On September 23rd, members of the Luxembourg Government, investors including Karen Jasper Chair Of The Board Of Directors Luxembourg American Cultural Society, entrepreneurs, a delegation from Wisconsin and leaders of the country’s start-ups ecosystem reunited in Arendt House to celebrate the launch of gener8tor Luxembourg and the startups completing the inaugural 3-month Luxembourg Accelerator and benefiting from Luxembourg Fund I.
Gener8tor was first established in Madison, Wisconsin, in 2012. In all, gener8tor runs over 30 programs across 25 cities ranging from Anchorage to San Juan. To make these programs successful gener8tor partners with a range of investors, universities, cities, states, and corporate partners. gener8tor also maintains a 54-member corporate network with flagship conferences in Insurtech, Medtech, Manufacturing Tech, Agtech, Edtech, and Corporate Impact. Program Manager for gener8tor, Shelby Peranich together with the Program’s cofounder, Joe Kirgues, kicked off the event by presenting the inaugural Luxembourg Accelerator and the process behind the selection of the startups. 6 companies were selected and pitched their solution at the event:
1/ CEO Nurry Barry for Carbon Saver (France), an eco-design tool to support its users throughout their projects in order to manage their ecological footprint. They developed the CS’score® together with the eco-design agency Cooperative MU, a calculation method based on the analysis of data from more than 50 interior design projects. They are currently looking for €500,000 to hire IT professionals and business developers for the company.
2/ CEO Meysam Minoufekr for AR startup Dropslab Technologies (Luxembourg) which develops an assistance software providing real-time guidance to frontline workers directly in their line-of-sight using smart devices such as smart glasses and smartphones. The goal of their solution is to guide workers in industrial environments. They are raising €1.6m for higher scaling licenses.
3/ CEO Johanna Hemminki & Chief Technology and Product Officer, Kavita Kapoor presented Elias Robot (Finland), a language learning solution where students can practice multiple languages by listening and speaking with the robot in real-time. This start-up is a Finnish edtech company, which develops voice user interface (VUI) applications for educational use. They are looking for expanding their reach in Europe.
4/ CEO & Founder Ashwini Oke for Asets Lux (Luxembourg) offers an innovative integrated design platform for plant engineering in the vertical areas of Oil & Gas, Biodiesel, Power, Bio feed mass, Chemical, Food & Beverage, Water Treatment, etc. The firm has already secured a few contractors and engineering consultants as customers, from the US and India and is looking for €500,000 to help their customers accelerate and meet the Global energy targets as well.
5/ CEO Carlo Sisalli for Co-rent (Italy), the first shared rental of filming equipment. They provide real-time quote to their clients thanks to a platform that allows owners of filming equipment to share it and make a profit through a system that provides legal and insurance protection. They are raising 350,000€ to expand their activities.
Each startup receive a €100,000 investment in return for 7% equity in their company. Applications were open to teams based anywhere in the EU and the support is provided through the office in Luxembourg led by Menachem Tabanpour, Managing Director of gener8tor Luxembourg.
“Our vision for Luxembourg and beyond, in Europe, is to expand gener8tor’s efforts so we can continue to support early-stage start-ups and early-stage founders. In Luxembourg, we are very dedicated to continuing to support the ecosystem and founders here and being an important part of this community; in addition to exploring other opportunities that might exist outside of Luxembourg as well for us to expand our operations and get involved in those communities as well.” explained Shelby Peranich.
The event ended with the presentation of some of the winners of the Circular by Design Challenge, an initiative launched by the Luxembourg Creative Industries Cluster, managed by Luxinnovation, with the support of the Ministry of the Economy, and aiming at stimulating the development of new design solutions and innovative business models that are in line with the principles of the circular economy. “This challenge is one part of what we do to build up the know-how around circularity in Luxembourg. Designers can enter their ideas in more circular products”
Among the guests: Harry Edelman who won the Mobility/Ind4.0 category thanks to his project Greenpixel, the creation of green roof solutions but was present today as the Founder of Skya, a company developing technology to adopt drones as a service. Then Katia Vladimirova who won the Fashion Design category described her project Well rounded, the creation of a circular underwear brand. Finally the Luxembourg – Let’s make it happen category won by Estelle Flammang representing On.perfekt, a cooperative aspiring to become the first grocery store in Luxembourg to sell deemed imperfect produce and sharing a strong message against food waste by making rescued food socially acceptable in the country.
