Acceleration program of the Innovation Fund
Katapult accelerates the growth of Serbian startups
The commitment of the Innovation Fund in providing comprehensive support to the startup ecosystem in Serbia continues to be proven by the implementation of the Katapult acceleration program. Based on the completed selection process for the second cycle of the program, our first Serbian accelerator has chosen 21 startups to support business development and attract additional investments.
Within the three-month acceleration program, new members of the Katapult community are enabled to work with more than 40 experienced mentors and access to potential investors, who will help them achieve their professional ambitions and commercialize innovative products.
Thanks to the financial partnership of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the World Bank and the European Union, Katapult has secured 750.000,00 euros in grants for the second round of the program. In addition, our awardees have the opportunity to apply for an additional 300.000,00 euros if they secure a qualified investment within nine months of completing the acceleration program.
Since the launch of the acceleration program, Katapult has supported 40 innovative startups with the aim of providing comprehensive support to young promising teams on the way to reaching their full potential.
To date, ten startup companies have secured 12.8 million euros of investments on which basis the Innovation Fund has approved an additional 1.73 million euros.
The Katapult community startups offer diverse innovative solutions with high potential for growth, which will contribute to the development of innovative entrepreneurship and significantly contribute to the Serbian startup ecosystem.
Financing for Katapult is provided by the Republic of Serbia (Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation), through a 7.7 million euro World Bank loan with implementation support, and the European Union, through a 10 million euro grant. The program is part of the "Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Growth Entrepreneurship Project," dedicated to strengthening innovative entrepreneurship and scientific research.
Startups selected to participate in the 2023 cohort of the Katapult Acceleration Program
Startup: Anoris Technology
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Artificial Intelligence
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
Anora, a multifunctional device helping blind people do everyday activities more easily like real-time orientation, color detection, banknote detection, light intensity detection, panic button, etc. All of these functions are available in a click of a button in a single wearable device.
Startup: Bitebell Technologies
Town: Belgrade
Industry: ICT
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
Bitebell delivery automation platform helps restaurants to streamline their growing food delivery business by closing the painful tech gap between popular delivery platforms and different POS vendors.
Startup: Smart city technologies
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Internet of things
Acceleration stream: Ideation
Smart City Technologies is a deep tech company developing IoT infrastructure that provides real time data presented on a state-of-the-art platform with an AI on top of everything - all in order to offer a solution for the new, fully connected world.
Startup: Collabwriting
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Ideation
Collabwriting developed a platform for content creators to effectively combine content discussions, a delegation of tasks, and the management of useful resources with the goal of maximizing the knowledge built and shared by teams.
Startup: Cooperation Manager
Town: Novi Sad
Industry: ICT solutions for agriculture
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
Cooperation Manager has developed the cloud platform Agrines, which serves for communication and trade between grain storage companies and their suppliers (farmers and other traders). Agrines enable grain storage companies and farmers to make more profit and reduce costs, saving time.
Startup: Divs Neuroinformatics
Town: Loznica
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Ideation
Divs Neuroinformatics is a company on a mission to prevent neurological complications caused by diabetes (diabetic neuropathy) and to improve the quality of life for people with diabetes.
They are creating a software and hardware solution for earlier detection and tracking of diabetic neuropathy called Moveo.
Startup: IAM Devs
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
DocsCube is a no-code platform that automates document generation within minutes and reduces tedious repetitive tasks. The solution empowers teams to create, standardize and streamline daily document operations.
Startup: GapApp
Town: Novi Sad
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Ideation
GapApp is adding a technology layer to turn an inefficient, manual workflow into a scalable tech-led workflow. They have built the SaaS platform, enabling compliance professionals to easily, without any coding, create bots to help organizations become fully compliant with any regulation, anywhere in the world.
Startup: Hire Technologies
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
HireApp is a leading mobile platform in the US that connects professionals looking for available shifts and prominent hospitality companies using advanced technology. HireApp has over 25000 signed-up users.
Startup: Lupa Technology
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Ideation
LUPA is an AI driven SAAS for eDiscovery and Data Analytics. Law Firms, Contractors, Consultants and Project Funders finally have a construction specific platform that captures text, schedules and drawings – all in one place. With both built-in analytics at the click of a button, and custom workflows tailored to Client requirements, LUPA is the only tool needed for Operations and Risk Management, Contracts & Claims Management, Due Diligences, Delay Analysis, Change Management, and much more.
Startup: Orook
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
OROOK.net is a digital marketplace for recruitment and career development in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. The core platform matches work opportunities at top-tier companies with white-collar professionals for full/part-time engagements or remote services.
Startup: Online booking services
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
OTA Sync is a cloud-based must-have management software for hoteliers & property managers. Users can synchronize OTA channels, control front-desk, housekeeping & sales, and allow guests to make completely commission free bookings on your website. All this is available as a web app, and mobile app for iOS and Android.
Startup: Outpost Chess
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Ideation
Outpost is the place to manage your career and monetize your chess skills. It provides a dynamic and interactive web and mobile platform to connect and empower chess professionals’ profiles in the one digital ecosystem in order to speed up connectivity, transactions and enhance the organization of any kind of chess event.
Startup: ReactivePay
Town: Novi Sad
Industry: Software and application development
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
ReactivePay is a software vendor company for financial institutions, they provide solutions for the following businesses: Online-banking, E-money, Payment processing, Merchant services, Spot trading. All the products have both SaaS (Cloud) and hosted options for their clients. It supports their clients with continuous education and technical support throughout our business relations.
Startup: Relio
Town: Belgrade
Industry: FinTech
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
Relio is challenging the Swiss banking industry with the launch of a fully digital account for business customers. The offering is built around Relio’s compliance technology, which entails complex KYC/KYB automation, real-time risk scoring, and big data-powered transaction monitoring.
Startup: Blockops
Town: Nova Pazova
Industry: Blockchain
Acceleration stream: Ideation
Renfter represents Uncollateralized NFT Renting Protocol and powerful NFT Infrastructure providing projects with one-day integration white label solution with next generation features such as Custom NFT Functionality Execution, Airdrops & Reward sharing mechanism, composable to be extended by the projects with their own logic and specific edge cases.
Startup: AI Software
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Artificial Intelligence
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
The SaaS application powered by AI called Reputeo guards both your online image and intellectual property. To improve your online presence and reduce reputational risks, it identifies possible risks and offers actionable insights. With Reputeo, you can take charge of your online reputation and safeguard the most important aspects of your business.
Startup: See for Yourself
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Augmented reality concepts
Acceleration stream: Ideation
See for Yourself emerged as a unique IP, created by a AR business solutions studio in Belgrade. They are using advanced technologies like AR, AI, enabling XR, mixed reality work. Their products are focused on the home improvement industry, with the first one being Fable, an all-in-one paint project previsualize, enabling the tried and tested "What you see is what you get" principle an activity we all do.
Startup: Lako se pamti
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Blockchain
Acceleration stream: Scale-up
Streamflow is a B2B startup that makes it easy for web3 organizations to distribute tokens and funds. Our token streaming protocol provides a suite of tools every crypto organization needs in its finance operations. We are Market Leaders for token vesting and streaming payments on Solana and are expanding to other blockchains rapidly.
Startup: We Boo natural
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Organic and Natural Cosmetics for Children
Acceleration stream: Ideation
We Boo Company is the founder of the brand “Baby Boo”, natural and organic products for babies and children. Baby Boo is a story created by two moms connected by a common goal-the desire to provide a healthy life for themselves and their families by returning to nature. With the competence of their team of experts and technologists, they have established currently 9 products.
Startup: Zenhire
Town: Belgrade
Industry: Artificial Intelligence
Acceleration stream: Ideation
ZenHire is transforming hiring from stressful to zen with an AI Recruiter that interviews people just like a human does. ZenHire's mission is to increase the level of harmony in the world by applying a human-first AI approach that creates meaningful matchmaking between companies and employees, and lowers applicant stress levels through personalized Deepfake video feedback.