Great meetings for startups at Match Up

When Uminova Innovation invites startup companies, investors and big companies to Match Up in Umeå, it is with a schedule that comprises 125 meetings between startups and investors, and with just over 80 meetings between startups and big companies.

For startup companies, this is a golden opportunity to meet both regional and national companies, and investors on the same day.

One of the startup companies that are attending is Brain Stimulation, a Swedish SME started in 2011 with the aim to provide an efficient assessment and rehabilitation after stroke and traumatic brain injuries.

The startup company address the global challenge of rehabilitating need for cognitive and upper limb impairments from Stroke, Dementia, Traumatic Brain Injuries, Parkinson and other degenerative brain diseases by using Enriched Rehabilitation.

“We give people who have had a stroke a second chance. Right now we are working on our third product that will use augmented reality,” says Helena Fordell, chief physician and neurologist at Norrland Hospital and founder of Brain Stimulation.

Memotus is another startup company that attend Match Up.

“This is a very good format. I have eight meetings today, with a mix of both new and old contacts,” says Mikael Östberg, co-founder of Memotus.

Tommy Eriksson, founder of Handla.io, is also positive about the opportunities for meetings that Match Up provides.

“This is a great opportunity to get an initial contact with investors to test our idea,” says Tommy Eriksson.

For both startup companies and for investors, it is important to create relationships that extend over a longer period of time.

“I have a few favorites that I will follow closely in the future. Many of the investments we make, we make after knowing the companies for two three years,” says Maxine Rior, investor from Northzone.

During the day, the startup companies also had the opportunity to meet with a number of large industrial companies to see what opportunities exist for collaborations. That part of the day is organized by the national initiative Ignite Sweden together with Uminova Innovation.

“Our purpose is to open doors. Today we have had 11 large companies that meet the startup companies,” says Stina Lantz, responsible for Ignite Sweden.