Startup Day 2020. Münt won Kaleidoskoop Finals

13th student business ideas competition Kaleidoskoop Finals was held at the business festival Startup Day 2019. Team Münt who is developing eco-friendly toothpaste tablets was selected to be the winner. Their mission is to make the planet earth a cleaner place.

Before the Kaleidoskoop Finals pre-selection was run to select 10 best teams from 36. Kaleidoskoop is organized by the University of Tartu Startup Lab. „It was probably the strongest pre-selection in the history of the Kaleidoskoop which made it quite difficult for the jury to pick only 10 teams for the finals “, said a member of the Kaleidoskoop Pre-selection jury Taavi Tamm.

Today top 10 teams pitched their ideas to the panel of judges at the Startup Day Pitching Stage. “We are bit shocked and very happy right now because they see the potential in us,” said co-founder of Münt Marilin Berg.  “We didn't even think we could win, actually we weren't sure we would even get through the pre-selection. It is great recognition for us” added the co-founder of Münt Märten Kala.

Münt won the main award - tickets to TechChill business festival in Latvia.  CommuniCare won Tartu City Government monetary award and was selected to pitch at the Starter Pitching competition that took place during the same day at the Startup Day Pitching Stage. Team CommuniCare is a social platform that unites volunteers all over Estonia to provide aid for carehomes in their area. The volunteers meet and talk with clients (elders) of carehomes and therefore take the workload off from everyday personnel.

Team Ropotty, who is creating an online potty training program linked with accessories rent for parents, won the special award by the UT Startup Lab and Law Firm LMP – every startup dream book „The Startup Owner’s Manual“ and free consultation from the Law Firm LMP. 

The judges were Alo Lilles (Tartu City Government Chief Business Development Specialist), Triin Kask (Nevercode co-founder) and Kalev Kaarna (Alpine House Superangel).

According to Alo Lilles one of the goals of Tartu City Government is to support start-ups. City Government in cooperation with members of the Startup Tartu community is actively contributing to various events where entrepreneurs share their knowledge, experience, stories of success and failure. "It is great to see so many young people and their startups at Startup Day", said Alo Lilles.

Startup Day is the biggest business festival in the Baltics that brings together startups, traditional companies, investors, innovators, and students.

Kaleidoskoop is funded by the European Social Fund.

Contact: Andres Vaher, Marketing & Communications Specialist, sTARTUp Lab, University of Tartu, +372 5558 7359, andres.vaher@ut.ee