The Kaleidoskoop Pre-Selection, the student business idea competition organized by sTARTUp Lab, took place for the 20th time on 4 May. The top three teams made it to the finals, which will be held on 26 May during the startup and technology conference Latitude59 in Tallinn. Nine Starter programme teams and one high school student team participated in the competition.

The jury comprised active members of the startup ecosystem, SEB Innovation Lead Kristina Lillo and former eAgronom Product Manager Anastasiia Shevchenko, who evaluated the teams’ idea development, the existence of a problem, and the marketability of the idea.

The following teams made it to the Latitude59 finals from the Kaleidoskoop pre-selection:

• Minesweeper With Friends - developing a retro game with fun 3D graphics

• Homies - developing an app that connects travellers with friendly locals from the same community

• PastaPro - who make pasta enhanced with plant proteins.

The monetary award from the city of Tartu went to the secondary school student team KOIT who are creating a website that teaches programming from basics to actual beginner-level IT tasks.

The teams Click(less), Bakkheia, Langesta, and DynamicSurvey received special awards from CDL Estonia and the University of Tartu. More information about these teams can be found here.

According to Aleksandra Leesment, a team member of Minesweeper With Friends, the STARTER programme was excellent and informative and provided the necessary tools for starting a real company. "We didn't even know how much paperwork was needed to create a startup," she added.

Kevin Akkermann, a team member of KOIT, said the monetary prize from Tartu City Government gave them the confidence to move forward with their idea.

"The consistently high level of the teams surprised me in a very positive way," commented SEB Innovation Manager Kristina Lillo. "We decided to send primarily very strong teams to the Latitude59 competition who had an idea with a special value proposition and a scalable business model. It was a pleasure to present the City of Tartu award to Tartu boys who are engaged in innovation in the field of education and are starting from Tartu. Innovation and entrepreneurship are in SEB's DNA, and that is why we want to support young people on their entrepreneurial journey," added Lillo.

For most teams, the pre-selection marked the end of the STARTER programme. The new and final STARTER programme begins on 14 September with the Idea Hackathon.

The programme is funded by the European Social Fund.

Additional information: 

Hannah Kaarma, sTARTUp Lab Communications and Marketing Specialist, University of Tartu, +372 5400 5242, hannah.kaarma@ut.ee