On Thursday the 12th. December 2019 In 2019, the grand finale of the Get in the Ring Split 2019 competition was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel . In an atmosphere that even the biggest Hollywood films would not be ashamed of, 6 finalists who underwent an extensive program of checks and evaluations by experienced entrepreneurs and representatives of investment funds, fought for a prize fund of HRK 250,000 and a trip to the Get in the Ring Global stage. Competition 2020. The competition was organized by the Student Business Incubator and the Faculty of Economics in Split in cooperation with the City of Split .

The finale of the competition was opened by program manager Michael Freer , who at the beginning introduced the gathered audience to the concept of the competition, after which, on behalf of the organizers, the mayor Andro Krstulović of Opara and the dean of the Faculty of Economics in Split , Maja Fredotović, addressed the crowd. In the final, 3 1-on-1 fights took place, in front of the expert jury and the audience. According to the Get in the Ring standard, the fights contained the following segments: a general introduction of 1 minute per competitor, then 5 rounds of 30 seconds per competitor in which they presented their team, their achievements, their business model, their market, and finally, in the fifth round so called. “freestyle” had the opportunity to further convince the jury that they are the best startup. This was followed by questions from the jury lasting 8 minutes and questions from the audience lasting 5 minutes.

“Pleeeaseee welcome to the Ring the founder of our next startuuup, eeeeeAgraaar, Sssslaveeeennn Daaaaaaaamjanović!!!” With these words, along with a real show of stroboscopes, smoke curtains and loud music, the ringmaster announced the entry of one of the 6 Split startups into the finals last night at the Radisson Blu Spa & Resort. In the end, Slaven was the winner of the entire competition, which brought him HRK 100,000 for the development of his product – a system for precise microclimate monitoring on agricultural plantations and irrigation management. In addition, eAgrar will defend the colors of Croatia on the global finals of the Get in the Ring competition in 2020. year.

But let’s go back to the beginning, Get in the Ring was announced a little over a month ago as an opportunity for all startups operating in Split or ready to move to Split. The total prize fund of HRK 250,000 was provided by the City of Split, and the organizer, the Student Business Incubator of the Faculty of Economics in Split, provided a Get in the Ring license for Croatia, a sufficient number of applications and preparatory training for all competitors.

A total of 29 applications were received, from which 20 startups were selected that met the conditions for entering the next stage of the Get in the Ring Split 2019 competition.

They are (in order of application):

1. Easy Oil, co-founded by Duja Roja – a system for automatic payment at gas stations
2. Sailboat RC, co-founded by Josip Marasović – the most advanced radio-controlled sailboat in the world
3. GoToBot, founder Tomas Pinjušić – chat bot for hotels and apartments
4. ChessDoubles, co-founded by Vedran Podlipec – a solution for remote chess playing in pairs
5. Valut, co-founded by Matija Matija – a solution for changing currencies in shops
6. Mushroom cups, founded by Stipe Režić – functional coffee with mushrooms
7. eAgrar, founded by Slaven Damjanović – a system for precise monitoring of the microclimate on agricultural plantations and irrigation management
8. Stuey, founded by Damir Skoka – a tool to help people who stutter on the phone
9. Litto, founded by Antoni Perić-Mažar – a platform for planning and buying activities and experiences on tourist trips
10. Swappie, founded by Alen Stojanović – a platform for exchanging cultural artifacts and experiences
11. CannaX, founded by Petar Vukašinović – a platform for events in the cannabis industry
12. AeroNavis, co-founded by Karel Bosiljevac – an unmanned aerial vehicle for controlling forests at risk of fire
13. Split Nomad Gallery, founded by Mirela Jusupovich – an internet platform for the affirmation and market placement of the works of local artists
14. Self Check-in software, founded by Mladen Tomić – automatic check-in of guests in hotels and apartments
15. PosLovko, founded by Roko Krstulović – a platform for providing and purchasing small services
16. AirTowar, founded by Marin Kovačević – a solution for the difficulties of carrying luggage on trips
17. The Beatstravellers, founded by Matthew Hairsnape – an app for music tourists
18. Cezar, founded by Marija Ćubelić – an application for managing hotels and apartments
19. Reel, founded by Andreja Grisogono – an application for photographic records of damage to vehicles
20. Wide Solutions, founded by Mate Alač – a software platform for designing electrotechnical equipment

From these 20, a special jury of 6 judges selected 6 finalists: 1. Mushroom Cups, 2. Sailboat RC, 3. Litto, 4. eAgrarian, 5. Reel and 6. GoToBot.

They fought in order:

1. Mushroom Cups and GoToBot
2. Sailboat RC and Reel
3. Litto and eAgrar

In the first fight, the favorite Stipe Režić and his Mushroom Cups won. It is a project that has already achieved significant investments and awards, and it has been in existence for more than two years. However, his victory was not easy, because the student 5. of FESB, Tomas Pinjušić impressed with his presentation of the project he has been working on for the past 7 months since he passed the Student Business Incubator program.

The second fight had more equal competitors, and we can say that the real surprise came when Andrea Grisogono won, who was also the only competitor in the final. Although she did not enter as a favorite, and her opponent Josip Marasović had a perfectly rehearsed speech, the jury gave greater importance to the potential of her Reel project, which she has been working on for the past year.

The third and most uncertain fight brought two extremely high-quality projects and good speakers. Antonio Perić-Mažar impressed with the potential of his project as well as his team. After the initial presentation, it was clear that he would be hard to beat. But Slaven Damjanović showed why he has been winning startup competitions in the region for the past year:

“Imagine a farmer who painstakingly grows crops. Every day he looks at the sky and wonders if there will be rain or frost. Will a disease appear and destroy all his plants. That man is my father. I wanted to help him. Reduce the damage it suffers and the amount of pesticides it uses. And I succeeded. Then something much bigger was created – the eAgrar system for precision agriculture…”

That the fight was extremely exciting and tense was also shown by the record number of questions from the audience, who followed the entire event with loud cheers and support for their favorites. Slaven won and entered the fight for the last 3 places.

After each fight and decision of the judges, in true boxing manners, the host of the program – “ringmaster” Michael Freer would announce the winner by raising his hands. The trio of judges explained each decision on the winner of the fight, highlighting the key reasons, both from the aspect of scaling the current business, and from the aspect of long-term sustainability. In the end, the judges had a very difficult task. The three of them, Tamas Bekasi from the EU institution EIT Health, Karina Lapina from the startup accelerator Startup Wise Guys and Krešimir Budiša from the City of Split, needed an additional 10 minutes to make a decision.

The next phase of the competition took place in such a way that the winners, together in the ring, had 5 additional minutes each to convince the expert jury that they are the best startup at Get in the Ring Split 2019. By the judges’ decision, we got a winner: Slaven Damjanović from eAgrar wins HRK 100,000 and a trip to the Get in the Ring Global Competition 2020. Andrea Grisogono (Reel) won second place and HRK 70,000, while Stipe Režić (Mushroom Cups) won third place and HRK 50,000. The remaining finalists received HRK 10,000 each.

The whole spectacle ended with thanks to the sponsors and partners, and the announcement

It should be mentioned that the decision which 6 out of 20 contestants deserve to enter the finals was made after extensive evaluations and discussions with the candidates. Iva Rakočević (NX3 Ventures London), Ivana Čuljak (Invento Capital Partners), Renata Brkić (Feelsgood Social Impact Investment Fund), Vanja Perić (Wealth Management Canada), Vedran Blagus (South Central Ventures) and Gergo Gulyas (Startup Campus London).

To recall how the course of the competition unfolded, from the opening of applications to the finals: the competition was intended for all business entities up to 5 years of age, applications were officially open from 4. November to 4 December until 23:59 and 29 applications were received, after that – 6. In December, the pre-selection committee came up with a list of 20 selected project ideas. The selected companies underwent two days of preparation in order to become as familiar as possible with the Get in the Ring concept. That’s right on Tuesday the 10th. December Emanuele di Francesco from the Get in the Ring Foundation held the Get in the Ring Bootcamp Pitch Training, while on the 11 December training was held by Dario Boras from the Parklio company, as the only Croatian representative at the global Get in the Ring competition.

We would like to thank all the partners who supported the project:

• Technology transfer office of the University of Split through the Enterprise Europe Network
• Parklio company on mentoring, useful advice and preparation of contestants for the Get in the Ring competition
• The Croatian Boxing Association on props that completed the entire competitive event

You can see pictures from last night’s show in the following gallery: