12 innovative KTH startups get Vinnova funding

Collage of portraits of Milan Pishnemaz, Hiba Adem and Safae Berrahmoune. — Milan Pishnemaz has gotten funding for his startup Cruitmed, and Hiba Adem and Safae Berrahmoune for their startup DYAMO.

Published Apr 19, 2021

Twelve startups from KTH get a share in the 50 million SEK Vinnova funding initiative Innovative startups. The solutions include birch bark rubber, services to help companies understand their sustainability data, and automatic generation of phantom images with EEG and AI.

Every year, Vinnova distributes funding within the Innovative Startups call. The financing supports companies to develop scalable solutions that contribute to sustainable growth in a global market. In the spring announcement, 168 companies will receive financing.

Of the twelve KTH teams that have received funding, more than half have been founded by researchers at KTH.

- The fact that twelve of the selected teams have been founded with support from us at KTH Innovation shows that we have good projects, says Lisa Ericsson, Head of KTH Innovation. It is also great to see that as many as seven are based on research. This is a major step on the path to research that leads to impact. It provides conditions to take ideas closer to the market, says Lisa Ericsson.

Among the student-founded teams is DYAMO, which is currently in the KTH Innovation pre-incubator program. KTH students Hiba Adem and Safae Berrahmoune develop a digital service that matches middle-to-highschoolers and high school students with college students and professionals. With the help of gamification and anonymity, they innovate mentorship and enable young people to get a mentor and a best friend in their pocket.

- It feels fantastic that Vinnova believes in us and in what we can achieve with DYAMO says Hiba Adem. The funding means a lot to us as we can scale up and develop DYAMO. We're looking forward to it!

All teams get or have gotten support from KTH Innovation.

Text: Lisa Bäckman