a resource-intensive to an innovation-based economy. To achieve this objective, the Foundation is overseeing the creation of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, composed of more than 1,700 high-tech startups, Skolkovo Technopark, the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (Skoltech) – a new graduate research University established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – and Skolkovo city, located near Moscow. Together, these entities establish a vibrant ecosystem of technology innovation and entrepreneurship. The cumulative revenue of Skolkovo’s startups reached $2,2 billion. They brought in more than $186 million in investment, creating 22,100 jobs and filing over 1,100 patent applications along the way. By 2020 over 2 million square meters of residential and office space will be built in Skolkovo with 35,000 people working daily in the Innovation Center. For more information:  http://www.sk.ru/en