Top 10 Startups Determined in Mercedes-Benz StartUP Competition

ALCOMPOR, Algae Biodiesel, Biotico, ECOWATT, IWROBOTX, Plastic Move, PoiLabs, PONS, Smart Water and Syntonym; Startups were among the top 2021 of Mercedes-Benz StartUP 10.

Making life easier; The Mercedes-Benz StartUP competition, which accepts applications from startups that contribute to one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals, benefit the society and the environment, are connected with technology, and have a business plan and prototype, attracted great attention this year as well. The selection process continues in the Mercedes-Benz StartUP competition, organized as part of Mercedes-Benz's StartUP program, which has supported more than 170 startups in different ways such as business development trainings, workshops, monetary awards, and national and international network development.

After the announcement of 60 projects that passed the pre-selection in June, the top 10 initiatives were also determined. Projects in the top 2021 of Mercedes-Benz StartUP 10; ALCOMPOR became Algae Biodiesel, Biotico, ECOWATT, IWROBOTX, Plastic Move, PoiLabs, PONS, Smart Water and Syntonym. 40% of these projects are startups led by women entrepreneurs.

Special prizes for the top 10

Among the 633 entrepreneurs who applied to the competition, which was held this year within the framework of the project, which was held within the framework of the project, which was held within the framework of the project, which contributed to one or more of the United Nations "Sustainable Development Goals", benefited the society and the environment, and had a connection with technology, the startups that made it to the top 10, various trainings, supports and they got awards.

The top 10 competitors will participate in the 2-week “StartUP Boost” program in July; Participating in the "Germany Entrepreneurship Ecosystem" module, where they will have the opportunity to get to know the European startup ecosystem closely and develop potential collaborations, and receive one-to-one mentoring support from Mercedes-Benz executives tailored to their needs, and will be awarded in the "Transportation Solutions", "Social Benefit" and "Jury Special Award" categories. Each of them was entitled to win the grand prize of 50.000 TL. A total of 3 TL will be awarded for 150.000 different grand prizes in the competition.

Solutions to sustainability problems in Turkey and the world are produced

The startups that entered the top 10 in the competition offer solutions for the current sustainability problems of Turkey and the world. The main objectives of the top 10 startups are explained as follows:

• ALCOMPOR; It is defined as a Hybrid Composite Foam Material with High Impact Damping Capability Made from Waste. This material; It has been produced in hybrid form containing graphene and ceramic together from very cheap waste beverage cans instead of expensive powders, and can absorb impact or impact energy 4 times higher than existing ones, especially in strategic sectors such as automotive, defense, aviation, rail systems and structural products.
• Algae BiodieselThe main objective of the industry is to adopt a green and sustainable economy model as an alternative to fossil fuels and to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 for each production facility.
• Biotic; A project that transforms coffee wastes into high value-added enzymes. Thanks to the green technology used, the organic components of the coffee waste are converted into high value-added lipase enzyme through microorganisms.
• ECOWATT; It is a technology developed to reduce water shortage and energy shortage that may occur due to global warming or covid-19 pandemic in the near future. With Ecowatt, liquid organic wastes (vegetable waste oil, gray water or sewage water, etc.) emerging in various environments can be converted into bioelectricity (in situ) in the environment they are formed with electricity-generating bacteria, and their control can be ensured without being added to the environment.
• IWROBOTX's autonomous sea vehicle “Robot Doris” that performs sea surface cleaning; By using image processing and artificial intelligence algorithms, it recognizes, collects and categorizes the wastes on the sea surface and transfers this waste data to the internet and prepares it as a report.
• Plastic Moveoffers a patentable upcycling technology by replacing 20 percent of the oil needed to make thermoplastics with a low-cost bio-raw material derived from agricultural and food waste.
• PoiLabs; It makes indoor spaces accessible thanks to navigation technology so that the visually impaired can participate in life fully and equally. Using this technology in retail and industry, it provides map navigation, location-based marketing, employee tracking and optimization solutions.
• PONS; It focuses on building medical imaging networks by developing wearable ultrasound technology that allows doctors to remotely scan, monitor and diagnose patients without needing to call them to the hospital.
• smart water; It provides software and technology that will act as a smart assistant in order to manage water more effectively with the data and guidance it provides in homes and workplaces on water management, which is one of the most important main issues of today and our future.
• syntonym; It can anonymize camera image data in a GDPR compliant manner while maximizing the protection of analytical metrics. Thus, the “privacy VS data” dilemma in technology is solved thanks to data anonymization.