Despite European countires like Germany or Holland steal the spotlight to their neighbors, sometimes this cliché is disproved. When it comes to innovation, sometimes we have to recognize that the spotlight can shine somewhere else. Poland has had a massive surge in all indicators in recent years. This happened due to massive investments in digitalization and technology. In fact, Poland has implemented a support program for its businesses, especially start-ups, and has seen an impressive growth in the last 30 years. For example, in 2020 when the world was going down Poland grew by 3,1% compared to European average of 1,8. Let’s take a look then at the top 5 startups in Poland to keep an eye on in 2021.
Golem Factory
Founded in 2016 in Warsaw, Golem Factoryis a cryptocurrency-based startup from Warsaw. It allows its users to rent out their CPU and GPU, in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency. All this is possible thank to a decentralized network that powers true cloud computing. Golem Factory managed to capture investment to gain a significant amount of money in the very beginning. With the crowdfunding starting on November 11th 2016 and reaching its target in 29 minutes, this company has long been a promise for its future users. During their own Initial Coin Offering (ICO), they reached 17.2 million dollars. With such level of backing and people always looking for ways to make money, this Polish startup is surely going to go bigger in th eupcoming years.
Creamfinance
Creamfinance is a fintech startup which came to light in 2012 with the goal of making lending money more user-friendly. Currently headquartered in Warsaw, the company’s main product comes in the form of a machine learning algorithm that helps provide a customizable approach to the lending process. Its vision entails being the premier one-click loan provider for people worldwide.
The company made a very good impression with investors since the beginning. In fact, Creamfinance raised 30.1 million dollars from a pair of investors. This funding, obtained in 2017, gave the company the tools that it needed to become one of the most promising start-ups of 2021 and, most likely, a even better company in 2022.
Novakid
NovaKidrepresents one of the top trend of the moments, that of digital learning. This is happening more often lately for the obstacles that the pandemic has put in front of our eyes. Novakid is an EdTech platform that specializes in the early-years learning of English. This is achieved by connecting students with remote education facilities and with lessons provided by English native speakers. All this is supported by AI-driven, fun games and training applications.
NovaKid’s mission to teach children one of the most widely spoken languages in the world has captivated a group of six investors who believe in the potential of the business. It is easy to see the potential in this when you think of all the education which could be brought to Africa or other areas of the globe with low literacy rates. Ivestors contributed a total of 6.5 million dollars altogether at the time of its launch and, as already said, with schools in many countries not functioning as well as they could be due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar start-ups will undoubtedly represent the future of education in tomorrow’s society.
Nethone
Nethone is a FinTech and Cybersecurity startup which prevents online frauds from happening. It dedicates to preventing fraud when yoo operate online, like when you make a payment with a debit/credit card or when an issue relates to identity. It uses AI technology to prevent unauthorized individuals from conducting activities on other accounts thank to the use of deep profiling too.
Nethone’s anti-fraud offering attracted attention from a group of investors, four in total. Some of this investment came from the European Regional Development Fund and the National Center For Research and Development in Poland. This Polish startup raised 3.9 million dollars from its investor. This company, founded in 2016 and now headquartered in Warsaw has a long promising path to take.
Docplanner
Alongside with Novakid and other platforms Docplanner is one of those which have been fostered by the pandemic and the need for distanced learning. Docplanner is a Warsaw-based healthcare startup that provides services for both medical professionals and their patients. Patients can find a doctor for their needs, book a medical check-up, and get reassurance for medical-related issues. Doctors also benefit from such approach since they can increase the number of “no-show” appointments.
Right after its foundation is 2016, Docplanner has received a significant level of outside investment funding. Investors surely must have sensed the huge remote medicine market, espacially after the pressures the pandemic has exerted. In fact, during the auction phase, this Polish startup managed to raise 140 million dollars in outside funding from several investors, seeing Goldman Sachs as the leader investor. This placed the company in a position where it can surely be sees as one of the most promising of the country.
I hope you found our top 5 list interesting.
Thanks for reading!