Vocaly and SmartDust win the TDJ Pitango Seed Competition 2

Wojciech Fedorowicz, managing partner at TDJ Pitango Ventures and one of the TDJ Pitango Seed Competition 2 jurors stressed: “All five finalist startups made a great impression on our jury. The battle for gold was very evenly waged, which is why we decided to award our grand prix to two startups – Vocaly and SmartDust. It was the advanced technology both companies are utilising which was decisive, along with strong teams and their potential for global success.”

Vocaly Pro have developed a mobile app based on artificial intelligence for users to train their voices in several fields, including singing, speech therapy, phoniatrics and voice psychology.

Karolina Borner, the Vocaly founder and CEO: “Vocaly delivers complex solutions to problems associated with self-guided vocal training, allowing users to practice in controlled, healthy and effective ways.” 

SmartDust is technology which connects mobile devices into virtual testing laboratories. Currently, there are over 12000 different models of mobile devices on the market. Sourcing devices needed to test games, apps or mobile sites is key to the success of their developers.

“SmartDust connects unused devices stored in technological firms, private testing laboratories and other places with programmers and testers. Thanks to simple programming and use of existing infrastructures, we are able to offer access to 80% of the mobile devices around the world, thereby reducing access costs by 90%,” according to Rafał Trzeciak, SmartDust cofounder and CEO.

SmartDust also won the Audience Award in this round of our competition. Along with funding, winners will also receive a tailored Smart-Money package in the shape of management and mentoring support from experts in the TDJ Pitango Ventures networks.

Our competition proved most popular for startups from the Polish capital – 32% of the companies which applied are based in Warsaw. Lublin was second (10,2%), followed by Kraków (8,8%), Wrocław (7,5%) and Poznań (4,1%). Foreign teams were also represented, including those planning to incubate in Poland, of which there were 4,8%. Looking at the sectors, top marks in this edition were awarded to start ups in the AI / Machine Learning (14,3%) fields, but this time also including Digital Health and Wellness. This was followed by Consumer products (7,5%), Sustainability (6,8%), Agritech (6,1%), Edtech (6,1%) and others.

Transmission from the Final Gala can be seen here: https://youtu.be/2Xad99oAUEU