Saturday, September 28, 2013

TechCrunch Italy: Gipstech is the winner of the 2013 edition

Saturday, September 28, 2013  , , , ,  


GiPStech, is the winner of the second edition of Techcrunch Italy. The newborn startup, not even incorporated as a company, has charmed the jury with its technological proposal during a pitch without particular special effects: the localization of objects by exploiting a network of smartphones where GPSs do not cover with digital maps. The technology can be used, for example, within a food store to localize products on the shelves but also to signal coupons and discounts to users walking by a store. Also the search for a gate at the airport could be eased by the localization offered by GiPStech. Think of one app for museums, which before a work, could automatically launch the dedicated audio-guide, maybe allowing the "navigation" of the museum based on the preferences of the visitor and offering him/her the purchase of souvenirs based on the time he/she has been spending on the various works.
GiPStech, competed against the other seven finalists startup in these two days of high-level events at the MAXXI in Rome, after a selection among 200 applications and the crucial competition with the other 7 finalists:
  1. Aenduo: a service of cloud-based remote monitoring of biomedical data of diabetic and high-blood pressure sufferes. 
  2. Bauzaar: e-foodstore for pet lovers.
  3. Bemyeye: service of field audits in crowdsourcing.
  4. Fluentify: online foreign languages tutoring community, to learn languages from qualified persons and identified by common interests.
  5. Pathflow: e-commerce business intelligence and analytics tool, similar to Google Analytics but for stores.
  6. Sportboom: Social e-commerce for sport courses.
  7. Vivocha: online customer interaction platform. 
GiPStech took therefore home the prize of €50,000, hoping that it will bring the same luck that has Atooma, winner of last year edition that has since than no longer stop cutting other prestigious achievements. GiPStech won 2 tickets for the next Disrupt SF and the final prize offered by Populis, consisting in a a loan of €10,000 and a visibility package of €40,000 on media properties of the Group, founded by Luca Ascani and Salvatore Esposito, which includes some of the most visited online news sites in Italy, Germany and Brazil.

To determine the results of the Startup Competition, an advisory board of innovators, venture capitalists and journalists was at work:
In the jury there was also Massimo Sideri of the Corriere della Sera. The second edition of TechCrunch Italy ended in a two-day marathon that saw the participation of more than 1000 participants , 60 luminaries of the Web, tens of startuppers and some of the most influential venture capitalists from Silicon Valley, Russia, Israel, UK, Germany, Italy and other parts of the world. The event was borne by the collaboration between Populis - founded by two Italian partners, Luca Ascani and Salvatore Esposito- a European leader in the production of vertical content, and the TechCrunch"the "bible of online information technology at worldwide level.

On GiPStech:
Developed at the University of Calabria the startup could reply the success of the last year's winner: Atooma. The Startup offering a technology for indoor geo-location ( which locate an object that moves indoors where GPS does not work) was founded by Matteo Faggin , Gaetano D' Aquila and Giuseppe Fedele. The company has developed a system similar to GPS, but capable to operate within indoor spaces with a precision of 1 meter - against that of Wi-Fi that reaches 5 meters - thanks an algorithm that records geomagnetic signals.  Indeed GiPStech tries to solve the localization problem by offering a low-cost technology which exploits local variations Earth's magnetic field that are present in any indoor location and build maps that allow, via proprietary algorithms, a precise localization using a common smartphone without costly infrastructure.

This innovative technology allows the localization of an object that moves in closed spaces: via a common smartphone it is possible to reveal the dynamic of the person and that of the magnetic field within which the object moves. By combining these two information it is possible to determine the position of the user. All this is rendered possible by exploiting the accelerometer and digital compass which are already built-in within smartphones to orientate and examine indoor spaces due to the Earth's magnetic field. 

GiPStech's provides a technology platform for third party developers to build application targeted at specific markets, i.e. mobile app developers are offered the use of GiPStech's proprietary technology via cloud service (software as a service), and the possibility to integrate the "white label" functionalities in their apps through a SDK (software development kit). GiPStech has not yet a commercial prototype but soon will register its technology as a patent and surely won't lack financing occasions. The possibilities for the new this promising innovative startup from Southern Italy are endless.