European juries awed by Swiss robotics and cleantech solutions

Deutsche Bahn’s Mindbox is a startup hub designed to provide founders and innovators with a platform to test and fast-track their ideas and products inside Deutsche Bahn. One of the programs is DB StartupXpress, which focuses on startups that enable the organisation to discover and test new technologies or business models for railway infrastructure such as tracks, stations, energy, or its services in mobility and logistics.

The program covers different sectors including ‘Robotics for DB’ for which the jury nominated three projects that will win a partnership to build and test their prototype and business model. ETH Zurich spinoff Sevensense Robotics AG is among the winners.

Sevensense’s technology allows autonomous mobile robots including forklifts and cleaning machines to move independently and safely in dynamic indoor and outdoor spaces full of people. By leveraging artificial intelligence, computer vision, and sensors robots are able to map the environment enabling them to localise and navigate in the dynamic indoor environment. Advanced motion sensors additionally prevent collisions with both static and dynamic obstacles.

Vestbee selects Bloom Biorenewables
The winners and finalists of the CCE Scaleup challenge organised by Vestbee, the leading regional online platform that connects global investors and corporates with startups from Central & Eastern Europe and DACH, have been revealed. Among the three winners is the Swiss cleantech startup Bloom Biorenewables.

Bloom designs chemical processes to produce sustainable materials. The company’s solutions rely on a ground-breaking chemical process, named Aldehyde-Assisted Fractionation (AAF), which can convert up to 80% of biomass to a selected number of petroleum-like chemicals.

Apart from the main prize, the winners will receive up to one million dollars from Next Road Ventures, the opportunity to join the EIT InnoEnergy investment program, an invitation to the Fast Track To Investment Program and much more benefits supported by the program partners.

Moreover, the competition’s Top 10 finalists have also been awarded up to 25k USD credits for AWS, up to 90% discount in HubSpot for Startups program and Trustmate business plan for 6 months. Among them is another Swiss company, Open Mineral, provider of the first B2B platform empowering buyers and sellers of base metal commodities to use technology to trade more efficiently.