There are a few things that startup founders wish they had in endless supply. Capital, for starters. Talented new hires also top the list.

One thing available in droves that we sometimes don’t think twice about is the opportunity to meet live and in person with fellow founders and entrepreneurial enthusiasts — in many cases, every night of the week.

Aziz Kaddan, the founder of Myndlift, brings a unique perspective to the entrepreneurial landscape, not only through his innovative startup, but also through his strategic approach to networking and event engagement.

In a candid conversation with Startup Grind New York City in November of 2023, Aziz shared valuable insights into his purposeful strategy when attending events. He emphasized quality over quantity, stating, “I usually minimize the amount of events that I go to unless there’s an event where I want to talk to the speaker or there’s an investor or founder that I want to talk to.”

And he’s not alone. Famous founders like Gary Vaynerchuk and Alex Turnbull, as well as investors like Charlie O’Donnell have all lamented the overabundance of founder networking events — and the questionable returns on the investment of time spent.

Aziz’s approach extends beyond traditional networking and focuses on value creation, viewing events as platforms for refining his pitch and testing the reception of his ideas in the entrepreneurial space. He highlighted the importance of purposeful attendance, linking it to specific goals such as connecting with influential individuals or improving his pitching skills.

This strategic mindset underscores the transformative potential of events, positioning them as more than mere social gatherings, but as opportunities for growth and mentorship.

The theme of mentorship emerges strongly in Aziz’s narrative. He recounted attending an event with the specific intention of meeting someone who would later become his mentor and eventually a board member and investor in Myndlift.

This story serves as a testament to the potential impact of strategic networking, where meaningful connections formed at events can evolve into mentorship and even financial support for one’s entrepreneurial endeavors.

Aziz’s journey exemplifies the strategic utilization of events not only for networking but as crucial components in the entrepreneurial toolkit for growth, mentorship, and refining business strategies — but only if they are approached intentionally.

Strategic Networking and Event Engagement: Advice from the Trenches with Aziz Kaddan was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In the dynamic landscape of entrepreneurship, insights from seasoned founders can serve as guiding beacons for aspiring and established business leaders alike.

Recently, Aziz Kaddan, the founder of Myndlift, shared his experiences in an interview with Startup Grind New York City. During the exchange, Aziz delved into a variety of topics, offering wisdom on the intricacies of running a startup and fostering personal well-being.

Throughout the fireside chat, several themes emerged, exploring valuable lessons on mental health, strategic decision-making, and navigating unexpected adversities. They include:

Cognitive and Physical Well-being
Holistic Health for Founders
Leadership and Team Dynamics:
Founder’s Journey and Resilience

During his talk, Aziz delved into the intricacies of cognitive and physical well-being, shedding light on the correlation between brain activity and age. At the core of Myndlift’s mission is the analysis of brain scans and EEG data to understand cognitive processes better. Aziz discussed the significance of a specific measure called peak alpha, stating, “It’s a measure of how fast you process information and your memory.” This metric, derived from alpha brainwaves, becomes a focal point in understanding cognitive performance.

As Aziz unfolded the findings from the extensive database of brain activity measurements, a clear pattern emerged. Alpha brainwaves, indicative of information processing and memory, exhibit a peak around the age of 30, followed by a gradual decline. He emphasized the impact of age on cognitive abilities, revealing that after the age of 40, the brain shrinks by approximately 5% per decade. Despite these challenges, Aziz presented a silver lining, highlighting the potential for combating cognitive decline through specific lifestyle choices.

The holistic approach advocated by Myndlift extends beyond age-related cognitive decline. Aziz urged individuals, especially founders, to prioritize both aerobic exercise and resistance training. “Cardio for memory and lifting for executive function,” he noted, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship between physical health and cognitive abilities.

In this intricate dance between brain activity and physical fitness, Aziz underscored the role of nutrition. His dietary recommendations included antioxidants, B-vitamins, and the often-overlooked emphasis on whole grain foods for sustained energy levels throughout the day.

Aziz’s insights form a comprehensive narrative around cognitive and physical well-being, intertwining age-related challenges with actionable solutions. By addressing the nuances of brain activity, exercise, and nutrition, he provides a roadmap for founders and individuals alike to navigate the intricate balance between mental acuity and physical vitality.

Stay tuned for explorations on Aziz Kaddan’s additional themes for entrepreneurial success.

Cognitive and Physical Well-being: Scaling with Compassion and Guts feat. Aziz Kaddan of Myndlift was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Founder Bio

The founders, Vinay Mahadik & Nikita Chikate, previously built the largest EdTech NLP/ML AI-based student safety platform (www.securly.com), where they launched 10+ B2B SaaS products under their leadership (CEO/Head of Product and Chief Design Officer, respectively), growing 80% CAGR for seven years to an exceptionally successful exit to a PE firm. Before Securly, Vinay was a Senior R&D Manager at McAfee, leading four multi-million dollar product lines, and Niki was a Lead Designer at Citrix. Both the founders individually have 20+ years of Enterprise product-development experience. Vinay has an MBA from Wharton, while Niki has an MBA in Design Strategy from California College of Arts.

In a sentence, what does Ayraa do?

Ayraa enables you to discover, organize & search knowledge from across the company — as it happens.

How and when did Ayraa come to be?

When the founders of Ayraa were scaling their previous startup, the #1 issue they faced in the fast growth environment was keeping the company operating in lock-step with each other regarding knowledge & communications. Important features released, new product launches, key partnerships signed, new pricing sheets rolled out, competitive analysis documents made available, system outages and root-cause analyses, FAQs, new hires, significant HR policy changes, and so much more. The genesis of Ayraa was the singular mission of solving this issue of keeping the employees informed.

What makes your company/product different in this market?

Knowledge management & search is a rapidly developing & exciting product category.

The incumbents are primarily old-school Wikis & Intranet companies. These solutions require a lot of collective effort in organizing & maintaining, and so are always trailing behind.

A handful of new entrants cover various permutations of enterprise search, knowledge collections & shortcut links. These are powerful tools, and we also support them. However, Ayraa’s unique positioning is that it is the only platform that provides a self-organizing push model for knowledge. Put simply, Ayraa enables information to be disseminated, organized & discovered in real-time as it happens. We have spent over a year building slick interfaces for publishing information across the workspace as it happens. You no longer have to maintain a collection or a Wiki/Intranet page. You also don’t have to search for information as it naturally comes to you. With Ayraa, everyone stays informed continuously. Knowledge gets filed and categorized automatically. If you do want to look something up, natural language search & query allow you to recall and probe this information instantly.

What milestone are you most proud of so far?

We are most proud of our ability to gather market feedback and pivot rapidly to find product market fit. We shared a private preview of our product at SXSW and rapidly pivoted to a knowledge-management discover, organize & search positioning based on the collective intelligence gathered from over 350 conversations from the event.

Have you pursued funding, and if so, what steps did you take?

We raised a seed round in the second half of 2021. Our current focus is on launching & shaping the product to fit our long-term vision best.

What is your vision for the next 10 years?

Ayraa has an expansive definition of organizational knowledge. For our launch, we bring to you — headline updates, strategic memos & summaries from discussions across the company. At scale, we envision a broad platform that covers wellness, communications, learning, and other related areas — all emanating from a core knowledge engine, much like a brain that powers an intelligent workplace.

How do you build and develop talent?

We have built a globally distributed team but with an emphasis on creating clusters around central hubs where remote employees can still meet & bond in person once every few weeks. This model has kept our team morale & retention high. A large fraction of our hiring was through referrals. We have a strong layer of leadership — with the co-founders covering Product & Design, while others covering Growth, DevOps, and Engineering.

How do you manage growth vs sustainability?

As we haven’t launched publicly yet, our primary focus on sustainability is via positioning. Every product decision we make involves creating a blue ocean that makes competition irrelevant.

How was your experience at Startup Grind Global ‘23?

We loved it. After over a year and a half of being heads down in build mode, it was great to have hundreds of conversations with fellow startups and investors to validate some of our assumptions and shape our product market fit. We discovered our top pivot from communications to knowledge management at SG Global ’23 as a result of these conversations.

What are the biggest challenges for the team?

Ayraa started with a singular mission of eliminating information silos and keeping the employees informed. In the pre-GPT part of our journey, we approached this problem using a communication platform. Then, GPT happened — forcing us to factor in the latest advancements in AI into this vision — and completely rethinking our approach. After hundreds of conversations at SXSW ’23 and SG Global ’23, we finally figured out a breakthrough approach that leverages our 18+ months of work on real-time communications and blends in knowledge management & search seamlessly into it — creating a unique positioning in this exciting new market.

Want to exhibit your startup live at our Global Conference in Silicon Valley? Apply here.

Exhibitor Spotlight Q&A: Ayraa was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Global Conference Startup Exhibition is just around the corner, and we couldn’t be more excited to showcase some of the most innovative startups. With 145 startups exhibiting from 39 different countries, this year’s exhibition promises to be a melting pot of cutting-edge ideas and revolutionary technologies.

Of these startups, almost half are from the United States, reflecting the country’s thriving entrepreneurial landscape. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at some of the top US startups exhibiting at the conference and the exciting ways they are changing the world.

Zen Sleep

Industry: HealthCare

Zen Sleep is the Noom / Modern Health for sleep. They work with employers, payors, and partners to help their constituents build better sleep backed by the proven science of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia.

Thr1ft

Industry: E-commerce

Thr1ft is a marketplace that makes the hunt for high quality fashion easier. They aggregate secondhand & sustainable fashion from stores, sellers and brands that exist online into one seamless shopping experience.

Senpex

Industry: Logistics / Supply Chain

Senpex is a last mile Logistics Solutions for E-Commerce (Marketplace & Online Ordering Platforms). It can help you scale your coverage in multiple states with AI-based innovative solutions like Senpex API, Routes Optimization Tool, & In-House SaaS.

Parchment

Industry: Information Technology / Services

Parchment is a software company, who is building a new desktop for the computer by combining the best of internet and local experiences.

Pelorus Health

Industry: Health Care

Pelorus Health helps caregivers and their children with type 1 diabetes transition to independent health management through health monitoring tools, education, and community support.

Strike Graph

Industry: Cybersecurity

Strike Graph’s compliance operation and certification platform offers an easy, scalable, and efficient way to achieve compliance — from SOC 2 to ISO 27001 to GDPR and beyond.

Ranae Wellness Company

Industry: Wellness / Fitness

Ranae Wellness Company is eliminating the confusion and stress that comes with taking control of our health by offering a highly personalized wellness coaching and shopping care experience.

Transition Squad USA

Industry: E-commerce

Transition Squad is a full service downsizing franchisor for seniors with a proprietary online auction platform that offers DIY and managed services through online auctions, estate sales and consignment.

Xponent Power

Industry: Renewable / Environment

Xponent™ Power is a disruptive renewable energy company whose key innovation is a patented, ultra-compact, sensor-enabled, intelligent retractable solar technology platform that can be mounted on any surface, enabling solar deployment in applications where no roof space is available.

Sunny Solutions

Industry: Consumer Goods / Services

They produce a gadget in the form of a robot. This Robot is designed for personal use or shared use by 2–5 people. It allows performing part of the work that a person does. Specially trained operators are ready to connect through the robot to solve more complex professional tasks.

Tengri Tech Corp

Industry: AR / VR

They are creating virtual showrooms for home builders by turning 2D floor plans into 3D tours. It provides virtual showrooms for real estate developers so they can present what they are building before the construction is done.

SMARTCharts

Industry: Health Care

SMARTCharts is a web-based application that automates clinician documentation and facilitates communications via visualization in speech, occupational and physical therapy. It is a patient-first, clinician-driven productivity app serving care teams in speech, occupational and physical therapy.

VanOnGo

Industry: Logistics / Supply Chain

Saas Delivery orchestration platform that connects brands and delivery partners, and digitalizes last-mile delivery processes towards more orders generation.

Somavedic Technologies

Industry: Wellness / Fitness

Somavedic is an always-on, rest and recovery frequency therapy device that harmonizes our bodies. Its field has therapeutic effects on our cells, which manifests in improved sleep, cellular regeneration, energy levels, and productivity.

QuickLoadz Intermodal Robotics

Industry: Logistics / Supply Chain

QuickLoadz is new hardware that automates the movement of 90% of the world’s freight. It is the only company in the world which has developed a fundamentally better way to physically move those containers.

Bettor Vision

Industry: Sports

They found that too many avid sports fans waste valuable time checking multiple apps to track the performance of all their traditional fantasy matchups, daily fantasy contests, and sports bets.

Bettor vision is a free mobile app that aggregates those accounts to allow consumers to have a better view of all their accounts and contests in one place. We provide an easily digestible dashboard for a quick high-level summary of performance as well as more detailed views for price comparison, research, and analysis to ensure consumers are getting the best deals and making better, more informed decisions.

iSportz Inc.

Industry: Sports

iSportz is a scalable, end-to-end Sports Management and Engagement Platform helping organizations of all sizes grow and thrive by creating a more connected global sports ecosystem.

EducationXR

Industry: AR / VR

EducationXR is an immersive training and education platform technology that addresses creation, deployment, and distribution of immersive content to all phones, tablets, desktops, and VR headsets. Content created with EducationXR is automatically multiplayer and users can connect together remotely regardless of device and regardless of location.

Spikeview

Industry: Education

Spikeview is the next-gen portfolio builder that is enabling the global youth community to lean in on their multidisciplinary expertise to forge a pathway to success.

CEEK Metaverse

Industry: Blockchain

CEEK VR is a metaverse platform that connects creators with their fans in virtual worlds through NFTs, virtual events and unique experiences; allowing music artists, sports teams and influencers to gain new sources of income. CEEK is the in-world utility token for the CEEK Metaverse featuring the likes of Dwayne Wade, Lady Gaga and Bon Jovi.

MEPA

Industry: Marketing / Advertising / Sales

MEPA is the newest marketing and advertising platform to transform the way we share ad content. It’s app allows users to swipe on advertising content (promotions, deals, coupons, events, etc.) in a set radius to support optimal local discovery.

Mavity

Industry; Design / Graphics

Mavity connects businesses with distributed creative teams through an automated project-manager-as-a-service tool and collaboration platform.

Corporate Traveler

Industry: Travel

Corporate Traveler is a powerful travel tech + human support that specializes in travel arrangements for startup companies.

HR Geckos

Industry: Human Resources

HR Geckos is a cloud-hosted AI-powered HR Operations platform that automates all HR tasks and business processes. They cut down the time and resources to provide HR services making HR as agile as a gecko.

Wisdom Medicine

Industry: Health Care

Wisdom gives women with autoimmunity and hormone issues personalized functional medicine care from a doctor and nutritionist for $175 / month. It is a Women-centric functional medicine care for hormone & autoimmune issues.

Mishka AI

Industry: Consumer Goods / Services

Their platform helps toy manufacturers produce connected plush toys at low retail prices. With subscription-based content updates, they support parents on their mission of raising happy kids.

https://startupgrind.tech/conference/

Top US Startups to Watch at Global 2023 was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This year, our Global Conference is featuring some of the top Europe-based startups that are making waves in the industry. From cutting-edge technology to game-changing business models, these startups are at the forefront of innovation and are paving the way for the future. In this article, we will highlight some of the standout startups you can expect to see at our conference.

CodeMonk.AI, United Kingdom

Industry: Human Resources

Platform for start-ups to build high-performing tech teams of pre-vetted talents using a proprietary machine learning algorithm. With an easy-to-use online dashboard start-ups can scale their tech teams anywhere within days rather than months.

RAB Microfluidics, United Kingdom

Industry: Hardware / IoT

RAB Microfluidics is enabling real-time oil monitoring. They diagnose early signs of failure in lubricated machinery and prevent equipment failure using our patented microfluidic technology and AI technology.

FS TEKNOLOJI AŞ, Turkey

Industry: Sports

FanSupport is the unique digital conditional support platform to generate sustainable, transparent and traceable revenue for the global sports industry including clubs, associations, federations and athletes.

LOV+R, France

Industry: Other

Love pods for festivals and events with a booking and dating app to create a community for sex-positivity and like-minded people.

QuickLegal, Romania

Industry: Law / Legal

Bridging the gap between clients and top legal professionals. QuickLegal is a complete legal solution whose matchmaking algorithm connects users with the most suited specialized lawyers and brings them to interact in a fully remote, virtual office. Via RPA and AI technology. Redundant tasks are automated, legal information is instantly provided via robo-attorney, agreements are easily signed, standard documents filled out, and the reduced billable hours are easily charged and invoiced to clients.

Vault Security Systems AG, Switzerland

Industry: Information Technology / Services

Vault Security Systems AG’s flagship brand ivault uses Blockchain technology to optimize supply chains for businesses and ensure asset tracking in a state of art matter. ivault also helps consumers through our patented innovative app to make this world a better place, through their sharing economy and lost and found function.

TAPSTER MEDIA, Germany

Industry: Entertainment / Gaming

As a new, self-sufficient and fast-growing digital leisure medium, lively story is set to become an integral part of entertainment offerings worldwide. By breaking the boundaries between books, audiobooks, music, movies and special effects, lively story provides the next level of entertainment.

OroraTech, Germany

Industry: Renewable / Environment

OroraTech is the leading thermal-infrared data intelligence company providing actionable insights for sustainable enterprises. Their leading Wildfire Intelligence Solution is used by customers across six continents protecting more than 170 million hectares of forest.

Vitamate, Austria

Industry: Health Care

Vitamate is a digital nutrition coach that helps you achieve your health goals and provides recommendations based on your unique needs. You can track your progress and see results over time, whether you want to improve your overall health or prevent disease.

Plasmics, Austria

Industry: Hardware / IoT

Plasmics is an Austrian startup focused on developing the next generation of 3D printing solutions. Their goal is to create a global decentralized production using 3D printing and AI quality control for small organizations and consumers.

Menu Del Día, Spain

Industry: Food / Beverage

Eat like a local in any city. Discover restaurants and view real time menus updated daily with their platform.

Innerspace GmbH, Austria

Industry: Pharmaceuticals

Innerspace has developed a novel analysis method “Frame-by-Frame Risk Profiling” that will create the most advanced database for process development and risk management in the life science industry. The data generated is up to 100 times more detailed than the current industry standard of analytical methods and therefore much more sensitive to process optimization and “hidden risks” that can have serious consequences for product quality and thus patient safety if not identified.

Leeaf, Czech Republic

Industry: Health Care

Empowering fertility treatments, Leeaf is a research-based and data-driven female health platform that transforms the assisted reproductive journey by delivering truly personalized fertility treatment recommendations to physicians and patients.

WEARFITS, Poland

Industry: Fashion

WEARFITS is creating the Digital TAG — a global cloud platform for managing 3D assets and product information. It utilizes AR/XR and ML technologies, which enable our digital tools to improve online sales and reduce the return rates of apparel, footwear, and accessories.

Top Europe Startup Exhibitors to watch for at Global 2023 was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Software as a service (SaaS) has transformed the way businesses operate, with cloud-based solutions becoming the norm for everything from project management to customer service. At our upcoming Global Conference, we’re thrilled to feature some of the most innovative SaaS startups in the industry, whose technologies are revolutionizing the way we work.

These startups are at the forefront of SaaS innovation, developing solutions that address some of the most pressing challenges facing businesses today. From improving employee collaboration to optimizing customer engagement, their technologies are driving efficiencies and unlocking new opportunities for growth.

In the following article, we’ll delve deeper into the leading SaaS startups set to showcase their innovative solutions at our upcoming Global conference. Their products cater to a diverse range of business needs and industries, offering scalability, user-friendliness, and affordability to all entrepreneurs, whether they run small-scale operations or occupy Fortune 500 boardrooms. Join us to stay abreast of the latest SaaS trends and see how these startups are transforming the future of work.

Video Chat A Pro, United States

They help home and auto owners get repair estimates in 20 minutes or less from local businesses. It also allows licensed certified technicians to connect with home and auto owners to instruct them to fix it themselves. It is a Digital Home and Auto Repair Service to Learn How to Fix it.

Philanthrofi, United States

Philanthrofi is a B2B SaaS social enterprise using an A.I. driven platform to connect companies to the impact they aspire to create in the world. Their robust and intuitive matchmaking solution fosters sustainable and highly impactful partnerships between corporations and impact organizations through shared missions, visions & values to transform corporate sustainability from a risk mitigation strategy to an investable commercial strategy.

FAME App Company, South Africa

FAME App Company is a CRM Software and end-user engagement app for the content publishing industry. Their software, hosted online (SaaS) ensures an innovative and agile way to drive cross-channel relationships and centralized efforts while reclaiming ownership of the long-lost market share. It is one of the most contemporary solutions for content publishing and offers licensing packages for all levels of content producers from corporate publishers to free-lance users.

PreSkale, United States

PreSkale is an all-in-one platform for Sales engineering teams to track product performance pre-closure and accelerate the buyer journey. Their platform makes it easier for Sales engineering teams with best-fit resource assignments to improve technical sales closures, uncover product gaps and unblock hidden revenue.

VIDA, Germany

VIDA is a map-based software company. They enable infrastructure investors, banks, governments & energy companies to efficiently and reliably measure, monitor & report their ESG impact. VIDA stands out as the leading solution for fusing customer data with up-to-date geospatial data and a suite of project management functionalities.

Groc, United States

Groc is like “Amazon Go” on your phone. They are a SaaS company making the world’s smoothest checkout experience. Shoppers skip the line, and stores save the sale that walked away. They have customers using their app, and undergoing integration with a B2B enterprise that hosts 30,000 potential sales.

Evolusen, United States

Evolusen is a B2B SaaS Influencer Management platform built for the Hospitality & Travel Industry. Making Influencer Marketing more accessible, measurable, and streamlined with our software and network of vetted Influencers.

NonBinary Solutions, United States

NonBinary Solutions develops systems to power the next generation of autism service providers and their organizations. The value that NBS delivers to this market is the ability to dramatically improve the quality of care, reliability, and replicability of treatment outcomes. It is committed to providing software solutions for critical outcomes that affect thousands of people who are concerned with Quality of Life, and the demonstrated efficacy of applied behaviour analysis.

Uhubs, United Kingdom

Uhubs is a SaaS tool that helps sales teams hire more intelligently, ramp new hires faster and then close more deals quicker. They analyze a range of data sources to create a unique profile, and use AI to provide predictive coaching and training recommendations to close the performance gap.

SuprSend, United States

SuprSend is a flexible notification infrastructure for development teams to send notifications reliably across all channels. Create meaningful cross-channel workflows within hours instead of months, with built-in components for batching, routing, and preferences.

Multitudes, New Zealand

Multitudes integrates with engineering tools (e.g., Github, Linear) to provide dynamic, actionable insights that unlock happier, higher-performing, and more equitable teams. It improves engineering team performance and wellbeing with ethical, data-driven recommendations to unblock work, improve collaboration, and minimize burnout.

ZIZO Technologies, United States

ZIZO is a workforce gamification platform which solves the challenges of low employee engagement and high turnover for enterprises, specifically in the call center industry. It improves the employee experience and retention by leveraging automation and game mechanics.

Nowa, Germany

Nowa is a next-gen platform that puts creativity in the heart of app development. It offers a platform for building native apps with stunning designs for all platforms visually, while keeping the freedom of using code at the same time.

ByteNite, United States

ByteNite has created the world’s first grid computing system that powers high-throughput applications like video encoding, 3D rendering, and computer vision. Our distributed model is based on a patent-pending algorithm that parallelizes the workload efficiently gaining up to 10x in speed relative to standard cloud computing.

Liquit, Netherlands

Liquit offers end-users simple yet dynamic application management, ensuring a consistent, customizable user experience across any device. They not only deliver it to devices, but we can also integrate the intelligent Liquit application Icons in portals like Microsoft Teams, Sharepoint and any other portal. It is a Game Changing End to end Application Management Platform. Any application, anywhere on any device.

Mesibo, United States

Mesibo is a developer-centric communication platform (CPaaS) for developers to add real-time messaging, calls, conferencing, chatbot, etc. in their apps and website. The platform is live and already deployed by over 11,000 developers in over 40+ countries and some of their prominent customers are Venice Airport, Saudi Arabia Government, CapGemini, Moevd Indonesia, etc.

Ayraa, United States

Ayraa is the world’s first enterprise communications SaaS stack, purpose-built for reliable & structured communications in the workspace. Ayraa has taken the best of Email, Chat & Wiki, and reimagined a new platform that creates a visual, self-organizing workspace.

Quantumics.AI, United Kingdom

Quantumics is a no-code data platform to prepare and automate data in minutes targeted at citizen builders. It improves 90% efficiency at 10% of the cost.

Mainstack, United States

Mainstack enables the creator economy with no-code tools to present their best works and receive payments globally. It is an all-in-one platform for non-technical entrepreneurs and creators to showcase and receive payments for their works. They exited public-beta last month at TechCrunch in SF with 20,000+ users in 105+ countries.

KOLONUS, Mexico

KOLONUS digitalizes the end-to-end processes involved in Buildings and Gated Communities, helping Residents/tenants, Property Managers and Security Guards. It is a Proptech SuperApp for gated communities and apartments.

Sakari, United States

Sakari enables SMBs to send personalized SMS messages to customers at scale via their web and mobile apps or via integrations with third party platforms. SMS has a 98% read rate and is one of the most effective channels of communication.

Neula, Poland

Neula is an AI-boosted low-code platform that provides ready-to-use business apps and an environment to build your own app in a few simple steps. The solution has proven to be successful with a number of local clients in such areas as invoice processing, GDPR, claims handling, etc.

Indy, United States

Indy is on a mission to empower Freelancers, by providing them easy to use, affordable and innovative productivity tools & services that enable them to control, grow and stabilize their work life. It provides an all-inclusive-productivity-solution for freelancers, that includes a back office software, networking platform and university.

OneTeg, United States

OneTeg is a No-code iPaaS exchange platform, enabling easy integration between systems. Unifies content & data using user-driven Flows allowing for a simplified Integration across platforms. OneTeg focuses on the eCommerce and Marketing ecosystem to ease and speed up companies’ Digital Supply Chains.

Adam.ai Inc, United States

Adam.ai is a B2B SaaS Meeting Management platform that allows you to capture, manage, and share knowledge in meetings in the most efficient and seamless way, ensuring effective communication, improved planning and better decision making.

Workee, United States

Workee is creating the Future of Work for freelancers worldwide. They build business for freelancers, helping to scale and autopilot their business routing as bookings, payments, client and work management out of the box with 0% fees.

PixelFree Studio, inc., United States

PixelFree Studio automates web and app creation. Design to Code in one Step — Accelerating front-end development From Months to Minutes.

FlashCloud Intelligence, United States

FlashCloud Intelligence is a cutting-edge Go-to-Market Intelligence company that empowers revenue teams to enhance their efficiency in identifying and engaging with their ideal customer profiles. Their comprehensive solutions integrate sales intelligence and engagement capabilities into a unified interface, enabling revenue teams to streamline their processes and focus on driving better results.

Treblle, Croatia

Treblle is a lightweight SDK that helps Engineering and Product teams build, ship & maintain REST based APIs faster. It empowers engineering teams and API Product Managers by making their APIs easy to understand. Instead of piecing together data from 3 or more different tools, all the data you need is ready and baked for your consumption and data-driven decision making.

Agtools Inc, United States

Agtools provides First Mile MARKET data across the globe of over 500 commodities in real time for farmers, buyers, and others on the food supply chain to execute better planting, harvesting, forecasting, improving financial outcomes, lower risks, and lower CO2 impact.

UNCHAINEDINC LLC, United States

Future of work solution that combines the power of people and technology to strategically connect companies with high potential, diverse talent.

Top 31 SaaS Startups to Watch at Global 2023 was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Fintech is rapidly transforming the way we manage our money and do business. With the rise of mobile banking, digital payments, and blockchain technology, the fintech industry is poised for explosive growth in the years ahead.

At this year’s Global Conference, we’re thrilled to showcase some of the most innovative fintech startups in the industry. These companies are leveraging the latest technological advances to create groundbreaking solutions that make managing our finances, investing our money, and accessing financial services easier than ever.

These startups are at the forefront of the fintech revolution, from mobile banking apps to blockchain-based payment platforms. Their technologies are poised to transform the industry in countless ways. Whether you’re a financial professional, an entrepreneur, or simply interested in the future of finance, you won’t want to miss these top fintech startups that will be exhibiting at our conference this year.

In this article, you can take a closer look at the top 17 Fintech startups exhibiting live in Silicon Valley on April 11–12th. If you haven’t got your tickets yet, you can still secure your spot here.

Wallife, Italy

Wallife is an insurance MGA committed to insure new risks generated by technology. Their first policy on the market is the Wallife Biometric ID, an insurance for individuals to protect the smartphone from the cyber risks, including theft of biometric credentials, phishing, malware. The policy is combined with a proprietary technology that analyse the usage of your phone to detect potential digital violations.

YPay Financial Services (Pvt. Ltd.), Pakistan

YPay Financial Services aims to achieve a financially stable Pakistan, by creating easy investment opportunities for everyone. It also aims to provide an autopilot investment platform for millennial investors across the nation.

PAYTOTA , Uganda

Paytota makes payments and payouts equally effortless, helping you to process them in the most stable and cost-efficient way. They offer a flexible, highly scalable, and cost-effective infrastructure to provide merchant services for online businesses of any size and type.

Chaperone Limited, Lesotho

Chaperone is a Technological Company and issuer of Electronic Payment Instruments through its platforms. They are partnering with global and local brands to bring about financial inclusion in Africa. With the help of their bespoke fintech solutions, they are supporting companies to fully digitise their payment processing.

Planworth, Canada

Planworth is a cutting edge B2B SaaS platform for investment advisors and professionals who want to be the trusted guide at every step of a client’s wealth journey. It combines easy-to-use questionnaires and advanced data analytics to put the experience and expertise of a virtual family office at the fingertips of investment advisors and professionals.

INSTO, Taiwan

INSTO Tap is the Skype for credit card payments. Anyone can take credit card payments with just a free app. It is focusing on using innovative technology to bring inclusive financial services such as cash flow collection and installment collection and payment into mobile apps.

SPARE, United States

It is software that empowers local communities to create localised financial services.Small businesses and underbanked consumers have seen rising costs associated with accessing cash. SPARE reduces the merchant expense by up to 75% while eliminating the cost for consumers via their SaaS + Gig Econ model. Retail SMBs pay a monthly fee while consumers are incentivised by bonus cash up to 2% when picking up cash.

Bytese, Singapore

XTsunami represents a group of radically different Web3 trading applications for stocks (Share CFDs) and crypto (Crypto Futures), with a forex trading software coming soon. XTsunami is based on XTblock’s revolutionary core technology, which powers real-time price action analysis & trading tools that provide traders with highly valuable data to enable high-quality trading decisions — unlike any other trading softwares currently available.

Ten Key Labs, Canada

Ten Key Labs is combining experience and expertise to bring emerging technologies to industries at scale.They are creating a trusted and transparent operating system for businesses. It’s team consists of a group of technologists, led by serial founders, who have worked together for over a decade (mobile, enterprise, vehicle connectivity), and now tackling blockchain.

Quantum Electronic Payments LLC, United States

Quantum is a financial technology company that helps businesses of all types and sizes accept payments, increase revenue, and enhance customer experience. With flexible omnichannel solutions, Quantum delivers end-to-end Payments and Growth Technologies that accelerate profits and efficiencies for retail, ecommerce, B2B, and service organizations. Infused with an unyielding commitment to providing industry-leading Customer Care, It is a trusted, vital, easy-to-work-with partner for thousands of businesses

Merlin Investor, United States

Merlin investors is a Fintech company on a mission to democratize access to investment strategies and empower the new generation of retail investors to take full control of their investments. They offer a multi-asset educational, strategising and tracking tool complementary to any trading platform and designed for any kind of retail investor. The Merlin platform is a multi-asset educational, strategising and tracking tool for personal investment strategies, It is complementary to any trading platform and designed for any kind of retail investor.

Datatrixs, United States

Datatrixs transforms accountants from data crunchers to automation experts with a few clicks when serving clients. For accounting firms, Datatrixs is your one central hub to automate the generation of analytical reviews, collaborate, and improve margins. It provides automation to improve margins for accounting firms

Dojah Inc, Nigeria

Dojah is an end-to-end Identity verification and fraud prevention platform. It is on a mission to build Africa’s most robust platform for simple, smart, accessible identity and verification solutions.

GIG-A, Japan

GIG-A is facilitating fully mobile, 100% digital bank accounts in Japan, providing multilingual service and support. They are focusing on financial inclusion and believe that opening a bank account in Japan should take only a few minutes on your mobile. Banking services must be easy to use and everybody should be able to access the full potential of financial services.

Vesti Technology Solutions, United States

Vesti is a global migration fintech company with the vision to simplify mobility of humans and capital. Their mission is to be the go-to provider of legal and financial technology to people intending to migrate, and give them access to financial services like debit cards and bank accounts when they have newly arrived in a new country.

PayQin, United States

PayQin is a Cross-border payment app for francophone Africa. It is a payment solution which enables Individuals and businesses in Francophone Africa to safely and securely pay, transfer, and trade from a single mobile app. It is the only company in Francophone Africa that enables instant cross border transfer — within 7 Francophone countries.

Flex Finance, United States

Flex Finance is an Intuitive spend management solution helping hundreds of thousands of underserved businesses in Africa digitize their over $1.6 trillion annual B2B spending. It helps businesses in Africa manage approval workflow, vendor payments, issuing corporate cards to employees, and making disbursements from one platform.

Top 17 Fintech Startups to Watch at Global 2023 was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we live and work, and the potential for innovation in this field is limitless. As the world becomes more data-driven and interconnected, AI startups are poised to disrupt industries and revolutionize how we interact with technology.

This year’s Global Conference Startup Exhibition is proud to showcase some of the most promising AI startups worldwide, whose cutting-edge technologies are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. From natural language processing to computer vision and beyond, these companies are leveraging the power of AI to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems and improve our everyday lives.

Below, you can take a closer look at the top 17 AI startups exhibiting live in Silicon Valley on April 11–12th. If you haven’t got your tickets yet, you can still secure your spot here.

Cyberfilm.ai, United States

Cyberfilm builds and sells SaaS tools for filmmakers, powered by Generative AI like GPT and DALL-E. They make tools for the next generation of creatives, powered by AI and Big Data from Hollywood.

YesPlz, United States

YesPlz makes search and discovery easy for eCommerce businesses. They connect tagging data to pre-built product filters, enhanced site search, and product recommendations so any eCommerce business can easily access highly accurate search and recommendations. Their machine learning is highly optimized to automate deep product tagging which used to be done manually by retailers. No more paying 3–4 times to separate vendors and getting stuck managing different software integrations. Instead, eCommerce businesses can access the latest product discovery solutions powered by AI at 1/4 the cost.

R3A Group Limited (CL1CK), China

CL1CK helps e-commerce websites pick the best discount to offer to visitors and make sure that visitors get a discount that will make them most likely to buy something. It’s tough for ecommerce stores to compete, get people to buy stuff, and keep them coming back. That’s where they come in by using data to figure out which discounts will work best for shoppers. With CL1CK’s AI, e-commerce websites can give alternating discounts that actually work and easily assess how well they’re contributing to revenue.

AI Writer Technologies FZ-LLC, United Arab Emirates

AI-Writer generates accurate and unique article drafts just from a headline. Through this, you can get quality content at lightning speed with the most accurate algorithm trained on hundreds of thousands of source articles.

Contents.com, Italy

It is a generative AI SaaS Platform that offers automated content creation tools to support any business with their daily content needs. This solution covers the whole content workflow, from ideation, through creation, to transformation. Their strategy strongly relies on the choice of specializing in minor languages with their own data sets for high quality fine tuning.

OTIS AI, United States

Otis AI is the ultimate paid ad and media buying platform in a box for startups and SMBs, integrating with first party data to facilitate data-driven targeting and attribution. Their digital marketing app would eliminate some of the pain points that business owners encounter when they try to run their own campaign or work with a marketing agency.

PONS.ai, China

PONS.ai is an AI-generative digital collectibles platform for phygital marketing and gaming. Launched in Oct 2021, customers now include top-tier banks, NASDAQ-listed tech companies, galleries and many more across industries.

Convofind, United States

Convofind uses AI/ML to connect you on-demand with the best possible person when you want to discuss anything. They are creating a more seamless conversational experience, using AI to connect you with the right people when you have a topic, thought, question, or need you want to discuss.

Ace (Yoda Coach Inc.), United States

Ace analyzes working data from GitLab, Slack, Jira, etc., to empower 1M engineering managers with actionable insights to drive performance, motivation, and growth of 50M developers. You can get an agenda for 1:1 meetings, mentors, courses, goals, feedback recommendations.They empower managers and developers to achieve extraordinary results by eliminating bias and unlocking developers’ potential.

Expand AI Pvt Ltd., India

Expand AI has built a machine learning software that can programmatically label your data with high accuracy in hours instead of weeks with an economical pricing. Their automated data labeling solution is domain-specific and can generate labels that are >95% accurate.Their mission is to make the training phase of the machine learning lifecycle smoother by programmatically generating highly accurate labels in hours at a low price.

Analytics2Go, United States

Analytics2Go offers an end-to-end AI platform for enterprise-level companies and SMBs. Their focus is using AI to optimize demand prediction and price optimization for online retail, CPG and wholesale distributor companies. They have also solved the considerable challenge of managing data streams to feed real-time AI solutions with our automated data orchestration solution called Felix.

Selecton Technologies Inc, United States

Selecton Technologies is a Generative AI startup developing technologies to enhance human decision-making and buying experiences. Our core tech includes customized LLMs, proprietary unique RL models, and human understanding tech. It is the first AI-based personal assistant that finds а perfect purchasing solution to fit any customer situation.

EQUITY X LTD., United Kingdom

EQUITY-X® helps individual equity traders better predict upward or downward trends in the short term and find signals in a faster manner by themselves; share price is likely to increase (decrease) when cash flows increase (decrease) in the medium and long term. It offers daily executive summaries and historical fundamental analysis data.

Lincode Labs, United States

Lincode has developed a unique computer vision-based solution that detects QA issues at higher rates of accuracy and at lower costs than major competitors. The Secret? A proprietary model that incorporates AI to detect manufacturing defects of less than 2 microns at 120 FPS, incorporates ML to predict machine downtime, and incorporates AI and ML to predict the likelihood of future product defects. The solution is deployable with basic camera equipment in open environments and is operable within a single month of engagement.

CognitivEdge.ai, United States

CognitivEdge.ai — Simple, & Powerful Edge AI apps & Analytics. Industry-first data-centric, & data-driven AI/ML and Deep learning applications are on the edge in hours, not days or months. Accelerating AI deployment, deployment, prediction, and resolution at blazing speed benefits you from real-time processing, insights, and actions. Saving time, and costs.

One Connect Solutions, United States

One connect solutions helps organizations get insights from free flowing text and data without the need to hire data engineers or data scientists. They enable our customers to easily adopt AI & ML and get business value.

Quasi Robotics, United States

Quasi Robotics is helping humans to alleviate all boring, repetitive and dangerous tasks through robots. Driven by their passion for technology and instinct for innovation, they aim to bring smart, safe, reliable machines to every business in the world.

Want to exhibit your startup in Silicon Valley and gain exposure like this, pitch to investors, and get access to all the other benefits? Apply here.

Top 17 AI Startups Exhibiting at Global 2023 was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Author Bio: Jonathan spent the first five years of his professional insurance career working as a generalist broker at a traditional firm on Long Island. Intrigued by how to leverage technology in the industry, Jonathan joined the Founder Shield team in 2016 and quickly grew into his current leadership role of General Manager. He works to oversee client strategy and communication and has fostered a culture of providing unparalleled service and risk consulting for some of the fastest-growing companies in the world.

Like many things in life, the open market is cyclical, experiencing ups and downs routinely. As a result, companies often fast-track their IPOs or delay them due to the current market environment.

For example, companies like Reddit and Chobani have recently postponed their going public plans — but they’re not merely sitting and waiting for Wall Street to come around. Instead, companies with going public as a possibility get more time to plan and prepare during a market downshift.

So, if you have the slightest aspirations of going public in the future, here’s a useful pre-IPO checklist to help you prepare now.

Have You Achieved Telling Benchmarks?

When a company decides to go public, it will typically be more profitable on the open market than raising capital via private funding. There’s a good chance you’re meeting your revenue goals already. And remember, market success isn’t only about incoming money; it’s more about growth potential and history to back up your equity story.

Sometimes, leaders are keen enough to identify these milestones or what we consider to be “telling benchmarks.” In other words, these elements signal that an IPO is likely in your future.

For example, when the market fit and appetite align, your company could be a viable solution that the open market needs. Also, suppose your team is on a steady path to profitability, with a strong record of the company’s financial intelligence. These are hard-earned and telling benchmarks, potentially impacting your company’s valuation.

Founder Shield’s Customer Success Director, John Olson, put it best, “Companies ready to go public delivery against their forecast time and time again.” In many cases, going public is the only path that makes sense.

Are Your Financial Records SEC-Ready?

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) follows many stringent requirements, such as the US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) standards. Private companies typically don’t follow these accounting rules. However, the sooner you develop a more sophisticated handling of financial statements, the more SEC-ready you’ll be. The same goes for complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

On a similar note, companies with superb earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA) achieve a premium valuation than those with below-average EBITA margins. Total debt is also a significant valuation factor, not to mention the compensation plans you establish for your team.

Unsurprisingly, the SEC requires a handful of registration statements as they comb through past budgets and historical performance; however, the record’s time frame varies, as seen below.

In short, companies ready to go public consistently have reports that are on-time and audit-ready. The SEC is no stranger to intense audits, so an excellent approach is to “practice” handling your finances as a public company years before ringing the opening day bell.

Have You Built an IPO Team of “Critical Hires”?

When filing for an IPO, the people surrounding you on your journey to going public will influence how well you perform on the open market. Although it sounds relatively intense, there are several reasons why your IPO team matters so much.

For example, managing the necessary reports, forms, and statements will require a strong group of highly engaged leaders. The following are a few members of an IPO team we call “critical hires.” These people will assist with the private-to-public transition, from choosing a ticker tape symbol to printing financial statements. It’s good to start building this team years before filing for an IPO.

SEC Consulting Team

As your first recommended hires, individuals on an SEC consulting team understand the needs and expectations of SEC registrants. They can provide in-depth guidance and support regarding SEC compliance, audit and tax consultation, and more. These people have been there and done that plenty of times before.

Finance Department

Your finance department consists of individuals with technical accounting and SEC reporting experience. Navigating complex financial transactions will be their primary responsibility. Naturally, the Director of Finance leads this group, managing the budget and financial forecasting. This role assists the CFO in decision-making. Lastly, the right CFO can make all the difference as they typically join the CEO front and center for much of the IPO journey.

Legal Counsel

A general counsel provinces insights about corporate governance and provides much hands-on guidance, such as reviewing contracts, transactions, bylaws, etc. These talented and learned individuals are invaluable in de-risking the process of going public.

Governance

The “trickle-down” effect starts with your board of directors, audit committee, and chief compliance officer as they govern the business. They establish internal controls, make important decisions, oversee bylaws, and monitor the company’s financial state. IPO success typically starts at the top of the trickle.

Information Technology

A Director of Information Technology (IT) or CIO is an increasingly important role nowadays. With global data breaches averaging over $4 million per incident, data protection and cybersecurity must be top-notch.

External Team

Along with your internal IPO team members, consider teaming with the following external professionals:

• Underwriters’ counsel
• Financial printer
• Roadshow consultant
• Capital markets advisor
• External auditors
• Financial advisory and consulting services
• Tax firm
• Various specialty firms

Did You Choose an Underwriting Partner?

Refining your company’s equity story is a pre-IPO task; however, doing so requires strategic engagement with investment banks. These connections will increase your credibility and soften market receptivity. Remember, investment bankers typically have expertise in marketing, financial structuring, pricing, and assisting underwriters during the IPO process.

Finding the right underwriting partner is the tricky part. It would help your odds for your lead investment banker to be an expert in your sector with a solid track record of taking companies public.

Underwriting partners are vital in assessing financial performance and health, ensuring financial transactions and statements are accurate and legal. In evaluating an underwriting partner, consider asking the following questions:

• Do they have in-depth knowledge of your industry and business?
• Can they tell your business story for optimal market reception?
• What’s their reputation and experience?
• How does their team measure up?
• Do they fit in your going public timeframe?

Have You Addressed Insurance Needs?

Each industry faces unique risks, requiring customized risk management plans and insurance products. The transition from a private to a public company will cause your insurance needs and program to change. Regulatory standards, shareholder demands, and your financial projections will require these changes. As a result, here are a few foundational policies soon-to-be-public companies typically need:

• General Liability protects companies against basic business risks.
• Directors & Officers protects corporate directors and officers’ personal assets if they are sued.
• Professional Liability, also known as errors and omissions (E&O), protects companies against lawsuits of inferior work or service.
• Employment Practices Liability protects companies against employment-related lawsuits.
• Cyber Liability protects your company against damages from specific electronic activities.
• Fiduciary Liability protects from legal liability relating to employee benefit plan sponsorship.
• Health & Employee Benefits provides employees with healthcare, vision and dental, retirement plans, and life insurance.

Did You Secure Public D&O Coverage?

Most leaders realize the importance of D&O coverage during private rounds of financing. It’s nearly impossible to receive any financial support without it. However, public companies face increasingly more scrutiny and potential D&O litigation for their leaders. Working with a broker experienced in building public D&O towers is the only way to ensure your company can traverse the open market.

D&O insurance consists of three parts, with each one protecting a specific portion of the company, including:

Side A: Protects individual directors by paying the defense costs and settlements due to a lawsuit. Side A will only pay the individual directors when the entity is unable (i.e., insolvent) or not legally allowed. Typically, respective directors will ensure that the company purchases additional Side A coverage over the traditional A-B-C coverage.

Side B: Indemnifies the entity after the entity has paid the individuals named in the lawsuit.

Side C: This part is entity coverage. If the entity is named along with the individual directors in a lawsuit, this coverage protects the company’s balance sheet and will reimburse the costs and settlements incurred.

Timing is vital when building a solid public D&O tower. In the days and months leading up to your S-1 Form filing, it’s essential to stay on track, as shown in the timeline below.

Going public is usually the most significant milestone in a company’s life cycle. While the open market is nothing to enter haphazardly, it’s the right place to be for many organizations. Ringing the opening day bell is no tiny aspiration — but achievable.

If going public is a possibility in your future, keep this pre-IPO checklist an arm’s length away. And remember the wisdom of mountaineer Conrad Anker, “The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.”

For a complete guide on how to take your company public, check out Founder Shield’s Going Public Roadmap!

If Going Public Is a Possibility, Here’s Your Pre-IPO Checklist was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Upside of Downturns Summit will bring together thousands of startup teams on October 20th to talk about fundraising, leadership, and resilience in today’s economic climate. A highlight of this event’s virtual program is the Accelerate Exhibition — where 40 of the top companies from Startup Grind’s community will pitch and exhibit for the entire audience. We’re sharing a sneak peek into each of the exhibitors today, but make sure to register for the event (it’s free) and visit their virtual booths in just a few weeks.

Activated Scale, United States

Industry: Marketing / Advertising / Sales

📣 Find them at booth #1

Activated Scale is a marketplace that connects start-up founders with sellers. Connect with pre-vetted US-based sellers that have prior experience selling to your buyer or industry. Hire them part-time or full-time and convert the best to employees!

Activity Savant, United States

Industry: Community

📣 Find them at booth #2

Activity Savant helps community-based organizations create and manage activities and fundraisers. It also links together organizations, businesses, and resources together. Additionally, they provide small underserved, and under-resourced communities with tools to engage with the population and also provide health and human services.

ASKNIGHTS, United Kingdom

Industry: Consumer Goods / Services

📣 Find them at booth #3

ASKNIGHTS is the most selective and curated Art Marketplace with remarkable contemporary art pieces, futuristic top NFT Art & highly curated Crypto Art. They are launching their newest project, which is focused on developing the best and most efficient international platform for the art industry and a global art marketplace. It uses the latest emerging technologies such as NFTs on blockchain and smart contracts for better security, accountability, trust, and transparency.

Biohackn, United Arab Emirates

Industry: Biotechnology

📣 Find them at booth #4

Biohackn is a Dubai-based Anti-aging and health company that uses ancestral wisdom and modern science to deliver products that help reverse aging, bringing back that boundless energy, peak performance state and improving overall health. They are committed to providing you with science-backed hacks that you can use every day to enhance your quality of life.

Brickken, Spain

Industry: Blockchain/Crowdfunding

📣 Find them at booth #5

Brickken is a decentralized protocol whose objective is to bring companies’ capital on-chain through the tokenization process. Companies on the blockchain have the ability to manage their equity more efficiently and, in addition, issue Security Token Offerings as a crowdfunding mechanism for their own capital or for any assets they have or want to acquire, without the need for intermediaries.

Buzzup, Italy

Industry: Agriculture

📣 Find them at booth #6

BuzzUp creates IoT devices that listen to and translate the sound of bees into pollination performance and health data to help farmers increase crop yields, beekeepers increase profits, and help save bees in an increasingly difficult climate.

Dovetail Electric Aviation, Australia

Industry: Airlines/Aviation

📣 Find them at booth #7

Dovetail Electric Aviation is leading regional aviation into an exciting new, sustainable era with nil emission, electric-powered aircraft. It is at the forefront of developing, certifying, and distributing electric-powered, nil emission propulsion systems for existing commuter aircraft — converting legacy aircraft into electric aircraft. Aside from zero-emission flights, the benefits to the operator include significantly lower adoption costs, energy costs, and maintenance costs.

Dropstat, United States

Industry: Health Care

📣 Find them at booth #8

Dropstat uses proprietary algorithms to help enterprise healthcare facilities fill shifts faster while cutting down on agency and overtime costs. It is a nurse-founded company leveraging technology to ensure safe patient care despite staffing shortages and volatile costs.

DuploCloud, United States

Industry: Software Development

📣 Find them at booth #9

DuploCoud is a no-code infrastructure automation software. Provisioning applications 10x faster. It offers an end-to-end DevOps software platform for dev teams without dedicated DevOps engineers and augments those who do. The platform automates the provisioning of your application to the cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure), integrating cloud ops, DevOps, and security/compliance with 24x7 monitoring and support. The software runs in your cloud account and is accessed through our UI, Terraform, or API.

Educate Online, United States

Industry: Education

📣 Find them at booth #10

Educate Online is a platform for engaging students of all ages in online K-12 study, ESOL, career exploration, university preparation, and internship & mentorship programs. It offers students the three top curriculums in the world: the UK, US, and Canada. Students may choose to study part-time or full-time and have the opportunity to earn their high school qualifications through Pearson Edexcel & Cambridge International or graduate with a US or Canada high school diploma.

Feazy.io, Georgia

Industry: Education

📣 Find them at booth #11

Feazy is a SaaS platform for small and medium-sized academies to scale their business faster and easier. It helps you manage your student profiles through a comprehensive dashboard about payment dues, reminders, course subscription analytics, and much more.

FLOELLE INC, United States

Industry: Health Care

📣 Find them at booth #12

Floelle, Inc. was co-founded with the mission to develop a medical device that will manage and treat women with urinary incontinence by liberating them from using sanitary paper products. Their vision is to make this device available to all women worldwide, and its patented disposable device will block 500 million incontinent women’s urine leaks & generate $414MM of revenue.

GoCoach, United States

Industry: Education

📣 Find them at booth #13

GoCoach is a B2B SaaS Subscription Talent Development Platform that upskills and reskills all employees with a coach marketplace and learning experience platform. They use scalable technology and blended learning to help your employees develop the skills they need to succeed with tailored, relevant, high-quality learning experiences.

Helppo Inc, China

Industry: SaaS

📣 Find them at booth #14

Advances in technology have brought unprecedented changes to life. The recently established 24/7 online learning platform “Helppo” breaks through the time and geographic scope of traditional learning. Through real-time online video teaching, students can follow up on their own learning anytime and anywhere, get individual guidance from the tutor, and conduct interactive academic discussions. Most tutors are from overseas, and some are appointed or graduated from top universities. The field of study is very wide, including English, mathematics, economics, calculus, and public examinations.

iBrainy, Israel

Industry: Education

📣 Find them at booth #15

iBrainy is an app and platform empowering older adults to learn, connect and feel relevant again through artificial intelligence (AI), accessible and educational quiz games, courses & community features. In your personal dashboard, you can see all your achievements & scores. You also find their suggestion that is personal for you, based on your preferences and needs.

iCodejr.com, United Arab Emirates

Industry: Education

📣 Find them at booth #16

iCodejr.com is an online coding academy. They offer live online coding classes for students from Grade 1–12 with a world-class STEAM curriculum. iCodejr’s after-school classes help students gain a competitive advantage in computer science and complement their in-school curriculum. It helps them build efficiency in game design & development, app design & development, web design & development, and data science & ML.

Jelloow, United States

Industry: Marketing / Advertising / Sales

📣 Find them at booth #17

Jelloow is a cloud-based web application where startups or any growing company can match with qualified marketing agencies to get support for their digital marketing/growth needs. The platform creates liberty for both startups and digital marketing agencies to do business together on a common platform. Jelloow has been successful in creating an ecosystem and focuses on generating revenue by subscribed agencies.

Kimby, United States

Industry: Fintech / Finance

📣 Find them at booth #18

Kimby is a platform to invest in one-of-a-kind precious gemstones for investors worldwide. Time and again, precious gemstones have shown to be an alternative asset class that provides a hedge for long-term investors and risk-adjusted returns. However, the alternative asset class is commonly compared to private bonds or real-estate verticals. Investors struggle to enter this investment category efficiently due to the industry’s lack of transparency and expensive entry barriers. Hence, Kimby developed a private investment platform for accredited investors seeking alternative investments in collectibles such as precious gemstones.

Lets Join In Pty Ltd, Australia

Industry: SaaS

📣 Find them at booth #19

Lets Join In is the first Social Engagement Platform that generates conversations between organizations and their intended audience. The application allows organizations to have two-way communication with audiences on hot topics, curated content, and news articles using video, audio, and instant messaging. Organizations can utilize their technology to maximize engagement whilst also gathering real-time data and analytics from user feedback.

Mauisoft Enterprises, Honduras

Industry: Information Technology / Services

📣 Find them at booth #20

Mauisoft Enterprises empowers youth in Latin America and give the business world lean ambassadors with the tech and business skills granted at their free-online training center.

Maxwell, United States

Industry: Human Resources

📣 Find them at booth #21

Maxwell is a work/life benefits platform that helps teams crush it at work and home. It makes it easy for employees to get the meaningful and personalized support they need from their employers, and in return, employers get engaged teams that can crush it at work and home. A single platform for lifestyle benefits, traditional benefits, employee wellbeing, rewards, and engagement. Keep your teams productive and cared for, while reducing costs and HR’s administrative work.

Metasonixx ltd, United Kingdom

Industry: Manufacturing / Industrial Find them at booth #22

Metasonixx engineers materials that give unprecedented control over sound and noise. It delivers solutions based on standard materials (e.g. metal, plastic, wood, paper) but re-engineered into “acoustic metamaterials,” giving existing products the ability to shape and bend sound. Their designs take inspiration from devices that shape light — like lenses, holograms, and LCD displays — and give their customers unprecedented control over sound in their own products.

Motil, United States

Industry: Software Development

📣 Find them at booth #23

Motil is an all-in-one software solution for the self-employed, side hustlers, and freelancers to manage commission-free payments and receivables, and enables calendar scheduling and client booking/engagement with a referral optimization tool — all from one dashboard on virtually any device. Its mission is to grow and empower local economies by unlocking individuals’ full potential and skills.

Next Decentrum Technologies Inc, Canada

Industry: Blockchain

📣 Find them at booth #24

Next Decentrum is on a mission to democratize access to art and culture by helping museums reimagine their experience, leverage their physical assets, and capitalize on the endless possibilities of the Metaverse. Next Decentrum’s product, Momentable, allows leading museums and artists to publish art and artifacts as digital collectables to reach new audiences around the world, generate perpetual revenue, and create experiences never before possible that inspire, educate, and bring people together. Next Decentrum provides an end-to-end offering, an advanced creator dashboard, powerful storefront with curated artworks and artifacts, and a safe NFT collecting experience.

OTIS AI, United States

Industry: Artificial Intelligence

📣 Find them at booth #25

Otis is a digital marketing app that simplifies the experience for users with powerful AI technology that works in the background to maximize your success with digital marketing. It’s easy to use, portable and empowers the users to create their own campaign anytime. The clear metrics show how well your campaign is doing in real-time.

Paiid, Canada

Industry: Fintech / Finance

📣 Find them at booth #26

Paiid is an omnichannel payments platform that enables businesses to accept e-commerce and mobile payments from over 100 different payment types across the globe, including card schemes, digital wallets, Buy Now Pay Later, SMS, QR code and digital currencies. They are on a mission to transform every mobile phone on the planet into a payment terminal.

Philanthrofi, United States

Industry: SaaS

📣 Find them at booth #27

Philanthrofi is a global platform connecting companies to the impact they aspire to create in the world. Companies can invest or partner with active development, humanitarian, and philanthropic projects implemented by Impact Organizations around the world that align with their strategic investments, business operations, expansion markets, and other ESG & Sustainability goals.

Picap, Colombia

Industry: Logistics / Supply Chain

📣 Find them at booth #28

Latin America’s $1T logistics market is fragmented and undergoing a massive transformation as eCommerce, and B2B logistics require more technology-enabled offerings. Picap built the biggest fleet of motorcycles in Latin America using a ride-hailing model. They use the technologies that help you control your logistics and fleet’s deliveries.

RMI Insights, United States

Industry: Fintech / Finance

📣 Find them at booth #29

RMI Insights automates three-statement financial modeling by allowing their clients — asset managers and lenders — to ingest company financials “as is” and visually project how these companies will perform in the future. They use Machine Learning technology to automate and democratize financial modeling for everyone.

Safe Haven, Belgium

Industry: Blockchain

📣 Find them at booth #30

Safe Haven is building DeFi solutions for safely managing, storing, and transferring your crypto or other digital assets like NFTs, passwords, pictures, and documents. Its solutions include decentralized inheritance, master node solutions, wallets, and pooling services. With a focus on security, they provide decentralized financial, backup, inheritance, and data transfer products for individual consumers and established organizations

ScootRoute, United States

Industry: Transportation/Mobility

📣 Find them at booth #31

ScootRoute is a mobile navigation app for micro-mobility. Combining three different mapping technologies with real-time traffic data, ScootRoute finds the ideal route for every scooter journey. Additionally, constant updates let riders keep pace with fast-changing local regulations and a growing scooter infrastructure. ScootRoute has intelligence on speed limits, bike lanes, parking zones, sidewalk rules, and more.

Scytale, Israel

Industry: Cybersecurity

📣 Find them at booth #32

Scytale is the global leader in SOC 2 compliance automation, helping security-conscious SaaS companies get compliant and stay compliant. Scytale’s SOC 2 experts offer personalized guidance to streamline compliance, enabling faster growth and boosting customer trust.

SkliQ, United States

Industry: Technology / Service

📣 Find them at booth #33

SkliQ is a Human Intelligence Platform as a Service (HIPaaS) for organizations of all sizes where its internal people can find, connect and collaborate with their global colleagues based on their top skills. With this, your organization can engage a global workforce and facilitate collaboration between co-workers across locations.

SkyVest, Oman

Industry: Investment Management/Cryptocurrency

📣 Find them at booth #34

SkyVest is a comprehensive platform to facilitate cryptocurrency trading. Its goal is to be your safe and reliable companion in the complex world of cryptocurrencies and to be able to remove obstacles and difficulties in the path of growth in the digital world. They connect investors to market analysts and build trust between the two groups. It also allows investors to use the experiences of professional traders and strengthens the motivation of professional traders to share their experiences.

Startupy. United States

Industry: Information Technology / Services

📣 Find them at booth #35

Startupy matches engineers and entrepreneurs based on rate and project fit. Their easy-to-use platform helps engineers find their dream projects & collaboration opportunities, whereas startups can find people they can afford and have the right skill set. Join a community of developers and entrepreneurs looking for their next big opportunity.

The Black Book, United States

Industry: Marketing / Advertising / Sales

📣 Find them at booth #36

The Blackbook is a web extension that connects people to black-owned brands as they shop online. Its mission is to connect black consumers and black businesses in a way that’s easy, meaningful, and helpful. They believe that the platform is an effective way to redirect black dollars back to the community.

Virtual Operative Services, South Africa

Industry: SaaS

📣 Find them at booth #37

As an entrepreneur or business owner, you are wearing more than one hat, which can be frustrating and exhausting. Virtual Operative Services will take over all the tedious tasks that keep you busy but unproductive. It is a subscription-based Virtual Admin Team Capacity app for Startups, Scale-ups, and SMEs needing internal teams.

Vital Start, United States

Industry: Health Care

📣 Find them at booth #38

Vital Start Health is a University of Pennsylvania startup that has developed the first maternal mental health platform using VR for equitable, personalized, clinically guided care for mothers across the maternity continuum from pre-pregnancy/fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum.

Zorion, United Kingdom

Industry: Fintech / Finance

📣 Find them at booth #39

Zorion is an innovative, ethical, and socially responsible investment platform that puts equal focus on smart decision-making, ESG concerns, and spirituality. They believe everyone should have the opportunity to increase their Financial well-being through investments. It should be easy, safe, reliable, and ethical. The platform makes it easy to invest in stocks, whether you’re just getting started or already a pro

221e srl, Italy

Industry: Computer Hardware Manufacturing

📣 Find them at booth #40

221e is a pioneer in wearable sensors that offers knowledge in algorithm modeling, electronic engineering, and design. They surf the wave of IoT and wearable systems, merging advanced hardware designs with intelligent software architectures driven by an approach devoted to continuous improvement, solid engineering skills, curiosity, and passion for data and its science.

40 Startups to Watch at The Upside of Downturns Summit was originally published in Startup Grind on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.