The Startup New Year’s Eve event was attended by well-known personalities from the Hungarian startup ecosystem, whose opinions are sought after by many. They reviewed the events of the past year, talked about their future plans and helped them understand how to start a business and, once started, how to make it even more successful. Nóra Szeles shared her experience of TokePortal: she believes that the most important thing is the total dedication and commitment of the founder to take the idea through the fire and water, and that a sharp vision and clear goals for the clients are the key to success.

Milán Mándó | Founder, Minner.hu

Milán Mándó, the founder of Minner.hu, translates the principles of business development, as formulated by DWP, into everyday life by writing about their implementation and dealing with countless businesses. This year, Minner.hu has also launched new projects, of which Milán was the first to highlight the so-called ‘digital ninja’ category, which aims to showcase different digital software and how companies can use it. They also write about the use of systems such as Trello – the article on this took about 2-3 months to write so that it could be of real use to managers and companies. Milan told us that the idea for their Trello article came from a restaurant manager, who gave them a sentence that allowed them to approach the whole concept from a completely different angle. It helped a lot that the head chef himself told us how he sees where they are lacking in the digitalisation area and where he thinks they should take their tasks. If it wasn’t for this, it would have been just a general article about Trello, but, as Milan added, “it wouldn’t be Minner.hu”. So ultimately, they’ve done their best to make the best of it too. For example, even just for basic things like email, many companies have managed to introduce new systems, alternatives, to make email much safer and faster.

When it comes to startups, a lot of people approach them with an idea or have already started their business, but Milan says it’s a problem that most people want to build a star destroyer straight away. They see it as an important task – and they have been involved in many such projects this year – to help startups show how to scale down an idea so that it can be accepted by the market, not be too risky and of course take into account the effects of the pandemic and the constant changes in the current situation.

According to Milan, there are several new things that are emerging that they still need to grasp and understand. For example, blockchain, the NFT market, or even the Metaverse announced by Zuckerberg. After all, that’s why Minner.hu is there, to dissect such things, to dive into digitalisation, which is something that an entrepreneur or startup usually doesn’t have time to do. Milán says that we can digitize any business, but we shouldn’t forget about consumers. He thinks it is not a good direction for startups to skip mvp, as products are created to be sold to consumers, so it is worth looking at how they will use it.

He believes that the generally accepted view of crypto is that it is an investment that only generates returns, while it has no value-added effect in the current circumstances. It can make you rich very quickly, but like lottery winners, they can’t manage the money they make, so it can go quickly. However, he believes that this is why it is better to build a business where you have clients and if you do it right, you can achieve success. However, he is more positive about NFT, as it was a good direction to go in, and he was surprised at how quickly artists were able to implement this knowledge.

He concluded by saying that he believes the pandemic has helped to boost cooperation, with large companies becoming much more open to partnerships. That’s why he advises startups to be bold enough to approach them. To back this up, Gardróbom, a startup that was launched in February and includes a female founder, approached Magyar Posta for help, which they managed to get to develop a dedicated service for them in just 1 week, so that they have already had close to 40-50,000 parcels go through them for the startup, which is a huge success for them. Among others, a beer startup approached Milan for help, who were surprised to receive a response from Milan within half an hour. So his advice to startups for the new year is to keep trying.

Dalma Berkovics | Microsoft for Startups

Dalma Berkovics, Head of Microsoft for Startups in Hungary, emphasized that Microsoft considers it essential to work with startups and to be seen as a partner rather than a competitor. As a technology partner, Microsoft supports startups, provides them with certain services (Microsoft 365, Github, Visual Studio, Power BI) and makes the Azure cloud service available to enable startups to develop their own products in a professional, fast, efficient and agile way. Microsoft is not in the market as an investor, incubator or accelerator, but offers a long-term partner program in which startups can participate for up to 5 years. Participants in the programme can receive up to $150,000 in Azure credits, which can be a huge help in helping businesses get from idea to finished product and to market.

This year, the programme has undergone a significant change, as they have broadened the range of startups they support, so that not only B2B and scale-up startups can apply, but also startups with a B2C focus. The platform, called Founders Hub, takes just 5 minutes to apply and, after a positive assessment, startups can access the services provided by Microsoft. It’s a huge success that this year they have tripled the number of startups they support, to almost 50. It’s important to note that the programme itself is global, which means that startups all over the world receive the same framework and grants, but with local and regional support. Dalma, for example, is helping not only with the launch in Hungary, but also with the launch in Central and Eastern Europe. Applications for the programme are continuous, with no specific start dates. However, Dalma suggested that everyone should assess when their business is mature enough to need this type of partner involvement.

They also have an extensive mentor network, mainly of Microsoft employees internationally. It is possible to get in touch with the mentors and then participate in a half-hour session with them.

When asked about the trends that characterise the startup world the most and how they are changing, Dalma said that the key is the focus on value. More and more startups are aiming not just to sell more, but to add value. He also highlighted the social and environmental impact of these. Microsoft also sees more and more of these start-ups, which is no coincidence, as there is a higher expectation from investors in this area. The Global Social Entrepreneurship programme is a good example. Dalma encourages everyone, when working on a new idea, while going in an innovative direction, to think about why it makes people’s lives better. This can create more value and is a more important factor in investor decisions and in reaching partners than before.

Iván Ivánka | Ivanka Group

Ivánka Iván, like DJP, has already been featured in our Sofa Pitch series, where he introduced us to the activities of the Founder Institute (FI). He believes that Hungary is basically a good place to do business and that we are a little bit more behind in the region than we should be, which from a positive perspective means that we can grow a lot more from here. The Founder Institute is the world’s largest idea-stage accelerator, founded by Elon Musk’s roommate Adeo Ressi. Ivan and his partners are responsible for the Hungarian section of the organisation. Iván says that in their first year, the number of applicants far exceeded their expectations. A total of 1300 people applied, the cohort was launched with 32 founders, and finally 5 teams successfully completed the programme. As can be seen from the numbers, many projects were “cascaded down” to ensure quality. According to Ivan, this is necessary because their goal is to build companies that both change the world and create value, such as Udemy, which started out as a Founder Institute programme. The idea of the programme is that a person with a good idea can legally start a business and grow it in 6-7 months with the help of thousands of mentors and investors. The organisation is based in Silicon Valley – where they get the programme and support. Ivan pointed out that they are a non-profit and work with different organisations to achieve their goals. Applications for the Founder Institute programme are currently open to interested parties, and the cohort will be launched in an updated, fully digitised format next quarter.

This time, Ivan represented not only the Founder Institute, but also the Ivanka Group, which has a lot going on. Ivanka Group has gone through quite a lot of changes in the last year, for example Ivan has become the sole shareholder. They have also started several branches, such as IG Ventures, where they invest $3 million in idea stage and early stage startups. According to Iván, this segment – which is also supported by the TokePortal – is not really filled in this country. They also have a consulting line, where they help businesses with digitalisation and automation, and the Ivanka Digital Marketing Agency, where they help companies scale. In addition, they have recently set up the Hunikornis Foundation, where they will outsource their non-profit and public interest activities. The choice of the name Hunikornis is no coincidence, as their main aim is to promote the creation of Hungarian unicorns, but of course they are not just thinking big. Hunikornis is also an economic development foundation, as they basically want to make a positive impact by helping to develop the local ecosystem and economic environment, and this includes supporting SMEs and micro-enterprises.

Ivan sees their biggest mission for the future as reaching as many people as possible, not just with information, but with tangible, actionable things that they can bring to others, so that they can improve a little bit every day. He stressed that it is important to train entrepreneurs not only in Budapest but also in the countryside, as there is a lot of talent among the Hungarian people. According to Iván, as past experience has shown, it is possible to create global start-ups worth billions of dollars from Hungary, and they want to help and are working hard to ensure that there are more Hungarian success stories in the future.

Ivan’s view on sustainability is that this problem can only be solved together with businesses. To solve this problem, programmes can only be well implemented if we start thinking in terms of how the performance of individuals as a whole can outperform that of the team. He used the example of recycling communication to illustrate this point. Through communication, manufacturers have shifted the responsibility to consumers and end-users, which has resulted in recycling becoming right and popular with people. While he sees this as a good thing, he said that less than 100 companies account for about half of the world’s pollution, so they have a much greater responsibility in this regard. That’s why the important question is how we can develop technology and create businesses that solve these real problems. Because, while individual action is useful, the future lies in helping teams to solve them by getting the right tools to people and creating a support network. In the entrepreneurial community, it is also said that he who gives, wins, so if the players in the startup ecosystem keep helping each other and passing on value, together they can achieve tremendous growth.

Tamás Müller | Pozi.io, Women Startup Competition

Tamás Müller also stressed the importance of digitalisation. The Women Startup Competition, a competition for female startups, has recently completed its 7th season. The competition is not just for Hungarian startups, but is more global, with the number of semi-final venues growing every season. This year, for example, Kosovo was a newcomer to the competition, which runs from London to Moscow and Helsinki to Tel Aviv, but startups from India, Kenya and the United States have also entered. They were delighted that 2 Hungarian startups made it to the finals again this year. However, it is not enough to have an idea to make it to the final, you need to have a female startup operating at scale-up level. But it is also possible that special prizes will be awarded to female founders who really want to actively contribute to their success. In any case, it is clear that the finalists are 10 times more likely to receive investment than the market average, based on their track record in recent years.

The other organisation represented by Tamás, Pozi.io, is essentially the digital projection of the startup ecosystem. This idea came from the fact that a lot of ideas and startups get lost, as they don’t get useful – constructive(!) – professional market validation, they don’t find teammates or startup partners in similar fields, they don’t get into incubation programs. So they simply don’t survive the time between the idea and market entry. That is why Pozi.io aims to help startups meet each other, who can then contact each other through the system and exchange their views and suggestions. For startups, this is one of the biggest helps, as it allows them to develop faster, in a shorter time and at a lower cost, and then to present a finished plan to investors or to enter the market. The last year has also been a big step forward in terms of digitalisation, as they have had to think about how to bring education, competition and mentoring online in a way that is as simple, streamlined and fast as possible. They described this as a very useful learning process, as they had to figure out how to make their processes interesting while operating in an online or hybrid system – with limited or no face-to-face meetings… In their last “Pitch Please!” competition, they found that, alongside a London startup, for example, Bulgarian female startups were able to present investment opportunities that were of particular interest to the US investor who founded Draper Startup House. This proves that there is a lot of innovative and scalable startups (and even ideas) to be gathered at European level, but that they need to be facilitated by showing entrepreneurs how they can and should easily move forward and succeed. To summarise, pozi.io’s free, open and transparent system helps to build a bridge to help identify synergies between startups and access the opportunities in front of them.

Asked what advice he could give to women entrepreneurs to help each other towards a better future, Tamás said that value-creating ideas should be favoured. Women entrepreneurs, apart from making money, give something extra to the environment to awaken the empathy of others and to solve real social problems, because today it is not important not to be an environmental destroyer, but how to reduce the environmental destruction effectively and make the Earth a liveable place for the next generation.

The most exciting part of the event followed, as we announced the winners of Startup of the Year, Investor of the Year and Crowd Funding Campaign of the Year! The winners will be personally presented with their prizes, the award-winning Carassia sparkling wines, by the owner of Carassia Winery alongside Nóra! Petya Balogh received the most votes for Investor of the Year, Péntech for Startup of the Year and SolarBnb for Crowd Funding Campaign of the Year!

Petya Balogh won the Investor of the Year award. Petya was delighted with the news. On this occasion, she summed up what 2021 meant to her and what she expects from the year ahead. He sees 2021 as a year in which start-ups are getting a better handle on the post-covid situation, large corporates are starting to come back and spend more, while the consumer situation seems to be settling down. As new strategies and developments from companies starting in 2020 start to come to fruition, most startups have seen dramatic growth this year. So in 2020 they were able to break into the market strategically rather than financially, which they monetised in 2021, and he hopes that this trend will continue in 2022.

With more than 40 startups already in its portfolio, working with them is getting more and more serious and challenging, because everyone is full of plans, everyone wants to change the world. He loves this profession because he gets to work with such enthusiastic founders.

Another big step this year was the launch of a new course in the spring called Starting Up, which has so far attracted more than 200 participants.

He also achieved an old dream. In September, he held a training session for prospective angel investors, the importance of which lies in the opportunity to build a supportive community. He hopes to hold a similar session in 2022, and that more angel investors will be in the market to support startups even more intensively, enabling them to achieve even greater success.

He sees the domestic startup ecosystem maturing, which he says is a fantastic journey. The role of the TokePortal will be appreciated year by year and will be an excellent channel for more people to try themselves as investors.

Finally, he announced that the 4th season of Sharks Among Sharks will be in primetime from 2 January, which is a significant step forward for both the show and the startups. Petya’s exclusive report on the previous seasons can be found here!

PÉNTECH wins the Startup of the Year award

We’ll see PÉNTECH at the next Sofa Pitch in January, where they will also be showcasing their services!

Kornél Kemény and SolarBnB win the Crowd Funding Campaign of the Year award

Thanks to his consistent and persistent campaigning work, Kornél, the head of SolarBnb, built his campaign from scratch, raising HUF 42 million in investment.It was a great pleasure for him to win this award, as his campaign was still running at this time a year ago, when he was in meetings with investors between two holidays. He also highlighted the humble work and agility that helped them further when they were in a precarious situation. These qualities have since been a major factor in the many innovations that have resulted in thousands of solar enthusiasts visiting his site.

In response to market needs, they have developed their 2nd product, Solarflow, which makes the permitting and design of solar PV systems easier. As they operate in a capital-intensive market, it is important that they are able to react quickly to market changes, and this is what users can expect from them in the future. In addition, another important objective will be to create stability.

One of the TokePortal’s missions is to build a marketplace where the supply side is made up of start-ups, SMEs looking for capital, and the demand side is made up of investors and households who invest part of their savings in local start-ups, playing a role in the challenges they face. The TokePortal is also determined to ensure that every Hungarian household has a Hungarian startup share, as this is a common mission, and we wish everyone a prosperous and happy New Year!