UniLab Elevate Demo Day – on the path to new university tech startups!

Photos: Innovation Centre

On December 4, 2024, the UniLab Elevate pre-acceleration programme's Demo Day concluded at the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Innovation Centre, where participants from Latvia's research universities presented their emerging startups. During the event, teams competed for financial support to develop their solutions and secure a spot in the next round of the pre-accelerator.

In August this year, the UniLab Elevate program welcomed 10 startup teams developing innovative solutions in healthcare, sustainable mobility, infrastructure monitoring, electronic warfare, and other areas. Over three months, the startup teams received pre-acceleration support, including business strategy development, market demand validation, and preparation for raising initial capital. Throughout the program, 16 experienced business development advisors provided support, leveraging their entrepreneurial and investor experience to help teams build strong foundations for future growth.

On Demo Day, teams competed for financial support to continue developing their business projects. The jury, which included Kristaps Zaļais, a mentor from the RSU B-Space business incubator, as well as representatives from Riga Technical University (RTU), the University of Latvia (LU), the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LBTU), and investor representatives from Accelerace and Buildit, evaluated the ideas based on business potential, market validation, and the founding team's capabilities.

The six best teams – Laflow, Adventum Tech, Vibro Brace, Wellif.ai, Sensifies, and Tactical Apps – received a total of 20,000 EUR in financial support. This funding will help the teams bring their solutions to market and prepare for further business development stages. The Vibro Brace business idea was initially developed at B-Space, receiving an award and financial support for continued entrepreneurship at the end of the INK program.

‘UniLab Elevate demonstrates that the ecosystem of Latvian universities is a cradle for tech startup founders, where talents emerge to create high-value-added companies for the growth of Latvia's economy,’ says UniLab leader Andris Baumanis.

‘We are proud of the emerging startup founders who have proven their potential to become future business leaders.’

About UniLab

UniLab is an accelerator founded by Latvian research universities, offering personalised mentoring, pre-acceleration programmes, and financial support to university ecosystem startups with high growth potential. With support from RTU, LU, RSU, LBTU, as well as the Riga City Council and the Ministry of Economics, UniLab promotes the development of technology-intensive business ideas and has helped 53 startups develop innovative business ideas to date. UniLab's programmes combine academic and industry expertise, strengthening Latvia's innovation ecosystem, promoting startup creation, and increasing the country's competitiveness.