Winners of Carpathian Startup Fest 2025
Genotic the best! Winners of Carpathian Startup Fest 2025
These were 2 wonderful days of pitching, and the fifth, jubilee edition of the Carpathian Startup Fest festival organized on May 21 and 22 by the Rzeszów Regional Development Agency and the Podkarpackie Science and Technology Park "Aeropolis" attracted the attention of over 1,500 people from Podkarpacie, Poland and the world. Startup creators, investors, VC funds, business angels, entrepreneurs and scientists met in one place, confirming that the source of the greatest success is always people - in accordance with the slogan of this year's edition "quality people". At the ZEN.COM Expo Exhibition and Congress Center in Jasionka, awards were given in two categories: Startup Puls Up organized together with the national daily "Puls Biznesu" and Idea Challenge. The InCredibles Award, patronized by Sebastian Kulczyk, was also presented.
This year's edition of CSF saw over 250 projects submitted from Poland, Great Britain, Lithuania, Estonia, the United States, Germany, Sweden and, for the first time, India. The 16 best business ideas competed in the final for prizes worth PLN 150,000. Startups submitted the most applications, 193. 65 business ideas were also submitted. As the competition jury emphasized, the fifth, anniversary edition of Carpathian Startup Fest 2025 also had the highest substantive level - scalable startups with well-thought-out and technologically advanced businesses entered the competition.
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There was another important accent on the second day of CSF25 – a conversation with Jarosław Sroka, led by: Mariusz Bednarz, president of the Rzeszów Regional Development Agency SA and Eugeniusz Twaróg, deputy editor-in-chief of “Puls Biznesu”. Values in the media and business are so rarely and little spoken about that the voice of Jarosław Sroka, who is the hero of one of the greatest media careers in the Third Polish Republic and an extremely effective transition from the world of media to international, big business, was one of the most interesting counterpoints of this year’s festival. Sroka, currently a member of the board of KI NEXT, responsible for, among others, the InCredibles mentoring program, began his work in journalism in 1990 and does not hide the fact that he is a “child” of the Polish political transformation. He was only 28 when he became editor-in-chief of “Puls Biznesu”, he also headed “Newsweek” and “Gazeta Prawna”. Since 2007, he has been associated with Kulczyk Investments. He worked for Jan Kulczyk, and after his death, he continues to work with his son, Sebastian Kulczyk. Everyone who knows him emphasizes two of his extraordinary features. First, he always answers the phone, second, he knows everyone and has phone numbers for everyone.
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In the Startup Plus Up category, Genotic won – a startup that uses AI to design, test and produce antibodies, which are a universal tool used in research and development. The revolutionary nature of their solution lies in the modern method of predicting protein structures based on sequences, and thus has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of autoimmune and neoplastic diseases.
Second place went to RIFFSEC, a company specializing in real-time cyber threat monitoring. Its platform searches, analyzes, and shares data on potential threats to which employees, contractors, and customers of companies may be exposed.
RIFFSEC also won the audience award – the audience was delighted with the goose motif used in the startup's presentation. It is not only beautiful and incredibly intelligent birds, but above all their vigilance that has become a legend, which says that geese saved Rome.
Third place in this category went to iYoni App by LIFEBITE, a medical application that helps in the treatment of infertility. The application created by professors of reproductive medicine, combining technology, medicine and AI, has already helped 30 thousand women get pregnant.
The startup iYoni App by LIFEBITE was also invited to Sebastian Kulczyk's InCredibles mentoring program. The company will benefit from free support from Polish and foreign mentors for a year.
In the Idea Challenge category, the first place was taken by the MycoRenew project – REIMAGINING FASHION WASTE WITH FUNGI, a startup that uses fungi to process textile waste into sustainable materials. The second place went to DES – a dental endoscope system, thanks to which the dentist can constantly observe the tooth and drill in live-view mode in 360'. BLUMINEO was also distinguished – a non-contact, luminance method for diagnosing physiological jaundice in newborns, which was awarded the third place.
CARPATHIAN STARTUP FEST 2025 RESULTS:
Category – Startup Plus Up
Startup Plus Up 3rd place – iYoni App by LIFEBITE
Startup Plus Up 2nd place – RIFFSEC
Startup Plus Up 1st place – Genotic
Category – Best Business Idea
Idea Challenge 3rd place – BLUMINEO
Idea Challenge 2nd place – DES – dental endoscope system
Idea Challenge 1st place – MycoRenew – REIMAGINING FASHION WASTE WITH FUNGI
Category – Open Mic Pitch
Open Mic Pitch 3rd place – CleverHive Space
Open Mic Pitch 2nd place – NanoSci | Pure Air through Photocatalysis
Open Mic Pitch 1st place – Ayla Care
SPECIAL AWARD
Sebastian Kulczyk's InCredibles Award – iYoni App by LIFEBITE
