Results and winners of Startup Connect Сontest

9 startups from 136 contest applications were selected to participate in the final. Those teams received pitch trainings and went to *Ship startup festival.

List of the finalists:

1. ToporAuto
2. iVoice
3. AirCloud
4. Warden Machinery
5. BaseTracK
6. Mishka AI
7. Vakava Technologies (Finland) 
8. VOLTS (Finland) 
9. Zero Gravity Oy (Finland) 

9 finalists, along with other *Ship Startup Festival participants were divided into 5 batches according their areas: Disrupt, Innovate, Entertain, Impact and Design.

On August 1, the first day of the festival, all startups were presented to the jury members at the mentor meetups.

At the second day all startup teams pitched their ideas in front of the judges.

Jury of Startup Connect Contest were:

• Irina Kalashnikova, Co-founder and CEO of GoTech Innovation
• Sergey Dashkov, Venture Investor and founder of Phystech Accelerator
• Alexander Andreev, Investment partner, Almaz Capital VC

TOP-10 teams were selected for another round - Pitch Captain Competition at the market square of Kotka. After the final session startup team SciAR was named Pitch Captain and received the main prize of 5000 euros.

Svetlana Zakharenkova, CEO of Mishka AI, was selected a winner of Startup Connect Contest.

Mishka AI is an AI-enabled connected soft toy that helps parents teach and engage their kids as well as create good habits.

Mishka AI team received the main prize of the competition – participation package to Web Summit festival in Lisbon, a ticket to LevelUp Startup Accelerator in Kotka and third place at Pitch Captain Competition.

"We are very pleased that the final of the Startup Connect Contest take place at *Ship festival. The incredible atmosphere of the festival, startups ambitions and enthusiasm – that's what makes this event memorable and gives you a will to move forward" - shares her experience Irina Kalashnikova, co-founder and CEO of GoTech Innovation.

“Many thanks to Startup Connect project and organizers of *Ship for such a great opportunity to present Mishka AI in the final! Participations in such events makes an invaluable experience for teams that are looking for international expertise and useful networking. Such support is very important for us, and, I am sure, for other participants too”, - says Svetlana Zakharenkova, founder of Mishka AI.

Startup Connect project congratulates Svetlana Zakharenkova and Mishka AI team and wishes success in entering the European market!

Startup Connect Contest is a part of Startup Connect project funded by South-East Finland – Russia CBC 2014-2020 program.