The winners of sTARTUp Pitching 2023 have been announced!

Altogether 271 teams started this year’s sTARTUp Pitching competition. After a fierce competition, the winners of sTARTUp Pitching 2023 have been announced. EstBAN awarded a syndicate of €200k to Paul-Tech, Baltic Sandbox Ventures gave out a €125k investment to Gearbox Biosciences and .Cocoon Ventures a €100k syndicate investment to MX Labs.

The Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN) selected their syndicated investment to go to Paul-Tech, a startup developing a soil station that lets farmers monitor plant growth conditions in real time. “Paul-Tech’s technology is based on Estonian researchers’ years-long work, allowing a traditional sector to benefit from the latest innovations. According to our knowledge, their technology is unique in the world. The EstBAN-led syndicate investment will power the company’s expansion to the UK and Swedish market,” said the lead investor Mait Sooaru.


The €125k investment from Baltic Sandbox Ventures went to the biotech startup Gearbox Biosciences, which provides a novel antibiotic-free protein production technology. “Gearbox Biosciences has a solid scientific team, which perfectly fits our investment target. They are solving a real-world problem in the protein production. We strongly believe that this team will make the change in the market,” said Sandra Golbreich, General Partner at Baltic Sandbox Ventures.


.Cocoon Ventures awarded a €100k syndicate investment to MX Labs. “Their camera-based technology allows accurate measurement of a person’s heart rate with a smartphone or computer camera, potentially helping the medical community to diagnose both physical and mental health issues in the future. The company’s team is well-aligned with our values, being genuinely interested in personal development through the development of the company,” said Aleksander Tõnnisson, Founding Partner of .Cocoon Ventures.


Here are all the winners:


€200,000 EstBAN-led syndicate investment

Paul-Tech helps farmers make sustainable everyday decisions based on real-time soil measurements.


€125,000 investment from Baltic Sandbox Ventures

Gearbox Biosciences is eliminating antibiotics from protein production.


€100,000 syndicate investment from .Cocoon Ventures

MX Labs is developing a camera-based holistic health assessment for the early detection and prevention of chronic diseases.


€10,000 equity-free cash from Swedbank

Gearbox Biosciences


€7,500 legal mentoring from Sorainen

€3500 legal mentoring - Paul-Tech

€2500 legal mentoring - Gearbox Biosciences

€1500 legal mentoring - MX Labs


€5 000 legal mentoring from TGS Baltic

€2500 legal mentoring - Paul-Tech

€1500  legal mentoring -  Hotelbuddy 

€1000  legal mentoring  - Menken Trials 


Creative Industries Pitching main award: €3000 equity-free cash 

Audio Cat


Mentoring package from Tera Ventures

Hotelbuddy 


S2B Work Space for three months

Paul-Tech


Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to everyone who made the competition a success! See you at sTARTUp Pitching 2024!

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