Poland Prize powered by Huge Thing 13th Edition

2022 Edition

Pilot to Poland,
Expand in Poland

Poland Prize powered by Huge Thing aims to help non-Polish startups by:

  • Setting up their entity in Poland
  • Providing up to €65K funding for expansion plan
  • Connecting them with Technology Recipients and VCs for up to 6 months of validations or pilots

We help you understand Polish business better so you can focus on acceleration with our Partners.

Some startups might want to focus on opening a company in a new country and high-quality mentoring and professional workshops at every stage. Others might be willing to test their product with partners. We help to find the best path for you and your team!

At Huge Thing, our goal is to connect startups with partners so you can show what you do best – develop tech solutions. This usually means: accelerating you to the point where you’re ready to validate your business with corporations or VC funds. Then we can introduce you to a larger network — who knows maybe you will raise your next investment round in Poland.

Who are we looking for?

If you want to participate in the Poland Prize program, you must meet the following requirements:

1

Poland is for your potential next market to enter

2

You are willing to set up a company in Poland – Don’t worry! If you get in, our legal team will help you through the process of registration, opening a bank account etc.

3

At least 50% of shares in the new Polish company will belong to the founders of the team from outside Poland and at least one of the management board members comes from outside Poland

4

Your Polish company wasn’t created through a merging or splitting of already-existing companies

5

Your team is ready to respond to areas of interest identified by partners of the accelerator

6

You have a proof of concept for your idea

7

Your business idea already generates revenue

8

Your team is well-motivated and ready for new challenges

Program Highlights & Timeline of 13th Edition

What are your options?

Phase 2 is available only if your Partner is still interested in your solution and there's potential for PoC

Phase 1 (3 months)

After entering the program firstly you will take part in Phases named Soft-landing and Development. This part is focused on creating a company on Polish law, knowing more about the Polish market and checking the possibility of POC with the Partner.

Main goals for this phase: 
  • Established company with a bank account with the support of the dedicated legal team
  • Gaining the necessary knowledge – you will take part in several workshops dedicated to startups entering the Polish market
  • Knowing the community and market – You will get access to a Huge Thing network of experts and other startups from your industry
  • Checking if you have a match with a potential partner and you can realize the POC together
  • an equity-free grant worth PLN50k (EUR 10,5k)

Phase 2 (6 months)

If you get a match with the Partner,  you enter the next program Phase named Acceleration. During this phase, you will run the POC with the Partner to check how the solution works and if there is a possibility for further cooperation.

Main goals for this phase: 
  • Setting the POC Plan – 3-step Acceleration Plan prepared especially for you with the Huge Thing team and Partner.
  • Leading the POC with the Partner
  • Gaining the necessary knowledge – you will take part in several workshops dedicated to startups and work with dedicated mentors and tutors
  • an equity-free grant worth up to PLN250k (EUR 65k)

Meet our Partners

Do you want to join the group of program partners? Check HERE who can be a partner and what benefits from working with startups under the program.

  • How to treat industrial wastewater for reuse in industry and agriculture
  • How to implement methods for the recovery of phosphorus from wastewater
  • How to optimize investments into DWN pipelines in order to reduce non-revenue water while minimizing costs
  • How to aerate wastewater in wastewater treatment plants in an energy efficient way
  • How to compost wastewater sludge in an odorless way (“no-smell composting”) while maintaining a high quality of compost
  • How to measure and analyse the consumption of energy (heat and electricity) in residential buildings?
  • How to manage and control the thermal comfort of residents in multi-apartment residential buildings?
  • How to maximize the heat-generation capabilities of PVT (Photovoltaic Thermal) panels in low outdoor temperatures
  • How to efficiently store heat (daily and seasonal storage)?
  • How to recover heat from municipal wastewater in order to supply heat to individual buildings or to the District Heating Network?
  • How to support the collection, organization and analysis of data needed for ESG reporting.
  • How to bring contextual information to technicians through Augmented Reality technology
Veolia Group in Poland has been a reliable partner of cities and industry in the area of effective energy management, water and wastewater management and waste management for over 25 years. Based on knowledge and experience, it offers innovative services tailored to the needs of Customers. By investing in the expansion and modernization of its production and distribution infrastructure, it ensures the highest quality of services. Veolia constantly looks for innovative solutions in areas such as decarbonization, energy efficiency, e-mobility, indoor air quality and energy balancing. Taking into account the circular economy model, it creates and implements economically and environmentally effective solutions contributing to the sustainable development of cities and industry.
  • Collection of waste
  • Packaging
  • Manufacturing
  • Deposit approach (both products & services)

Coca Cola HBC Poland & Baltics is a branch of Coca-Cola HBC AG, a strategic partner and the world’s second largest bottler of The Coca-Cola Company beverages, reaching over 590 million consumers. We operate on 4 among: Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian, and our portfolio includes: Coca-Cola carbonated drinks, Coca-Cola Zero, Coke Energy, Cherry Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Kinley Tonic, juices and nectars Cappy, Kropla Beskidu and Kropla Delice mineral waters, Burn energy drinks, Monster Energy and Predator and Fuzetea iced teas.

Żabka Polska is the owner of the fastest-growing chain of convenience stores in Poland and one of the most dynamic formats in the world, opening more than 4000 new stores in 2016-21. There are over 8,400 stores operated by more than 7,100 franchisees under the Żabka brand. About 15.5 million Polish consumers live no further than 500 m from the nearest Żabka store. To provide them with convenience and the highest quality of service, Żabka Future develops technological and system tools for the future. As part of the Żabka Group responsibility strategy, the chain has made commitments in the areas of good nutrition, services that facilitate sustainable life, the development of entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusive organizational culture, corporate governance, as well as decarbonization and circular economy. More information about Żabka Polska on: www.zabka.pl.

EIT InnoEnergy is a leading fund investing in energy, cleantech, mobility, and broader smart technology solutions, both in Europe and beyond. Since its creation in 2010, and with the support of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), it has invested €560 million in sustainable energy innovation, providing funding and additional support to approximately 380 start-ups.

Black Pearls VC is a Polish based early stage venture capital firm focused on seed, post-seed and Series A investments in leading tech startups from Northern & Central Europe. Focusing on supporting ambitious entrepreneurs in building companies with a global reach, Black Pearls VC is usually one of the first investors in the company, helping founders scale and reach their goals. Typical ticket ranges between €100k – €1m, with follow-on investments in later rounds. So far Black Pearls VC has invested in over 30 companies.
Innovation Nest is a European VC that invests in early-stage B2B software companies. We’re a group of serial entrepreneurs applying diverse perspectives within industries ready for a transformation. Our diversity gives us a broader perspective, allowing us to empower entrepreneurs working on different projects within various disciplines and sectors.
Market One Capital is a 45M pan-European VC, led by an experienced team of entrepreneurs. We invest tickets from 200k up to 1.5M EUR in early stage network effects platforms. We are a Pan-European early stage VC fund investing into marketplaces / digital platforms and SaaS. We founded and scaled 3 online platforms ourselves as entrepreneurs. We have invested in 60+ early-stage tech startups (majority of them being platforms or SaaS), including Docplanner, Brainly, Tier Mobility, Packhelp and Genial.ly
CofounderZone aims to build an ecosystem where two coexisting worlds can find common ground to cooperate. As we believe, collaboration of that kind needs proper facilitation and fitting personalities. That is why CofounderZone puts strong emphasis on people – cofounders of startups and founders of established businesses, turned angel investors – all in order to propel the exchange of experience, as well as human and investment capital.
Supporting Partner

Enterprise Singapore’s partnering in the Poland Prize program is a step towards bridging Singapore and Poland as well as the CEE region.
Visit website
Enterprise Singapore is the Singapore government agency championing enterprise development. It also supports the growth of Singapore as a hub for global trading and startups. The agency attracts global commodities traders to establish their global or Asian home base in Singapore. Today, Singapore is a leading global trading hub with a complete ecosystem for the energy, agri-commodities and metals & minerals trading clusters. Singapore is also home to many global enterprises, startups and investors that operate in its robust pro-enterprise environment. With Enterprise Singapore’s global network in over 35 locations spanning many developed and emerging markets, it connects businesses with relevant Singapore companies for their business expansion.

Program summary

We look for non-Polish startups with at least one founder without Polish citizenship and a at least 50% of shares belongs to non-Polish board members. Teams must have the ability to answer the technical challenges defined by our Partners.
Acceleration is for startups that already gained customers for their product who are ready to start into the Polish market.
The recruitment process consists of 3 stages: enrollment of application, interviews followed by verification, and Bootcamp.
Top teams are invited for an online, 3-day Bootcamp consisting of 1:1s, workshops and more.
The program consists of workshops, mentoring sessions, Polish lessons and individual work on your projects.
We share our best practices to support the strategic and measurable growth of your business at scale Startups chosen for the program will receive up to €65 000 in financial support & a huge dose of know-how.
You can take part in the program for free – no cost or equity. We do not cover the expenses of establishing the company, your meals and accommodation.
Do you have any questions? Contact us via email: hello@hugething.vc

You can learn more about the details of the program – check out the FAQ questions.

Startups

Empyrio

EMPYRIO compact incinerator allows low-cost utilization of sewage sludge onsite at small and medium size wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), providing ashes for further phosphorus recovery.

Redigo Carbon

Redigo connects to companies’ internal systems and directly to utility providers and automatically collects relevant Scope 1, 2, 3 data in real time. The Redigo database, using our proprietary algorithm calculates the CO2 equivalent and visualises companies' past, present and estimated future emissions.

Ithaca Clean Energy

Ithaca Clean Energy’s mission is to digitally transform offshore wind towards greater sustainability. WATERFRONT enables offshore wind and fisheries to prosper together, and therefore helps accelerate the deployment and sustainable growth of offshore wind in the United States, the Baltic Sea and globally.

Structure Plus

Structure Plus is an AI platform that saves money and time for real-estate developers by reducing concrete and steel usage in structures by optimizing the structural design.

Teknobuilt

Teknobuilt brings surety and savings in execution of construction projects by use of an end to end digital project delivery platform PACE OS 4.0 and built environment industry expertise. The state-of-the-art technology has assisted organizations to break down the silos and provide the roadmap to users to achieve maximum productivity while ensuring safety of its employees.

Power Drone

POWER DRONE is a data analytics tech company using drones for automated inspections of overhead power lines and other energy infrastructure such as wind & solar parks and underground pipelines. The company has developed its own software platform for data analytics applying AI & machine learning algorithms.

Traxlo

Traxlo’ operates a retail grocery store tasks marketplace tasku.app, which task’ifies daily operations of the grocery stores: date checking, product stocking, planogram compliance, merchandising and many more. It is an outsourced service for the retail operators or FMCG product brands inside the retail store. The operational model enables local communities around the stores to earn important extra income and make retail operations more sustainable.

eID Easy

eID Easy helps businesses adopt Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES). The goal is integrate all existing solutions like SimplySign, mSafir, eDO app, smart cards and USB tokens. In addition create one time certificates with use identification methods like Profil Zaufany that do not support eIDAS approved Qualified nor Advanced signatures out of the box.

Renbloc

Renbloc helps companies understand exactly where their energy comes from by providing them with a real-time renewable index that shows what percentage is renewable and how much CO2 emissions are coming from non-renewable consumption.

Screvo_logo-icon-white (3)

Screvo

Screvo reimagines the currently fragmented retail promotion and purchase experience to create the ultimate sales booster superapp. The aim is to maximize the value created by startup for users as well as the sales potential for participating merchants and brands.

Spawnfoam

Spawnfoam is a biotechnology company currently based in Portugal that is disrupting the biocomposite market, substantially eliminating the use of plastic. Developed with an intrinsic economic logic for circular economy, Spawnfoam products are made with by-products from agricultural and forestry activities, reinforced with an organic adhesive. These biocomposites are environmentally friendly, complex, and customizable.

Battronics

Battronics develops Battery Aging Database with predictive analytics and Machine Learning to predict remaining battery life in Energy Storage and Electric vehicles

iVCV

iVCV's explainable AI is trained in an unbiased way to ensure an equal evaluation of the candidates' applications. The iVCV algorithm does not make a hiring decision in place of recruiters; rather, it provides recruiters with detailed and unbiased information to make a data-driven decision.

Candam Tech

Candam provides technology for Circular Economy. Startup leads innovation in Waste Management sector by designing and distributing European patented hardware and software tools for Rewarding, Deposit Refund and Reusable Packaging schemes. Candam created RecySmart, the unique IoT device adaptable to existing waste bins and capable of identifying citizens and characterising the packaging items they recycle thanks to innovative and patented technologies.

Immune

IMMUNE X-TPRMTM tackles key challenges in managing third-party risks throughout the entire lifecycle of relationships by providing comprehensive visibility into the complex network of third, fourth, and Nth-parties. The platform streamlines risk assessments using data analytics and digital tools, supports proactive risk management through continuous monitoring, and aids in maintaining regulatory compliance.

Documents

Rules of the acceleration program

Rules of enrollment process
GDPR and Privacy Policy
Grant entrustment agreement  also known as Acceleration agreement
Annex to Grant entrustment agreement  also known as Acceleration agreement
Non-disclosure agreement for both parties to sign before the acceleration

Do you have any question?

We’ll be more than happy, to answer you!

Download this resource

In order to download this resource, we ask you to fill a form. After that you’ll receive the download link diretcly to your inbox!

Maryla Wojcieszek

Interim Head of Knowledge, Innovation Shaper

As Innovation Shaper at Huge Thing, Maryla supports large organizations in processes related to innovation. That includes, among others:  ‘as is’ diagnosis, analysis and (re-)design of processes, innovation framework design, structuring the work of innovation teams, and facilitating cooperation with startups. As the Interim Head of Knowledge, Maryla is responsible for the materialization and transfer of knowledge as well as talent management within the Huge Thing team. She designs and creates new products/services based on internal knowledge resources as well as new models of delivery and dissemination. She’s also a workshop designer and facilitator.

Experienced designer of (public) programs supporting the startup ecosystem in Poland. In her professional experience, as an Expert in the Startup Development Department at PARP, Maryla co-created, among others, the Scale UP program – the first public acceleration program connecting startups and corporations.

A gardener and a LEGO fan.

Nala

Cummunity Builder

Since 2022 Nala has been working like a dog to build the Huge Thing community.

She’s always happy to welcome you in our office and you can be sure to get a huuuge hug from her!

PS: don’t forget to bring some treats.

Mateusz Szymański

Junior Program Manager

Tech and innovation enthusiasts, especially those with positive social impact, Greentech, and health tech solutions. In Huge Thing, Mateusz is responsible for co-running acceleration programs. In 2022 he was co-running the 12th edition of the Google for Startups pre-acceleration program. 

Previously he worked in the sales and product departments, where he was responsible for outreach activities and product communication. He’s also gained experience in project coordination and internal communication, working as a Spokesperson for Poznań’s department of NGO organization The Polish Forum of Young Diplomats. He was a co-creator of the social campaign “Paragraphs without blunder” which mission was to educate high school students about their rights.

During his spare time, he likes to read about international politics and the economy. Strategic games enjoyer. He’ll surely like to play chess with you.

Kaja Kulas

Program Manager

Kaja joined the Huge Thing team in May 2022. For several years she’s been connected with the startup ecosystem. She helps international startups in growing their businesses in Poland and across Europe.

In Huge Thing, Kaja is responsible for project management which include running educational programs for startups in their development and acceleration phase. She organizes events, workshops and trainings for the program participants. She monitors their growth and connects with partners and technology recipes. Also, Kaja takes care of relations, community building, recruitments and explorations of startups’ needs to bring them the best value of our programmes.

Before Huge Thing, she gained her experience in Poznan Science and Technology Park developing international projects funded by the European Commission. Kaja was a part of the PSTP Capital Fund and Regional Contact Point for Research Programmes of the European Union. She is passionate about travels, sports, music and dogs. Kaja is a happy “dog mom” of our team member – Nala whom you can pet while visiting us. :)

 

Zuza Kowala

Innovation Manager, Program Manager

Zuza joined Huge Thing in 2021. She is responsible for acceleration programs like GovTech Inno_Lab and Żabka Future Lab.

Also as Maryla, Zuza supports large organizations in processes related to innovation. That includes, among others: design of processes, innovation framework design, structuring the work of innovation teams and facilitating cooperation with startups.

Before joining Innovation Monsters, Zuza led projects at Żabka Polska, earlier connected with automotive at Volkswagen Group Polska. In Żabka, she was responsible for project management, coordinating the teamwork according to the best practice – she was looking for the best way to keep the process alive.
Zuza is also a sportaholic, innovation seeker, and book lover.

Magda Stachowiak

Project Manager

Magda joined Huge Thing in 2021. Responsible for our Gov Tech inno_Lab acceleration programs and cooperation with the public administration. She runs projects for smart city. She is also responsible for building bridges between innovators – corporations, startups and the administration.

Previously, since 2015, she cooperated on our projects for Gov Tech and corporations. Connected with the Poznań Startup Community. Experience in organizing events for the MedTech community. She worked in advertising and interactive agencies, creating brand campaigns and loyalty programs. She helped implement technologies into the organization.

Passionate about personal development, psychobiology, and supporting women in creating businesses. The creator of the projects Kobiecy Poznań Przebudzenie and Joy of Life.

Damian Wielechowski

Senior Marketing and Communication Manager

Damian manages the external and internal communications of SpeedUp Group, including Huge Thing. He joined the team in 2017 and since then has been working with business representatives, business environment institutions, public administration, media, and the academic community.

In addition to activities related to Speedup Group, Damian supports the fund’s portfolio companies in the area of marketing and PR. He has served on the jury of many competitions, including ImpactCEE, and acted as a mentor at startup events such as hackathons and Startup Weekend.

Damian is also the author of the Poznan Startup Guide and co-author of the Krakow Startup Guide, as well as organizer of many events dedicated to startups and investors.

Agnieszka Cichocka

Head of Acceleration

Agnieszka joined Huge Thing in 2021. She is responsible for our acceleration programs. She is passionate about art, technology, and gendered innovations. Previously, Director of District Hall Warsaw and Startup Development Department Manager at Incubator Starter. 

Co-creator of Techseed.me technological acceleration program and the first coliving space in Poland for digital nomads. 

Natalia Sadownik

Delivery Lead, Senior Program Manager

Natalia joined Huge Thing in 2019. As a Senior Program Manager, she implements acceleration and educational programs (Poland Prize, PlusJeden do Rozwoju) in line with Huge Thing’s standards.

As a Delivery Lead, she focuses on the operation of Huge Thing as an organization, financial issues, team planning, and quality of activities carried out by the company. Natalia loves to sail around Masuria and Croatia, and on gray days eats sushi and watches tennis.

Monika Synoradzka

CEO of Huge Thing and managing partner at Speedup group

Monika together with the HT team is responsible for the company’s development in startup acceleration and activities aimed at supporting organizations from the private and public sectors in their work with innovations.

She specializes in implementing innovations in organizations and building a culture of innovation in companies from various sectors. For years, she has supported the development of Poland’s startup environment.

Monika is also a Managing Partner at SpeedUp Venture Capital Group.
Thanks to her knowledge and experience, she helps portfolio companies to understand the operation of large organizations and corporations and prepare to work with them. She also supports them in building business relationships.

Preparing the resources

Acquiring innovation

Preparing the resources

Acquiring innovation

Huge Thing Programs

Monetizing innovation

Acquiring innovation

Skip to content