Spark ? 1 Million € in Funding

“There should be no hierarchy in care and compassion” - Hassan Akkad

Welcome to the November edition of Spark.

As conflicts rage around the world, we're taking a moment to bring you some uplifting stories from the community. No fluff, just good, inspirational vibes. We'll now go back to finalizing preparations for the SIA Summit, our global gathering of winners from around the world at the end of November. In the meantime, we wish you a great week ahead.

1.5 Million in Funding ??

Not only are zebras cool animals, they’re also a way to describe the “unicorns” of the impact sector. A unicorn is a high value startup that typically garners significant interest from investors at an early stage with the promise of doing something extraordinary (think Chat GPT). A Zebra is its impact-counterpart: a high-value venture with the potential of creating dramatic change for the better.

SIA Germany alumni venture Resoniks, formerly known as Supplyz, is on its way to Zebra status. Resoniks uses acoustics and AI to detect anomalies in metal components by resonating objects and analyzing their acoustic response. This innovative solution identifies invisible defects, reduces waste, saves energy, and promotes sustainable metal recycling.

In an impressive seed round, Resoniks just secured 1.5 million in funding from tech investor Kvanted. We’ll make sure to add them to the SIA funding hall of fame ??.

Journey to Impact ??

Does the name “Journey to Impact” ring a bell? It might be because of last month’s edition of Spark. “Journey to Impact” is a set of photography exhibits taking place across Europe, spotlighting the incredible lives of young people building solutions to the most pressing social and environmental issues of our time, whose stories mostly go untold.?

The next stop is at the SIA Summit in Novi Sad, Serbia, where the exhibit will be open to the public (follow us on Instagram to receive more information). As a teaser, we’re sharing snippets from our interview with SIA Georgia alumnus Giorgi Bukai, who is profiled in the exhibit. Giorgi is a serial entrepreneur who loves giving back to his community. He won SIA twice with his ventures Convobridge and Alioni, and has plenty of wisdom to share about being a social entrepreneur.?

Can you tell us a little bit about what got you into this field?

I’m from Abkhazia, a contested region that’s been at the center of armed conflict between Georgia and Russia for many years. In the 1990s, my family and I had to leave our home because of the war and moved into Georgia, with limited support from the government. At 15 years old, I started reaching out to as many IT (digital services) companies as possible, asking them if I could join them to learn about IT. One company took me in. They liked my ideas and made it possible for me to meet entrepreneurs for the first time.

You’ve started many ventures. What do they do, and which are still active today?

The first venture focused on agriculture. I saw early on that people didn’t have enough access to resources to build new solutions in the sector, so I built a platform pooling all opportunities for grants, investments, etc. Afterwards, we built Convobridge, a messaging app for visually impaired people. We won SIA with that venture in 2022, and realized there was an opportunity to use the same technology to create an offline system to help those in need during an emergency. That system is now called Track Life and is being used across Georgia. Since then, we’ve built Alioni, Dreamy, and a set of other ventures.?

When did you discover social entrepreneurship?

I didn’t know anything about social entrepreneurship growing up. I wanted to do business, I though being a social entrepreneur meant?working for a non-profit organization. When that first company took me in at 15 years old, they showed me what social entrepreneurship was really about. They told me my ideas could become great social ventures, and they gave me a chance. It made me realize I could also help young people who needed support and that I could do so while building projects addressing important problems in society. That to me is the spirit of social entrepreneurship.

Job Offers with SIA ??

Tired of your current job? Reading Spark every month thinking, I want to work at SIA? Today’s your lucky day: the SIA international team is looking for three new team members to help take our work to the next level.

• Austria Coordinator (20-40hrs per week, Austria): oversee the implementation of the SIA program across Austria. You will be responsible for all activities taking place, all the way from workshops & events to the SIA incubation, helping usher in the next wave of young social entrepreneurs.
• EU Project Manager (40hrs per week, flexible location): oversee applications for funding opportunities, as well as coordinating, budgeting, and reporting on various EU projects. This is a great opportunity to help us scale financially.
• Junior Marketing Coordinator (20hrs per week, Austria or Germany): support our marketing efforts to attract new participants to the SIA Austria and Germany programs. This versatile position blends project management, content creation, partnership building, and more to help take our marketing efforts to the next level.

Deadline for applying is November 20, 2023.

The Big Launch ??

Ever wondered how you can invest your money in a way that helps instead of harms the planet and people? SIA Austria alumni Money:Care just launched their new platform providing private investors with the sustainability data of public listed companies. The platform is a new tool against rampant greenwashing, helping investors make conscious decisions about where to place their money.?

How are they doing it? Through AI. Analyses of company data that previously took 4 hours now take 15 minutes, allowing Money:Care to amass huge amounts of data in just a short time. The beta version is now available for anyone to use, you can sign up here.

SIA Ukraine ????

Another year, another SIA program implemented during the war. In an unprecedented year, SIA Ukraine doubled down on their efforts, disbursing thousands in funding and receiving applications from over 200 young social innovators to the incubation. Although the program was run fully online with occasional meetings in bomb shelters (not a joke), a total of 17 ventures were supported in taking their solution to the next level, and 5 were awarded the Social Impact Award. These include:

• ?? Sita Nation: Helping refugees start agricultural activities to get out of poverty
• ?? MAM: Creating a safe, specialized space for women on maternity leave.
• ?? Vydala Hromada: Facilitating funding for first-time book authors.
• ?? PE-Sick: Rehabilitating traumatized dogs to support war veterans.
• ?? TreeD Technology: Promoting social entrepreneurship through 3D printing in education.

That's a wrap for this edition of Spark! Leave us a comment with your thoughts. See you next month ?