Startups conquering space sector
Eight teams have made it to the final phase of the space industry accelerator Space3ac. They now have one and a half months to brush up their projects and prepare a presentation for investors. The winners will take 50 thousand PLN to spend on scientific research and will have a chance to obtain investments worth even as much as 2 million PLN(approx. 450 thousand EUR).
This first Space3ac accelerator attracted 50 candidates. Among them, the jury chose 14 teams who were then invited to take part in the Preparation Camp, an introductory event organised by the Gdansk-based business incubator STARTER. With the help of their mentors, the scientists and young entrepreneurs were licking their ideas and projects into shape and learned how to present them in the best way. At first, the plan assumed that the top five participants would move on to the final stage – where they would hone their projects under the eyes of international experts and get ready to show them in front of potential investors. “The potential of the submitted ideas was so great we just thought it’d be a waste to keep to the original assumptions, and so we ended up inviting as many as 8 teams,” says Wojciech Drewczyński of Black Pearls VC, one of the persons behind Space3ac.
Taking the next step
Among the projects that are to be perfected with the helping hand of world-class specialists up until 28 August, are a design of a drone for repairing high voltage lines, a system for analysing satellite pictures of crops – assessing the condition and needs of plants based on nitrogen and chlorophyll levels, or a solution warning parachute jumpers against collisions.
At the final phase, the accelerator participants are to cooperate with exquisite experts, such as the creators of space vehicles and devices, representatives of the Polish and European space agencies, EU experts in processing and application of satellite data, or seasoned business people and space industry investors. All that effort is geared towards the Demo Day of 9th September, when the contenders will dazzle their potential investors. The stakes are high: the total pool for investment in the accelerated projects may be as much as 2 million PLN!
Poles leading again
Polish startups prove again that they are up for the space race. The evidence of this is the significant interest that the Space3ac accelerator enjoys, but also the attendance in the currently running Galileo Masters competition for the most intriguing satellite technology projects. The Polish branch of the contest has gathered the largest number of application ideas in Europe another year in a round!