Techcelerator and Google for Startups have selected seven startups out of the 41 registered for the acceleration program Advancing AI dedicated to this market segment. It aims to support entrepreneurs who develop products based on AI (artificial intelligence) and the development of this ecosystem at the local level.

Advancing AI offers startups access to premium resources provided by Google, to Central and Eastern European institutions which will validate their services and business development,  to benefits and tools dedicated to hi-tech startups provided by Techcelerator partners, to a network of investors for financing, to mentors and know-how oriented to the current needs of the teams and to the support offered even after the completion of the acceleration program.

The selected startups use at least one of the technologies AI, ML (Machine Learning), Deep Learning, Big Data, Advanced Analytics. These are:

  • GoTeleport – Electric car rental service developed based on its own algorithms that provide data regarding the demand, real-time location of vehicles, and their delivery to customers.
  • Medinav is a digital assistant for doctors that helps them spend more time with their patients, reducing administrative work. It listens to the doctor’s verbal recommendations, understands them, automatically fills in the forms within the electronic files, and offers clinical assistance through various alerts.
  • Meetgeek.ai is a virtual assistant for effective meetings, which takes notes, sends the follow-up of the meeting, and ensures that the progress of the actions resulting from it is tracked effectively.
  • MOCAPP – a SaaS application used by Marcom professionals to automate and optimize processes in influencers’ campaigns. Companies and agencies use it to streamline marketing campaigns and cut costs by 45% to 70%.
  • Neonic.ai – API as a Service platform that offers artificial intelligence solutions for solving current problems of companies without developing their own AI solutions.
  • RepsMate uses technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analysis to understand customer behavior and needs and transforms customer representatives, who interact with customers, into top performers.
  • Siscale developed a platform based on artificial intelligence algorithms designed to solve the problems of companies regardless of the industry by consolidating several data dispersed in a single compact set that can be used for observability of events, reduction of “noise” caused by alerts, correlation of events and automatic analysis of the causes of problems.

“Initially, we were determined to choose five teams for the program, but we were impressed by the quality of the projects submitted, so we chose to support seven teams that have the potential to boost the local AI sector. As shown in various European sources, such as the recently issued Report <<A European Approach to Artificial Intelligence. A policy perspective>> of EIT Digital, with whom we collaborate, the most commonly adopted AI applications include predictive maintenance, chatbots, voice/text recognition, natural language processing, computer vision, and predictive analytics. And in the Advancing AI program, you can find almost all these solutions. We rely on the fact that, although the demand for AI solutions is still limited, certain sectors of the economy will move from the phase of experiencing the benefits of AI or minimally using them, to large-scale adoption, such as the manufacturing or health areas” said Cristian Dascălu, GapMinder VC partner and Co-founder of Techcelerator.

Startups will benefit from two months of mentoring sessions structured on three modules: “AI Design Thinking, a human-centered approach to building AI products”, “AI Product Management and Marketing”, and “Investor Readiness”. The program will end in December 2020 with a public online Demo Day event.

In addition, depending on the progress made during the acceleration period, they could access potential investments of up to 200,000 euros from GapMinder VC and access to co-investment deals from SeedBlink crowdfunding platform, business angel communities, like Tech Angels.

All the companies included in the “Advancing AI” program will also receive benefits from Techcelerator partners in the total value of over 150,000 euros: Google Cloud free access, Stripe credits, HubSpot startup accounts, Freshworks product software, and more.

Dan Oros, Marketing Director, Google Romania, states: “We’re happy to provide in-depth support to startups using advanced technologies to build better products and services. AI is one of the drivers of innovation and creates new opportunities in all industries, with an increasing role in the economic development of Romania.”