The Chicago Connectory is excited to welcome three new Italian startups, Getastand, Hooro, and Volvero, to the community! The startups are hosted by Connectory member, Sente Foundry. Sente manages an international technology startup program that brings corporations, public institutions, investors, and startups together to scale innovative ideas from around the globe.
Sente is supporting the Italian Trade Agency’s program by providing its mentorship and network to help the startups with their stay in Chicago. The Italian Trade Agency supports Italian businesses of all sizes in their path to global success. As part of their mission, they support startups on a 90-day program in Chicago in efforts to help them understand the U.S. market, test their solutions, and build their networks.
Project Manager of Getastand, a marketplace to connect event organizers with people and companies that need a booth or stand. Examples include flea markets, food truck festivals, music festivals, and so on. This platform improves the experience of both sides of this market by creating a unique channel that matches event organizers with the participants. This paves a path for communication between the two parties. Getastand was founded in March 2018.The platform now has 3,000 exhibitors, 400 organizers and has managed 50 events.
How does the Chicago Connectory benefit you?
As I am learning the American culture and business, this is a great place to start to network, find potential investors, and establish ourselves in the U.S.
CEO of Hooro, an IoT platform for retail analytics. Hooro was founded in 2016, and has been bringing digitization to stores ever since. This hardware and software platform tracks products from on the shelves to inventory all in real time. This valuable data allows stores to increase revenue by knowing when there is a lack of product and when their shelves need to be re-stocked.
How does the Chicago Connectory benefit you?
The Chicago Connectory benefits me by allowing a space for collaboration. Collaboration is very important and I am able to effectively do so here. I am interested in learning about the American grocery stores because they’re among the most innovative retailers in the world. I want to present an innovative solution to them.
CEO of Volvero, a peer-to-peer platform for car sharing. It is essentially the “Airbnb” for vehicles. This app allows owners to share their vehicles when they’re not being used, and users can browse to find the cars they are looking for. Volvero aims to provide unique cars and other types of vehicles (e.g. motorcycles, pickup trucks) that aren’t usually available through rental agencies or existing car sharing platforms. They are about to launch in Italy and across Europe and are looking to the U.S. as the main opportunity next year.
How does the Chicago Connectory benefit you?
During my time in the U.S., I want to understand the business habits of the country and local entrepreneurs to see if there is a potential marketplace and investors for us. This can be done by networking with the right people and the Chicago Connectory provides that opportunity.
• Gowatham Kumar, UIC Student • Jigyasa Sachdeva, UIC Student • Meher Phani Ujwala Ambarkhana, UIC Student • Rachana Manjuath, UIC Student • Dave Turner, Co-Founder at Spacebot • Angelo
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