SmartGateVC: the new wave of tech startups disrupting the status quo

SmartGateVC is a seed venture capital fund investing in deep tech companies.

Tech talent is the new oil. The vast tech talent pool, extensive expertise to cost-effectiveness, and constant growth of the IT sector have made Eastern Europe one of the rising startup hubs. SmartGateVC, a deep tech pre-seed VC fund, has proven itself to be one of the main spotters of the promising startups coming out of the region, backing companies that are building path-breaking technologies from their very first days, and serving as a gateway for their expansion to Southern California and wider U.S. markets. 

Many startups among SmartGateVC’s first 21 investments have already topped the lists of hottest ventures in Silicon Valley, affirming the perception of the region as a birthplace of outstanding startups. Some examples are Krisp, SuperAnnotate and Britive.

To help take the most promising companies to another level, in December 2020 SmartGateVC established the Glendale GateWay, a 3-month acceleration program connecting Eastern European scientific potential to the business and technology development talent and opportunities in SoCal. 

The first cohort of the program included 12 most promising tech companies of 2021 under SmartGateVC’s radar, offering innovative solutions in fields ranging from healthtech, business intelligence, fintech, entertainment to proptech, and more. Having founders that have previously held top positions in such companies as Cisco, Synopsis and Apple, the startups of the batch have already been covered by international leading media platforms such as Fox LA, recognized as Product of the Day and nominated for Golden Kitty Awards on Product Hunt, closed pre-seed funding. 

On July 23  SmartGateVC’s Hero House held a Demo Day to unveil the new generation of rising stars and celebrate their achievements throughout the program. 

Meet the companies of the batch

• Expper Technologies is the company behind Robin the Robot, the first emotionally and socially intelligent companion robot aimed at resolving the US care provider shortage while enhancing patient access and experience by promoting a friendly, entertaining, and comfortable environment.

• Dowork.ai is an AI-powered software estimation platform that provides businesses and agencies with accurate estimations using a work-breakdown structure, collaborative approach, resource management, and several other precise prediction features.

• Pinsight is a SaaS that empowers product and customer teams to automate the process of extracting predictions and human-friendly insights from raw data with one click. It focuses on completely automating the process and directly generating and providing predictions to product and customer teams. 

• 3Dzook is a mobile application that converts photos into unique illustrations, and videos into animations with one click. Dzook’s AI technology allows reproducing any artistic style within several days even with a small input of sample data. 

• Embry Tech is a wearable and wellness tech company that has built the world’s first smart insole that measures body weight fluctuations on the go, analyzes daily activity and behavioral patterns, helping individuals take control of their health. 

• Esper Bionics makes robotic prosthetic hands, 3 times faster in control over what’s currently available. They are bringing AI+IoT to the prosthetic industry with a larger vision for human augmentation. 

• GeBeCert technology integrates HF compatible encrypted microchips with the digital counterpart of the blockchain to provide instantaneous verification of authenticity.

• Kubevious improves overall Kubernetes usability and makes it safer to run applications. Kubevious comes with built-in intelligence and enforces cloud-native best practices, providing valuable insights from the get-go. Kubevious is on the mission to solve Kubernetes and CloudNative DevOps safety. 

• Heltun helps people easily manage smart home devices from different brands. It offers a unique cloud platform that manages all  connected devices regardless of technology – making the set up and use of smart homes as easy and intuitive as smartphones. 

• Savely is a Fintech platform helping consumers create and achieve their short-mid term financial goals.  Using it’s core tech and ML, it provides the user with a tailored savings plan crafted specifically for their goal, and links to a bank account to start saving in-house. 

• Aniv is a franchising platform enabling local entrepreneurs and cities to start a profitable micro-mobility business within a single app that can scale the network, manage the fleet using AI, and earn profit through advertisements.

• Mythrill is a premium serialized storytelling platform focused on fantasy content. It brings in a new storytelling concept by integrating an interactive fictional world and visuals into the reading process.  

Startup founders interested in applying for the Hero House Glendale GateWay upcoming Fall 2021 batch can find further information on the program on Hero House website,  or follow SmartGateVC on LinkedIn for future updates and announcements.