Many great ideas have been backed up by Seedcamp since launching, but at recent Seedcamp’s investment week, held this month, where 20 great ideas were competing for investment, mentorship and support, only 8 start-ups were chosen and seen important for this industry. These 8 start-ups can give us an insight into what ideas are needed and in which particular way the investors are shaping the future.
Many of the ideas chosen were focused on bringing the better services and improving the connection between companies and users in various ways and while we certainly need better communication and service, what I found very interesting and specific are these two start-ups that addressed somewhat different subjects, art – We are colony and extreme sport – Wood.
London-based start-up We Are Colony wants to bring independent films to wider audience and help filmmakers distribute their work easier while finding their audience. The platform was founded in 2013 and has already received some funding from Technology Strategy Board SMART Awards and Zone (UK’s leading digital agency). This is, in fact, a video-on-demand platform where one could find exclusive behind-the-scene contents. I believe the idea is great for both movie fans who want to broaden their experience with some alternative content (which in my opinion has recently been far better and original) and for alternative and independent filmmakers, who can now easily communicate with their audience, launch their movies earlier and build a following. Worldwide beta is planned from late spring this year.
Paris-based start-up brings us a new understanding of skateboarding with its sensor-packed device Wodd, which is a hardware you put on your skateboard and in turn you get a connected smart board. The device collects information on everything you do and everywhere you go. According to the founders, this is just a first step because they want to expand to other extreme sports such as skiing, surfing, snowboarding, and kitesurfing. And that’s not all, the company is planning on building a social platform for extreme sport fans, where they could share new moves, experience, tricks, and talk about sports. As for the price, it will match the price that average skater spends each month, according to the founders.
What we also need, apparently, is better communication between companies and short-term employees. Estonia-based company GoWorkaBit can now improve this relationship by notifying potential candidates (especially students and other people who might not be able to work full time) about new listing and taxation, and handling the documentation. The difference between this company and many other recruitment services is that they focus on short term work, and on faster connection between candidates and companies.
As for the services, a Manchester-based company Formisimo will ensure that their clients have a better insight into how their customers interact online, concentrating on the parts where they are likely to give up on purchase. They already have 580 clients, and given that they are targeting e-commerce and subscription sites, as well as some companies in governments, the network will grow fast. Many people do not actually complete online purchase or checkout due to many reasons, so the company will offer data that will help a client generate more revenue and improve purchase.
Other companies backed by Seedcamp are Elliptic, a London-based company, which wants to make digital currencies secure and simple, intercat.co, a Berlin-based company that wants to empower sales teams, Lodgify, a Barcelona-based company, which wants to help small independent hotels and guesthouse owners improve payment system, booking management and promotion in general, and Milan-based company Tanaza that wants to help small and medium sized business (hospitals, small hotels, office buildings) control multiple WiFi apps with a single dashboard.
Given that Seedcamp has been successfully investing in projects and ideas since 2007, I believe we’ll see many more ideas worth our time in the future.
