Before a global audience gets a look at them, participants of the 6th Kyiv Post Tiger Conference on Dec. 5 will get to check out 10 of Ukraine’s hottest startups. They are promoting innovations in fields ranging from energy to education and agriculture.
Ukraine Venture Capital Association and Western NIS Enterprise Fund are sponsoring the exhibition at the Hilton Kyiv for this year’s conference, the theme of which is “Vision 2020: Capturing Innovations.”
Then the companies will take their show on the road to form a Ukrainian pavilion to promote the country’s information technology sector at the Consumer Electronics Show. The event, the world’s biggest tech show, takes places Jan. 9-12 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The show annually attracts up to 200,000 people who come to experience technology innovation spanning 2.5 million square feet of exhibition space. The event gives companies room for customers to have hands-on experience with their new gadgets and services.
Ukrainians have always participated in the Consumer Electronics Show, but separately, not as a group.
Seven of the 10 will be at the Tiger Conference:
Startup PassivDom 3D prints smart homes that run off-grid on solar power
Ukrainian entrepreneur Maxim Gerbut talks to the Kyiv Post on July 13. Gerbut shows a wall sample made of carbon fiber and fiberglass and claims it is six times stronger than steel. PassivDom develops energy efficient smart homes that generate their own solar power and have in-built, off-the-grid sewage and plumbing. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)
The startup called PassivDom builds off-grid smart houses.
The house generates its own power from solar panels on the roof, comes with built-in, off-the-grid sewage and plumbing, has its own climate control system that keeps it at just the right temperature year-round, and it’s built of non-corrosive, recyclable materials guaranteed to last at least 40 years. On top of all that, many parts of the house are created by a 3D printer, printed in one go as one solid part.
Senstone develops smart jewelry to convert voice into text
Ukrainian tech startup Senstone creates smart jewelry to ease notetaking by recording and organizing voice memos, without any fiddling around with a smartphone.
The size of a bottle cap, the recorder can take three forms: a pendant, clip or bracelet. Recording starts with one tap on the wearable. Voice notes are stored on a paired smartphone and backed up on a cloud service.
But the most important feature is that the Senstone software can convert voice memos into text and extracts keywords.
The text later appears in the Senstone application or in the popular third party application of one’s choice, like Evernote or Trello. The gadget works in 11 languages and promises at least 95 percent accuracy in text transcription.
In addition to embracing new languages, Senstone plans to improve its artificial intelligence based platform. The features to be added will include automatic punctuation, intonation analysis, productivity tips, noise and context analyses, and integration with various software.
MMOne’s invention makes virtual reality more real
Ukrainian startup from Odesa MMOne develops a virtual reality simulator for gamers to get a real jolt if they bump into a video game wall while driving a virtual racing car.
The company has created the world’s first three-axis virtual reality simulator, in the form of a chair attached to an industrial robot-like arm that moves in response to the action in a video game.
Once strapped into the contraption, users control the game action with a gamepad or joystick, while wearing a virtual reality helmet. The chair, which is held above the ground, spins, tips and even turns upside down to give the user the feeling that they’re really sitting in the driving seat of their virtual vehicle.
MMOne has created the world’s first three-axis virtual reality simulator, in the form of chair attached to an industrial robot-like arm that moves in response to the action in a video game. (MMOne)
The real-world space taken up by the device is slightly more than four cubic meters. In all, it weighs about one ton, but the founders say it can be disassembled and the parts transported easily.
There are currently about 100 games that are compatible with virtual reality headsets, of which some of them have been already adapted for MMOne device.
Entirely financed by its founders, the startup now has three working prototype devices, with the latest one being the best in terms of weight, size and durability.
LaMetric creates smart clock
This Ukrainian startup has fused a cozy home design with sophisticated electronics to create a smart clock.
Called LaMetric Time, it is a multifunctional clock that can be set to display its owners’ social network notifications, email inbox, weather forecast and other information on its display made of huge pixels.
The clock can connect to apps like Google Calendar, CrossFit, Apple Store and others. It can also work with a range of other gadgets, thus gaining information not just from the internet, but from its surroundings, such as air temperature and humidity.
Simple tools like a stopwatch, alarm and others are also built-in. The main feature, however, is called “clock faces” – the feature that won it the prestigious Red Dot designers award in 2016.
Clock faces are emojis depicted on the screen. They can be simple Lego or Minecraft heroes, logos, symbols or other images, including customized ones created via the LaMetric app.
The clock adjusts its brightness automatically, reacting to lighting conditions.
And each button on the clock’s body can be programmed individually to carry out specific tasks, such as calling a taxi, ordering a pizza or switching lights on and off.
Startup Agryeye brings tech approach to farming
Startup Agryeye brings land farming to the web, collecting data and partly automating farming.
It combines advanced technologies of multispectral remote sensing, unmanned air vehicles as well as big and open data analyses.
Agryeye drone scans fields and say where one should take samples for chemical analysis. When the analysis is done, the online service creates a precise map of the field, describing its chemical state – nitrates, phosphorus, and potassium – and its vegetation state.
The map shows where and in which amounts fertilizers and herbicides should be applied. It helps optimize the use of chemicals.
A research by the World Bank shows that Ukraine loses about 50,000 hectares of farming lands annually due to erosion and depletion of soils, which results in $10 billion of losses. Agrieye founders claim their startup can prevent 50 percent of soil loss by timely informing where to manure, and by showing where to reduce the amount of chemicals applied.
Tech startup Discoperi produces smart sensors to secure the roads
Company Discoperi develops smart car cameras and sensors to collect traffic data.
Aimed to provide its services to car renting companies and to law enforcements, the startup promises to save lives, identifying risky drivers and allowing the rest of the drivers avoid potential accidents.
Besides, built-in artificial intelligence can identify stolen cars on the roads and send the info to the police.
EIT creates smart backpack that changes its appearance
EIT developed a backpack with an LED screen that can screen any image one draws in the smartphone application of the startup.
The owner of such a backpack can broadcast images and animations directly to the backpack through a smartphone or a tablet.
The startup has developed a couple of prototypes and has already made a few sales in Ukraine. n
