11 November 2024
The SEEDPlus international deep tech startup competition in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 5, 2024, brought together 10 teams - winners of national competitions in Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Norway - to compete for the opportunity to join the acceleration program of one of the consortium's partner venture funds: G-Force or Fasttrack Ventures, which work with projects at the pre-seed and seed stages.
The competition was held on the territory of the Unicorn Factory Lisbon hub, which is almost a cult for the Portuguese and international startup community, and is also home to the world-famous Web Summit.
Based on the results of the national competition held in May 2024 at the Kyiv Academic University, 3 teams were delegated from Ukraine - the winners of the Ukrainian qualifying round: CeraMet, MeGoElectric and Outex.
The international competition jury, which consisted of representatives of Impact Hub London, G-Force, and Fasttrack Ventures, selected one winner from each country. They are CeraMet, Tracecycle, and Phoenix Ceramics. All three teams are focused on developing innovative and sustainable solutions for industry and services.
The Ukrainian team CeraMet (formerly Metcercoat), represented by Marina Storozhenko, PhD, leading researcher and head of the Department of International Relations and Technology Transfer at the Franzevich Institute of Materials Science of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, proposed its development - metal powders for gas-thermal spraying of wear-resistant coatings for extreme engine operating conditions in the field of transport engineering. The value of the development lies in the fact that, unlike existing analogues, it does not use raw materials critical for Europe, such as cobalt and tungsten, and provides increased wear resistance for engines and other aircraft parts.
The Tracecycle team presented a digital solution for tracking used batteries from light electric vehicles and generating statistics and data for end users (e.g., recycling, repair, or other companies) to better manage battery inventory and make decisions on battery recycling or recovery.
Phoenix Ceramics has presented the latest development of composite powders for the manufacture of products in instrumentation and other industries. The team's product also has a high level of technological and market readiness.
According to the terms of the competition, the winners will not only take part in the acceleration program, but also get access to digital and research infrastructure in their home or partner country to complete their research.
We congratulate the winners and wish them to attract the necessary investments and further success!
