refurbed is “Scale-up of the Year”

For the second time, the auditing and consulting organization EY presented the EY Scale-up Award in Vienna on Friday. With the award and the associated program, EY and the partners of the competition want to support promising Austrian start-ups on a growth course. On Friday, refurbed took overall victory and secured the title “Scale-up of the Year 2023”. inoqo was named “Rising Star of the Year 2023”.

There were around 250 submissions in the application phase. A total of 108 companies reached the main round with the jury voting, 64 managed the benchmark required for an award with a scale-up badge. One company and one Rising Star received awards in each category. The ten best points across all categories competed against each other in a pitch competition in the final.

Refurbed is being traded as the next Austrian unicorn

refurbed already sees itself as the next unicorn

Refurbed is a well-known company that has made a name for itself with a marketplace for refurbished smartphones. After a decent expansion of the categories, the company now no longer “only” sells refurbished mobile phones, tablets and laptops, but has also expanded the range to include bicycles, clothing and other sports equipment – ​​a European green Amazon, so to speak. For a long time, refurbed has been traded as Austria’s next unicorn.

This is also how it is seen at refurbed itself: “We have a big, bold and necessary vision. We want nothing less than to fundamentally change consumption. Only recently did we hit the one billion euro mark in sales and saved 100 million kilograms of CO2 with our offers. In addition, we have now achieved a real rarity: A circular yet profitable business model. So if you’re looking for a unicorn, you’ve found one with us,” says Schima Labitsch, Chief Strategy Officer at refurbed. At the pitch, refurbed prevailed against the other nominated scale-ups byrd, Enpulsion, L’amie, Metaloop, Neoh, neoom, Storebox, UpNano and Valutico.

Supaso, Brüsli and Inoqo win at Austrian Startup Day Switzerland

Scale-ups prove themselves in hard times

inoqo has won the title of “Rising Star of the Year”. This is a startup that uses an app to give users the opportunity to make their everyday lives more sustainable. Among other things, they can determine the ecological footprint of their purchases. “Consumers today are demanding more sustainable products. But many providers cannot keep up with the regulations. We help them offer transparency to their customers,” explained Markus Linder, CEO of inoqo. The young company prevailed against the other rising stars Baubot, FINcredible, froots, and Supaso.

“The past year was marked by multiple crises that had a serious impact on the economy and thus also on young companies. However, difficulties are part of founding a company, which is why successful scale-ups are characterized by the fact that they persevere even in times of crisis. The great companies that were nominated for the Scale-up Award show the professionalism and resilience of the domestic scale-ups,” says Florian Haas, head of the startup ecosystem at EY Austria and responsible for the Scale-up Award.

These are the winners of each category

Kategorie 1 „Sustainability“

This year, EY again divided the “Sustainability” category into sub-categories due to the large number of top-class candidates: “GreenTech”, “Energy” and “Consumer & Mobility”.

“Greentech”

In the “GreenTech” subcategory, Metaloop won the award for Scale-up of the Year. Metaloop helps industrial companies with a digital solution in the marketing of scrap metal. This should save them time and resources, increase their sales and at the same time improve their environmental footprint.

„Energy“

Scale-up of the year in the “Energy” subcategory was neoom. The company is a manufacturer of products related to solar storage power plants. neoom’s core competence lies in complete solutions consisting of hardware, software and digital services.

nista.io was chosen as the Rising Star in the “Energy” sector. The start-up uses a digital solution to collect existing data on the subject of energy and helps customers to increase their energy efficiency.

„Consumer and Mobility“

Eloop, an already well-established Viennese car-sharing provider, was named scale-up of the year in the “Consumer and Mobility” subcategory.

The rising star in this area was inoqo, a startup that offers users the opportunity to make their everyday lives more sustainable with an app, for example with regard to their purchases. inoqo also took overall victory among the Rising Stars.

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Kategorie 2 „Software & Digital Transformation“

Jentis was Scale-up of the Year in the “Software & Digital Transformation” category. The young company, founded in 2020, has developed a web technology that is intended to ensure website operators more data quality and data sovereignty while at the same time being fully compliant with data protection.

Rising Star became Vereinsplaner, a Linz start-up that wants to replace paperwork in clubs with digital solutions.

Viennese tech startup Jentis collects three million euros

Kategorie 3 „Supply Chain & Transport“

In the “Supply Chain & Transport” category, the jury voted byrd scale-up of the year. byrd is a Viennese company that enables the outsourcing of the entire fulfillment process from storage to returns management.

The rising star at “Supply Chain & Transport” is Supaso, a Styrian start-up that has set itself the goal of freeing refrigerated packaging for food from plastic.

byrd: logistics scale-up raises EUR 50 million, positions itself as an Amazon alternative

Category 4 “Disruption & Innovation”

Storebox was named Scale-up of the Year in the “Disruption & Innovation” category. The Viennese company has become known for its completely digitized self-storage solutions.

Rising star in this category was Seasy. The young company uses an app to provide sailors with berths at the port and marinas.

Storebox: Wiener Scale-up opens its 200th location

Kategorie 5 „Retail & Consumer Products“

refurbed, the company known for its marketplace for refurbished smartphones and other devices, was named scale-up of the year in the Retail & Consumer Products category. refurbed was also able to win the overall victory of the evening.

Circly, a Lower Austrian company that uses artificial intelligence to stop the waste of resources in retail, is a rising star in this area.

Refurbed now also sells refurbished e-bikes and bicycles

Kategorie 6 „BioTech & Health“

Scale-up of the year in the “BioTech & Health” sector is XUND from Vienna. The company promises its customers an app that provides them with reliable and trustworthy information about their health.

Rising Star of the Year in this category is Sarcura, a startup developing an instrument platform for manufacturing novel cell therapies.

XUND: How a 6 million deal almost failed

Kategorie 7 „PropTech & Real Estate“

Gropyus won the Scale-up of the Year award in the PropTech & Real Estate category. The Austrian-German company produces fully digitized buildings in wood-hybrid construction on the assembly line.

B.Complete was named Rising Star in this category. The young company offers fully equipped offices that can be rented. The startup takes care of all aspects such as setup and technology.

Gropyus: Das Scale-up baut „Living as a Service“

Category 8 “Industry & DeepTech”

UpNano is Scale-up of the Year in the Industry & DeepTech category. The company specializes in 3D printing of particularly small objects.

The rising star in this area is Baubot, a young Viennese company that develops automation solutions for the construction industry.

UpNano: Cash injection from the “deep pockets” of existing investors

Category 9 “EdTech & Knowledge”

The Viennese company Mimo, which offers an app that is intended to make coding easy for users, was voted scale-up of the year in the “EdTech & Knowledge” category.

The rising star in this category is Leaders21, a startup founded by Runtastic co-founder Florian Gschwandtner, among others, that enables employers to improve their team’s “21st Century Skills”.

Category 10 “SpaceTech”

There was only one scale-up of the year in the SpaceTech category: Enpulsion, a leading global manufacturer of micro- and nanosatellite propulsion systems.

Category 11 “FinTech & InsurTech”

In the “FinTech & InsurTech” category, there were two scale-ups of the year that received the same number of points from the jury. On the one hand, L’amie, a company that brokers the right insurance online, won. The other winning team was Valutico, a provider of web-based business valuation tools.

Rising star in this category became froots, a startup that focuses on the field of digital wealth management and wants to help clients to invest properly.

Valutico: how to calculate valuations of companies

Special category “Spin-off of the Year”

In the special category “Spin-off of the Year”, UpNano got a second award as Scale-up of the Year on Friday.

The rising star here was CellEctric Biosciences, a startup that has developed a method for the rapid, specific and automated detection of pathogenic microorganisms that is said to speed up the diagnosis of blood poisoning by a factor of ten.

Pre-registration for 2024 now possible

As soon as the second round of the award is over, EY is already preparing for the third round in 2024. The registration phase for the EY Scale-up Award 2024 starts immediately on the event website. Startups and scale-ups based in Austria that were founded no more than ten years ago can take part.

As a prize, the award-winning scale-ups and rising stars per category as well as the winners of the overall ranking received consulting packages worth over 100,000 euros. The applicants with the best points receive scale-up badges in gold, silver and bronze. In addition, the founders of the Scale-up of the Year will be recognized as winners in the Startups category at the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024.

A large number of top partners support the award and the associated program: