Startups from South Korea, Turkey, India, and Morocco Select into Norwegian Tech Accelerator
Startups from South Korea, Turkey, India, and Morocco Select into Norwegian Tech Accelerator
  • Dan Yoo 기자
  • 승인 2018.03.02 15:18
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Exponential technology startups from across the globe join Norway’s Katapult Accelerator to solve global challenges
Haakon Brunell Managing Partner, Katapult Accelerator
Haakon Brunell Managing Partner, Katapult Accelerator

 

The Norwegian Katapult Accelerator has just announced its second cohort of startups to participate in their 12-week program. Startups from India, Turkey, South Korea and Morocco are among the selected. Katapult Accelerator is a global accelerator that aims to fast-track solutions to global problems within both environmental and societal domains. It supports startups that can address these problems with exponential technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, blockchain, virtual reality, augmented reality, and applications of the internet of things.

Korea IT Times had an email interview with Haakon Brunell Managing Partner, Katapult Accelerator and he said "Given your interest in the intersection between tech, entrepreneurship and impact, in at least one of these countries, we would be happy to connect you with either the Katapult Accelerator or any of the startups".

Q: What is the Katapult Accelerator?

A: “The Katapult Accelerator is a fast-paced and hands-on program to help build and scale startups that can solve environmental or societal challenges through exponential technologies. Our goal for each company is to prepare them for their next round of investment, so that they achieve two to three times their original valuation.The Katapult Accelerator invests up to USD 150,000 in each startup. Katapult Accelerator also provides a network of global investors and partnerships that can boost the startups in their next phase of development.
Our focus is on solving challenges connected to: *Environmental domains- Clean Energy, Resource Efficiency, Smart Cities, Circular Economy, Ocean & Land Use. *Societal domains- Food & Water,Education, Health, Diversity, Inclusion & Democracy, Thriving Societies & Collaboration. *Building on exponential technologies- AI, Blockchain, VR/AR, IoT.

Q: Why have you launched the Katapult Accelerator?

A: We believe in making a positive impact. We believe in technology as the key driver for change. We believe in the untapped talent of the world.
We are fueled and inspired by our deep belief in exponential technology. We believe these technologies such as AI and Blockchain can help impact focused startups scale faster while solving real global problems.

Q: What countries do the selected startups come from?

A: The Katapult Accelerator Fund made a selection from 1,500 impact-focused startups from all over the world. The 12 chosen startups will use exponential technology to solve the grand challenges of the world and with founders from and operations in India, Kenya, Nigeria, Singapore, USA, Spain, UK, Turkey, South Korea, Morocco, Sweden, Norway and Iceland, they represent nearly all continents. 50% of the selected startups have female founders.

Q: You have one startup from Korea, how will this company make an impact on the world?

A: Oizom is an Environmental Solution Company. Through strategic installations, Oizom develops a dense data-grid of networked instruments which helps us understand air pollution and climate change. The monitoring allows for spotting and resolving the sources of pollution. Oizom Big-data is the key to accurate forecasting & change analysis of environmental conditions. Oizom artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms identify unique patterns in ecological dynamics and provide accurate forecasting and predictions through machine learning.
Oizom had a revenue of US$ 325 000 in 2017, a 500+ % growth from 2016. 
So far 150 units are in use. 
Oizom is based in India, with operations in South Korea, Turkey, Morocco and India.

Q: What are Katapult Accelerator's goals for its startups?

A: The overall aim of the Accelerator is to get the companies ready for their next round of investment, on at least 2-3x their current valuation.
Katapult Accelerator has succeeded in achieving its goals for batch number one. 
Of the original 12 startups, 11 raised additional funding, and 5 officially closed, or are in the closing process of their rounds. The overall aim of the Accelerator is to get the companies ready for their next round of investment, on at least 2-3x their current valuation.
Katapult Accelerator has succeeded in achieving its goals for batch number one. 
Of the original 12 startups, 11 raised additional funding, and 5 officially closed, or are in the closing process of their rounds.

The Katapult Accelerator helped us understand and define our reason-for-being and we became laser focused on the next steps of the startup journey, one of the startups accepted by Katapult in 2017. Sky.Garden recently closed their USD 1.2 million funding round, at a valuation of USD 4 million.


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