PHOTO: Mobile Vehicle Technology – Winner of the Croatian Final of PowerUp

The startup Mobile Vehicle Technology is the winner of the Croatian final of PowerUp, a competition for startups from Central and Eastern Europe in the field of sustainable development and energy organized by InnoEnergy with hubs in 24 countries. They will participate in the European final on June 19 in Prague, Czech Republic, the largest international competition of its kind, supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. Mobile Vehicle Technology has developed a unique IoT platform IoTaaP that allows for easy use of IoT technologies in existing and new systems through a web application. If they win, this startup will receive a prize of 30,000 euros. However, there is a much larger amount provided by funds and investors, which is 150,000 euros. Ivan Golubić, a mechatronics engineer and representative of the Mobile Vehicle Technology team, emphasizes that he would prefer 150,000 euros as his team needs exactly that amount to complete their project within fifteen months.

– Proud to be here and able to show what we are developing and what we can do, and to have won the Croatian final. Our goal is to present our product as well as possible in Prague because we want a larger investment – says Golubić.

Jury member Nina Antičić, when asked about the criteria by which the jury made its decision, stated: – We assessed that the greatest amount of engineering knowledge is contained in this innovation and presentation.

Second place was won by the startup Visiobike, and third place by WePark Airbnb. The organizer of the Croatian competition, Invento Capital Partners, has provided special prizes for them; Visiobike will attend a large European gathering of companies and investors from the energy sector, The Business Booster, which will be held in October in Copenhagen. WePark Airbnb will participate in the Voogle conference on May 17 in Varaždin, where they will compete for a prize of 10,000 euros.

In the Croatian final, held on May 7 at Matis Absolute Lounge in Zagreb, other participants included TransferHero, Vollo, Enny, and Me.mum.

The winner was decided by a jury consisting of Michal Bajda, a representative of InnoEnergy, Predrag Vranić, a business consultant, Vedran Blagus, an investment manager at South Central Ventures, Nina Antičić, director of the Technology Transfer Center, and Nenad Bakić, an investor and entrepreneur.