20 Startups Received 150,000 GEL Funding from GITA

The 20 winners of the 150,000 GEL co-financing grants program of the Innovation and Technology Agency of Georgia are revealed:

• SMART APP - using cloud technologies, helps small and medium-sized businesses to achieve efficiency.
• Marlin is a technology startup designed to simplify and lower the cost of order management between suppliers and buyers.
• Forma healthy - simplifying healthy living and making weight loss an adventure.
• FlexUp - Startup connects students to the hospitality business with short daily shifts, taking the pressure off core teams and fueling the best era of customer service.
• Stori AI - an artificial intelligence-based web application that allows business owners and operators, marketers and copywriters, students and teachers to create flawless and creative digital content, both text and visual, in seconds.
• Awork - the first Georgian employment application that will connect job seekers and companies. Companies can manage their HR processes digitally through the Business Profile, while users can easily search for vacancies and send applications without leaving the platform.
• Ordero - B2B "marketplace" in the healthcare sector, which simplifies the relationship of clinics and hospitals with suppliers.
• Colis - The goal of the startup is to create a Web3 cross-chain CRM that will help various decentralized applications (Dapps) interact with their users and analyze them.
• eConsul - the goal of the startup is to create a space that will help the traveler to fill in, store and manage his personal information. thereby simplifying the pre-travel process and automating the filling of visa applications.
• Omoi - Transforming an AI-based UX research MVP into a product and going global.
• Upway - The largest and most trusted marketplace for informal courses, where users can find, compare and buy local courses, and course providers can post and manage course information, receive registrations and sell courses.
• Ranko - the goal of the project is to create an ecosystem that will create access to affordable finance for low-income people and small business owners, as well as help banks and microfinance organizations to create digital infrastructure and consolidate services.

• CALEN AI platform - the goal of the startup is to help small and medium-sized businesses organize, plan and automate communications with customers without learning technology.
• Lawformer - changing the way lawyers approach their daily work processes.
• Better Energy Solution - The goal of the project is to increase access to renewable energy sources for existing private companies by providing a budget-friendly and convenient service that will help companies reduce costs and also promote the use of clean energy sources in the country.
• Mens.ge - The goal of the project is to develop an innovative men's telemedicine platform Mens.ge
• Proxymeta Labs - providing incubation of web3 projects in the CIS and Asia region, helping with idea generation, project planning, marketing plan development, financial issues, etc.
• Medik - a medical ecosystem where patients book and manage doctor visits, including in-person visits or video visits, receive all medical information such as test results, radiology results and prescriptions, purchase prescribed medicines in a digital pharmacy and send the necessary information to the insurance company for reimbursement.
• Carusell - a flexible platform for buying and selling cars.
• SPOTs "modular farm" - Spot targets a wide range of HORECA shops and other private sectors in Georgia and abroad. On the one hand, the company will sell fully assembled spots for export to customers who want to operate them independently. On the other hand, to install Spots with partner HORECAs in Georgia, but to maintain the ownership of these farms.

The decision was made by the investment committee, which is composed of high-level international venture investors: Marvin Liao, Bill Reichart, Steve Hoffman, Naomi Kokubo, and Sasha Michaud.

The Innovation and Technology Agency of Georgia announced the 150,000 GEL co-financing grants program on August 17, 2022. In 2022, the amount of the co-financing grants program increased from 100,000 to 150,000 GEL, and a total of 155 startups were financed within the eight rounds of the mentioned program. From the received applications, foreign experts specially selected for the co-financing grants program identified the finalists, who were trained by foreign trainers to present their ideas before the Investment Commission.

The purpose of the program is to develop innovative products and services with international potential in Georgia, their commercialization and stimulation of the creation of innovative enterprises. Co-financing grants are one of the most common financing instruments used to support innovation in both developed and developing economies.