We’ve already picked the winner – Pocket Anatomy – of our Boost early stage startup program at TNW Europe 2014, but here are a few companies from the demo floor that piqued my interest.
CompanyMatch
Most recruiters look at your experience and skills when evaluating candidates for a job, but CompanyMatch wants to add a third dimension: cultural fit. The startup has designed a proprietary quiz that companies can embed on their job pages. For those firms that place a huge priority on cultural fit, CompanyMatch takes a quantitative approach to the challenge.
Iwaku
If you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Iwaku wants to help you out with its light therapy lamp. Activating the blue LED light in the device throughout the day can help with SAD and sleep disorders.
You can also use Iwaku as a gentle light-based alarm that can track your sleep cycle and slowly wake you up at the right time.
At €269, this smart lamp is priced as a niche product, but founder Jochem Reijndorp says the company plans to make the next version more affordable.
➤ Iwaku
Sign2Pay
Europe’s Chip and Pin smart card payment standard may be secure, but it’s also a huge inconvenience for mobile and e-commerce purchases. Sign2Pay offers an alternative based on inputting your signature on a touchscreen.
As you sign for your payments, the Sign2Pay technology learns the unique elements of your signature, making it more even more safe. The company offers an 8-week refund on consumer purchases, while also guaranteeing payments for vendors.
➤ Sign2Pay
Spacified
Calling itself an “Airbnb for commercial real estate,” Spacified offers a marketplace for finding short-term business space. The service is currently available in the Netherlands and Belgium. Sample use cases include pop-up shops, co-working, and events.
Winner Takes All
Winner Takes All is experimenting with a “crowd lottery” as an alternative to official government-run lotteries. Players purchase a single ticket for a weekly drawing, paying an administration fee to Winner Takes All.
The startup boasts a greater degree of transparency and better odds than existing lottery options. Crowdlotteries are certainly an interesting idea, though I’m curious how these drawings will be regulated to ensure that there’s no cheating or rigging involved.
Toolinq
It’s difficult for teams to keep track of all the meetings and communications between team members and clients. Toolinq wants to help out with its LinkedIn-based social CRM.
Users input their meetings and contacts into the app and then keep track of new developments via a timeline and custom notifications.
➤ Toolinq
Yippie
Whenever I click the buy button on an ecommerce site, I have a nagging worry that some other site might have a better deal. Yippie offers a browser plugin that aggregates product prices lets you know when you can save money on a purchase.
Beta customers in Europe have found they’re saving between 7-8 percent per purchase on average. They also gain about 15 minutes of time from not having to compare prices on different sites.
➤ Yippie
Keep up on all our TNW Europe coverage here.
Don’t miss: 15 brilliant hacks from the TNW Conference Kings of Code Hack Battle and Meet 4 more of Europe’s fastest-growing tech firms: Leetchi, MAG Interactive, Run a Shop, and Hailo
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