In recent years, Serbia has been striving to become a hub for startups in areas such as biotechnology, medical technology and IoT, among others.
The various incentives that Serbian authorities and ecosystem organizations offer to startups, such as the case of the Serbian Innovation Fund and its startup support, have resulted in the creation of a ecosystem which has been growing rapidly, mainly in the blockchain and gaming sectors, but also showing great potential in other areas.
While there are more than 330 active startups In the country, the increase in the number of biotechnology and medical technology startups in recent years is also expected to bear fruit in the long term for the Balkan country.
In this article, we will explore some of the promising Serbian startups that The Recursive met during a tour of the cities of Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis, where they presented their solutions, products and services.
Serbian startups, their founders and solutions
Verticals: Biotechnology/IoT
About: Beehold is a Serbian startup founded with the aim of developing solutions that digitalize the hive inspection process with accurate real-time colony status information and AI-assisted suggestions for beekeeping optimal.
The system provides beekeepers with comprehensive information about the condition of the hive, warns them in time about possible problems and gives recommendations on how to solve them, while increasing yield and profit.
Most of Beehold’s team members have been actively engaged in beekeeping for years, since CEO Petar Pejic and app developer Obrad Stajic recognized the problem and potential of digitization of beekeeping as They were still in high school.
The Nis-based startup’s solution includes sensors that collect information about honeycomb contents and allow users to view honeycomb contents anytime and anywhere, and increase their performance using an AI assistant. The total funding that the project has obtained so far amounts to €115,000, with participation from the Innovation Fund of Serbia amounting to €80,000.
Verticals: IoT
Anoris Technology is a Belgrade-based medical technology startup developing a multifunctional glove designed to help visually impaired people. By offering 8 functions available with just one click, this solution will serve as a portable assistive device for daily activities and allow its users to enjoy a better quality of life.
The Anora Glove project is worth €95,000, of which €75,000 was invested by the Serbian Innovation Fund. It includes features such as orientation, color detection, banknote detection, panic button, date and time, mobile phone connectivity and light intensity detection.
According to CEO and founder Nikola Krstic, production is based in Belgrade, Serbia, and the first series of the Anora glove will be released in spring next year.
“In March next year we will be included in the official list of assisted devices for blind people, which means that practically any blind person in Serbia will be able to get the device for free, which is our biggest success,” Krstic said. Recursive.
The company plans to sell the product in markets such as the United States. The total investment that the project has obtained so far is €95,000, with a participation of €80,000 from the Innovation Fund.
Verticals: Medical Technology
Metacognis is a startup that functions as an educational center for children and adults to learn new cognitive skills.
His projects include working on the biophysical measurements needed to know exactly what state the body is in. Some of the biophysical measures are pulsoximetry, the practice of psychology, the performance of an act one or more times, with a view to its fixation or improvement; any execution of an act or behavior leading to learning.
One of Metacognis’ projects is NFB VR (Neurofeedback Virtual Reality), which serves as an educational, diagnostic, rehabilitation and prevention tool for the improvement and development of cognitive abilities of people of all ages – from children to adults. old age through all professional activities. profiles.
Verticals: IoT
EnergyPuls is a hardware/software development startup based in Novi Sad working in R&D, providing intelligent, automated and real-time system profiling solutions in a comprehensive, easy-to-use and above all reliable workflow-based manner. energy.
One of its four products is the Current Profiler – a 3-channel current intensity and power consumption tracker and data logger for manufacturing centers to ensure profile behavior of a system, a process or a single machine.
According to co-founder and CEO Milovan Medojevic, the startup’s various solutions instead focus on the “good data” that can be extracted from big data regarding the operation of systems and machines.
“For example, when we run, we cannot do it forever, because the brain or body signals to us that we are tired and need to stop. This is not the case with machines, so you always need something that emits this signal. This is why we are also known as “systems doctors”, because depending on how energy is used, we can determine the state the systems are in and how they act,” explains Medojevic.
Verticals: EV
Charge&GO is an electric vehicle charging platform and mobile application based in Belgrade. Its mobile application connects all parties involved in the electric vehicle charging process – from drivers to charging station owners and operators – facilitating simple management and planning of charging processes, as well as payment and billing. The Innovation Fund in Serbia supported the project with €80,000.
The Charge&GO platform allows users to manage their own network, control chargers, set prices, limit usage and review all charging sessions, with a range of intelligent services.
The main customers of the platform are drivers of electric vehicles, owners of homes and residential properties, companies with their own fleet, delivery companies or commercial parking lots, car dealerships, real estate developers, industry hotels, restaurants, large retail chains and charging stations. network operators.
For CEO Milos Kostic, although the use of electric vehicles is relatively new in Serbia, the goal is to create such infrastructure in the country, which will greatly facilitate the process of using electric vehicles.
“Our project is to have the largest infrastructure network in the region. We are starting with Serbia first and by the end of 2022 we will have 53 ultra-fast chargers connected to our own app. Next year we are also expanding, so we are going to Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and in 2024 we are also planning to expand to Albania. We aim to become a regional player both by investing in infrastructure projects and developing the application available for this market,” Kostic told The Recursive.
Verticals: Medical Technology
Phytonet is a medical technology startup based in Belgrade that offers a new solution for the treatment of oral candidiasis. While the company has a few international offices in the Philippines and South Korea, its team is made up of 50 people. 40 of them are based in Serbia.
Using its team’s knowledge in creating multifunctional dietary products and supplements, Phytonet set out to produce a new maqui berry product that will be used for the prevention and eradication of candidiasis.
The company’s products called nutraceuticals are very similar to pharmaceuticals and their ingredients generally come from natural resources, such as plant extracts or bio-ingredients.
“These products are very demanding due to cross-contamination and the very high sensitivity of the active ingredients during the formulation and manufacturing phase,” Bojan Pavlovic, COO of Phytonet, who has extensive experience in various pharmaceutical projects.
The startup’s latest formulation is expected to significantly improve the therapeutic effectiveness of oral antifungal medications and decrease relapses, while also acting as a preventative agent in cases where oral candidiasis is likely to develop. The Innovation Fund of Serbia supported the project with €210,000, while the company also started the project.
Verticals: IoT
Canandi is a Nis-based startup that develops a dog tracking system consisting of a dog collar, a receiver for the hunter and a mobile application, so that owners know the location of their dogs during the hunting.
The innovation of the solution lies in the possibility of sharing data and joint search for a lost dog, a dual network transmission mode – IoT and GSM network, and ML analysis of the collected data and the creating useful tips for hunters.
“We want to contribute to the preservation of wildlife and we managed to meet people who are really passionate and dedicated to their mission. So we want to help hunters preserve biodiversity and maintain balance,” said the founder of Canandi , Vladislav Cosic, at The Recursive.
The tracking system also offers the ability to connect smart hunting group hunters where users can share points of interest and locate the dog if it is out of their range. The total value of the project is €114,000, with the Serbian Innovation Fund supporting the project with €80,000.
The project, worth €145,000, was developed by a team of hunters, engineers, doctors of science and businessmen from across Europe.
If you want to recommend other projects for our Serbian startup mapping, send us an email to (email protected).