Orchestra wins the Boldbrain Startup Challenge 2019

Orchestra was not the only winner at the award ceremony. The national jury of the Boldbrain Startup Challenge, in front of an audience of around 400 participants gathered at the USI Lugano campus Aula magna, proclaimed LocalPoint in second place (cash prize of 30.000 CHF), MANO in third place (20.000 CHF), and Qikle and Lavatazzine in fourth and fifth place respectively (10.000 CHF each). A sixth prize of 10.000 CHF was awarded by the public, through electronic vote, to Orchestra.

A number of in-kind prizes were assigned as well, such as privileged access to the Swiss Economic Award and MassChallenge Switzerland for the five winners, and a voucher from the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property Protection for all ten finalists to enable their first patent search. Hemar Group, one of the sponsors of the event, awarded Mano and Lavatazzine with the opportunity to start work on the prototype of their idea.

In the afternoon before the ceremony, the five winners (plus seven other companies) had the chance to pitch to investors at the Venture DAY Lugano by Startup INVEST. For the first time more tan 100 investors attended the pitch event showing the high momentum of the startup ecosystem in Ticino. 

The winners by rank

First place: Orchestra (Massagno TI) – Firefighters, medical services, civil protection and other public services, still operate by old standards. Alarms are sent manually by phone, vital information is processed with pen and paper, and long command chains handling rescue operations. Orchestra is a platform that helps to optimise workflows in emergency situations, in daily operations, and their understanding of the territory, saving time and improving their effectiveness. Early warning, targeted information transfer, efficient task management and resource planning are just some of the key functions developed in close collaboration with the leaders of these organisations. The company has already first paying customers.

Orchestra is the brainchild of two software engineers, one senior and one junior: Danilo Wyder, entrepreneur with 20 years’ experience in civil protection, and Enrico Bottani, programmer with a compelling story of a friend who died in a snowboarding accident because of the late arrival of first respondent services.

Second place: LocalPoint (Porza TI) – LocalPoint is a company that has developed a platform with which you can automatically extract and classify data from a PDF. This platform is now used by several local newspapers in Switzerland, to publish in digital format the paper version of the newspaper so that it can also be used on other devices such as mobile phones and tablets. The solution uses artificial intelligence to automatically extract data from a PDF.

Third place: MANO (Bissone TI)– MANO is a wireless glove, rechargeable, lightweight, energy-efficient for ironing. The system goes beyond the limits of the traditional ironing and is particularly suitable for travellers. The team will now develop a prototype.

Fourth place: Qikle (Zurich) – Qikle is the Swiss Army Knife among the payment apps. The free (e-wallet) app allows the user to pay online and offline after linking it to their bank account and photographing a QR code. Qikle carries out transactions based on a recently introduced European regulation, which allows third parties to initiate payments using the existing banking infrastructure. Through the connection to the (web)shop cart, Qikle creates a standardised and specific digital receipt for each payment provider. The app includes features such as overview and analysis of expenses, automated expenses, (digital) loyalty cards and customised advertising settings to receive targeted promotional offers.

Fifth place: LAVATAZZINE A VAPORE – To avoid the use of new so-called biodegradable plastics, in offices at events, etc., you can easily go back to having coffee in porcelain cups. This invention allows you to wash quickly and practically bacteria-free only with steam. For cups and mugs.

The Boldbrain Startup Challenge is an accelerator program for early-stage innovative ideas, organised by AGIRE Foundation in collaboration with the USI Start-Up Promotion Center (CP Start-Up), with the leading support of the Department of the Economy and Finances of the Canton Ticino, and sponsored by BancaStato. Boldbrain is organised every year in the months from August to December. Applications for the 2020 edition will open in May, for details: www.boldbrain.ch.