Virtual forest experiences won BusinessUp this fall
- The winner of the 9th BusinessUp acceleration program was Korpi ForRest
- Korpi ForRest offers relaxing audiovisual experiences for workplaces
- The next BusinessUp programme will start in spring 2020
On Wednesday 27 November, the 9th BusinessUp DemoDay took place at SparkUp Turku. As the winner was awarded KorpForRest. They create digital audiovisual forest experiences for workplaces to promote creative and stress-free environments. Other ideas were e.g. AI-based children’s games, office automation, speciality desserts, sustainable lifestyle products and programmes to prevent social exclusion.
The event was the end of a 10-week start-up business development program. Every fall and spring, 20-30 start-ups in various stages of development apply to the program. Between eight and ten groups are accepted.
– The main criteria for teams is to have an innovative idea, a scalable business model and a team with high spirits and a global attitude, said Johanna Puhtila, Growth Advisor for the BusinessUp Accelerator Program.
During the ten weeks, the start-up members go through a series of trainings meant to help them further develop their business from concept to reality. This can include productization, marketing, finance, customer identification and sales. Each team had a mentor and attended keynote speeches and workshops to help them further develop their product or service.
– Financiers and potential customers want the startup to be ready to share their ideas in a well-structured format and we practiced that every week in our program. BusinessUp’s specialty is a large regional expert and mentoring network which gives start-ups good business advice as well as access to extremely valuable networks, Johanna said.
This year, the eight teams presented their ideas in three-minute pitches before a panel of four jury members. This year’s jury was Milla Forsman, an attorney with Lukander Ruohola HTO Oy, Susanna Lahtinen of Choose Your Future, Satu Salmela of Remotec Oy, Turo Numminen with Sofokus Ventures. The moderator for the event was Jarkko Nissinen with Startuplifers. Lukander Ruohola was also a sponsor for the Demo Day.
After the program, companies are eligible for office space from startup community SparkUp. All the teams were happy with the help they got from BusinessUp. They especially happy about new contacts and the amazing peer support the program offers.
Since its start in the Fall of 2015, 85 teams have gone through the program. In each BusinessUp round, 3-4 start-ups are international teams.
For more information, contact Johanna Puhtila at Turku Science Park Ltd.
Photos: @sonjasphoto