Every year, the DIGITALEUROPE Future Unicorn Award showcases Europe’s most promising scale-ups. The prize puts under the spotlight SMEs with potential to become the future European Tech Giants, with demonstrated success in the digitalisation of their business processes and in offering innovative digital products and services. Among the 21 nominees of this year’s competition, there are 3 EIC-funded startups with digital health innovations, cloud computing and water solutions. Find out more about these projects in the EIC Community.
In 2020, several new unicorns were born in Europe, including companies like the EIC-funded startup Cellink. But when we look at the full picture, we realise that only 12% of the world’s unicorns are European and, even if many innovative SMEs are based on the old continent, very few are valued over $1 billion in less than 10 years. DIGITALEUROPE’s Future Unicorn Award nominees make up a pan-European selection of 21 outstanding digital companies from various sectors – including e-health, fintech and energy – with what it takes to grow and become the next European unicorn. The winner will be announced at Masters of Digital during an online ceremony on 3 and 4 February 2021. The event will count on top EU leaders as speakers, including the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council Charles Michel.
Discover below the three EIC nominees:
Qarnot: Data centres and cloud providers consume 6% of the global electricity and generate 4% of the global CO2 emissions, posing a severe threat to the environment. Qarnot, founded in 2010, is one of the first companies to offer climate-conscious, high-performance cloud computing. The French startup sells its cloud computing capacity and uses the wasted heat generated from its computer servers to sustainably heat buildings and water. From 2014 to 2015, the EeHPC project from Qarnot received a Phase 1 grant from the European Innovation Council to fully refine its business plan and fully exploit the High-Performance Computing (HPC) market. In March 2020, the company raised €6 million with an investment to accelerate the growth and diversification of its customer base, build its in-house R&D, and carry out an ambitious recruitment plan, with a particular focus on IT and commercial roles.
Radiobotics: Plain x-rays remain the principal imaging technique for routine and emergency examinations. But the length of time to analyse and report, and the potential risk to patients on receiving delayed treatments is a matter of concern in multiple countries. Radiobotics is an award-winning HealthTech company focusing on developing algorithms for hospitals to automate the reading of x-rays of bone and joints. Based on advanced computer vision and state-of-the-art machine learning methods, the Danish startup algorithms generates fully automated text reports with objective findings and conclusion, including visual overlays, to enhance consistency and make readings faster and easier on routine medical x-ray images. The company founded in 2017 already received Phase 1 and Phase 2 Grants from the European Innovation Council with its AutoRay project, having raised a total of $4m to date.
SwiftComply: The SwiftComply story began in 2016 when the CEO Michael O’Dwyer developed Europe’s first fat, oil and grease regulatory programme to solve Dublin’s growing problems with excessive build-up of FOG. Michael witnessed how the outdated regulatory processes between restaurant owners and regulators hindered all clean-up efforts. To address this challenge, SwiftComply has developed a technology marketplace for compliance vendors and food service businesses that makes booking services easy, keeps compliance documentation online and allows regulators access to real-time information. In 2017, the company successfully applied for a Phase 2 grant from the European Innovation Council and received €1.5 Million to scale up and refine its innovation. SwiftComply supports today over 450 cities worldwide with its technology and was awarded “Emerging Company of the Year” in the 28th edition of the Technology Ireland Industry Awards.
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DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.