Digital Agenda: Trustev wins Tech All Stars Awards 2013, the EU's top startup competition

European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes has named Trustev the winner of "Tech All Stars", an EU-wide search to find Europe's best young startup company at a ceremony at Founders Forum in London. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Cork, Ireland, Trustev offers real time, online verification using social fingerprinting technology. 

Neelie Kroes said "My dream is a Europe where parents, professors and politicians recognise the role that tech entrepreneurs play. I want to celebrate the fact that the best upcoming talents and their startups can make it here in Europe. That's why we've come together to celebrate the Tech All Stars award. Well done to all those taking part, and especially the winners. I wish you every success".

The other two finalists were:

• Ecochain which offers a unique application software that allows companies to calculate the sustainability performance of all their products.
• SnapFashion, a visual search engine to find your dream outfit from a photo.

All three finalists were awarded €10.000 in Amazon Web Service, access to Founders Forum, and the chance to network with potential investors, successful entrepreneurs and other influential individuals. Internet giants like Reid Hoffman (the co-founder of LinkedIn), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Richard Branson (Virgin) have attended previous Founders Forum events.

Neelie Kroes also urged Founders Forum to back Europe's young startups "Europe has talent. But it lacks Founders like you to believe it. It's you who can come up with the good ideas and shake it all up. Start forging tomorrow's economy. Create the jobs. Change the world. Because that's what startups and entrepreneurs do".

Trustev will now take part in the Digital Agenda Assembly in Dublin on 19th June to present their startup to the European Commission and to the movers and shakers of the tech scene. Tech All Stars was organised by the European Commission in partnership with Liberty Global Ventures and Amazon Web Services. It is part of Startup Europe, the Commission's plan to accelerate, connect and celebrate local entrepreneurship ecosystems in Europe, so that tech start-ups start and stay in Europe.

About the finalists:

1. Trustev (from Ireland) @trustev, www.trustev.com, represented by Pat Phelan, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, one of Ireland’s best-known serial entrepreneurs. Trustev offers real time, online verification using social fingerprinting technology. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Cork, Ireland, Trustev is mirroring the way merchants make real life selling decisions online for the very first time. Through Trustev’s unique social fingerprinting technology, online retailers can be certain that they are dealing and transacting with real human beings. Trustev’s platform provides a multi layered approach to fraud detection to maximize revenue and minimize loss while reducing the cost of policing fraud.
2. EcoChain (from The Netherlands) @EcoChainTech www.ecochain.com, represented by Boudewijn O.C. Mos, Co-Founder. EcoChain offers a unique application software that allows companies to calculate the sustainability performance of all their products, through: EcoChain Footprint (a full environmental footprint application), EcoChain LCA (Life Cycle Assessments) and EcoChain Projects. The three business lines provide the necessary tools to become self-sufficient in relation to sustainability in an easy, affordable and rapid way by providing business with insights in where to invest more effectively, how to create a greener image, cut down costs and, last but not least, increase profit in a sustainable way.
3. Snap Fashion (from the UK) @SnapFashion, www.snapfashion.co.uk/, invented and developed by Jenny Griffiths. Snap Fashion offers a visual search engine to find your dream outfit from a photo. It is a sartorial search engine that uses images to search for matches, saving time, money, and eliminating the frustration of having to trawl for hours, days, even, shopping online. The technology works in any environment, from snapping someone on the street to copying a link of a photograph from an online magazine. The process is a simple one: take out phone, launch the free Snap Fashion application, select the product type that you want to search, and then snap it. The item is then searched for on Snap Fashion’s extensive list of affiliates via cut, colour, and style, and the results are delivered straight back to you in tabs, and within seconds.

12 startups were initially chosen from almost 300 candidates who applied for the competition. The selection was made by a Selection Board that included a team of judges from Angelsbootcamp.. The twelve startups were then narrowed down to the three finalists.

Useful links

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/tech-all-stars