4 student startups from TalTech
Estonia has a vibrant and welcoming startup community, eager to support ambitious individuals and startups. Among them are the projects of TalTech students. In this material we have collected four student startups. Located on different stages of startup development and solving issues from various fields they are all connected by entrepreneurial spirit of TalTech university. Get to know them!
LightMirror
Concept: Reflective panel reducing housing heating needs and GIS/big data methods to design smart and bioclimatic housing.
The benefits are increased energy savings, sunlight in buildings, and overall well-being.
Website: https://www.light-mirror.fr/
Idea: One day in 2019 I received an email about a hackathon on the public street lighting in Paris. Later in the evening, I was eating pasta in my small student room and this “Eureka” came to my mind: “We need light during the day! Paris is the “city of light” at night, I will make it the “city of light” by day”. In fact, in Paris, we hardly ever see the direct sunlight in the streets because the streets are narrow and thus always shaded by high buildings.
Team: I (Dimitri Ionescu) did 99% of the work during my free time along my studies, and unfortunately so far my teammates were there to fulfil the “team” part of the contest😔
Competitions, incubators and so on: I was awarded the French student entrepreneur grand prize in 2019, and I was a finalist of ClimateLaunchpad 2020 for France (world cleantech contest, 3000+ Startup). In Spring 2020 I went to the finals of StarterTallinn. You could have also seen me at CES2021 Las Vegas, and I’m in the race for World Landscape Architecture price in 2021.
Current stage of the project: I’m currently limited on my actual stage on MVP production and legal fundamentals, plus the legal part related to finance. I’m now 100% sure that I will come to Estonia to create my company here at the end of the quarantine.
I’m finishing my Master’s degree in August, and I’m writing my Master’s thesis on my research related to the “engineering” part of my product and the patent. In other words, I’m now working on the startup full-time and I hope to come to Estonia in the beginning of May already.
The pitch: My product is a reflective panel that redirects sunlight to your house. I also have new 3D modelling/bigdata methods to understand and control the sunlight in your project.
The benefits are an increase in sunlight in buildings, increase in well-being,
Most importantly it massively reduces your heating needs.
Long story short, it’s a low-tech solar panel that does not produce electricity but significantly reduces your energy consumption. You can find more info on my website, book a free demo and order samples.
What or who are you currently looking for? I’m looking for a co-founder in Estonia.
ePharmafy
Concept: ePharmafy is a medicines management software that keeps track of the individual patient medication and documents it.
Idea: The idea was first developed for TalTech Hackathon 2020. Our team members have personal and professional experiences with the medicines topic. So together we have built and developed the idea further.
Team: Kristiina Kuldkepp is a pharmacist, Maarja Lember is a dietitian, Elen Vettus is an oncologist, Silja Elunurm is a lawyer and Piret Sell is a pharma executive.
Competitions, incubators and so on: We won TalTech Hackathon 2020. Main prize was an opportunity to participate in Silver Founder programme, which is ongoing now. We applied to Prototron Spring round, which has just recently started and we have been selected in top 50.
Current stage of the project: We are currently building the MVP and after that we will start testing it with the customers.
The pitch: ePharmafy is a modern and easy to use medicine management software that keeps track of the individual patient medication and documents it.
The benefits for the care home are :
- it reduces the nurse workload by automating the communication with the family members, family doctor and the care home of the patient
- it keeps track of all medicines in your care home and easily creates mandatory medication reports
- allows to reduce the medication errors
What or who are you currently looking for? We are looking for a developer who is experienced in Estonian healthcare system.
ÖkoMotion
Concept: In ÖkoMotion we offer bike electrification — we turn a regular bike into an electrical one.
- Give an old bike a new life instead of buying a new one
- Save money as electrification is up to 50% cheaper than the average price of the best-selling e-bikes
- Removable and waterproof batteries make it easier to charge the bike, allow to bike the whole day with a spare set of batteries and not to worry about weather conditions
Website: Okomotion.ee
How did the idea occur to you?
In 2016 when e-bikes were entering the market they were even more costly than today. Therefore in order to reduce the cost and out of pure interest ÖkoMotion founder Arthur Mihhailov bought all necessary parts and details and built his own e-bike instead of buying a ready product. In 2019 he came to the StarterIdea Tallinn to form the team and develop the idea further.
Team:
- Artur Mihhailov, founder&CEO with over 5 years of practical experience in electrical field.
- Andrii Boryshkevych, project manager and MSc student of Mechatronics in TalTech, 2 years of experience in mechanical engineering and product development
- Abdalla Sakkary, technical developer and MSc student of Industrial Engineering and management in TalTech with 3 years of experience in mechanical engineering and product development.
- Valeriia Vasilenko, social media and content, studies BSc in International Business Administration in TalTech.
Competitions, incubators and so on:
- StarterIdea Tallinn, September — December 2019: runner up (money prize), and side prizes, such as mentoring sessions with SEB investors, accelerations to other competitions (Negavatt top 20, Prototron top 50), hosting services (Veebimajutus), access to Latitude 59 conference and 6 moths co-working space in Mektory.
- Garage48, one day event that took place in November: runner up (money prize)
Current stage of the project: We are working on social media appearance and initiating tryouts of the bike we have electrified to get the end-user feedback. In the meantime also finalizing the website and working out the details of the customer service and financial system.
We are aiming to enter the market with the service end May/June.
The pitch:
What or who are you currently looking for? At the moment we mostly need a person with experience in sales or a person who is willing to learn and develop in sales. As for consultancy, we would appreciate advice in finances.
Besides, sooner or later we need to acquire an office and manufacturing space.
Klima8
Concept: Plastics have and are causing immense environmental issues. The easiest way to reduce their negative impact is for manufacturers to offer material alternatives. Klima8 is a sustainable manufacturer of consumer goods typically made out of plastic that uses waste wood as raw material instead.
Website: klima8.com
How did the idea occur to you?: I’ve (Rahul Nair) always been interested in business and have been passionate about solving climate change issues. I was then lucky to have interned at an organisation called EIT Climate KIC (they fund climate based startups). That's where I realised that I can do both; build a profitable business that solves environmental problems. Estonia has a lot of waste wood due to the timber industry. Upon researching more, I realised that this waste wood can actually be used to manufacture a lot of everyday consumer products (that would otherwise be made of plastic).
Team: There’s a few of us from TalTech university (working on the project voluntarily). We are from different backgrounds, but have one thing in common — desire to build a successful business that does good
Competitions, incubators and so on: We haven’t participated in any competitions yet. We are still in the pre-revenue phase of the startup. We have however got a lot of help from TeleTech’s on campus business incubator, Mektory.
What or who are you currently looking for? We are looking for people (that can join us on a part-time voluntary basis) that are passionate about solving environmental issues and have experience in either the back end (manufacturing, logistics) or the front end (sales and marketing)
