Emerging Europe’s start-up scene is thriving: new money and new ideas are coming onto the market all the time. To keep you up to date with the latest investments, innovations, movers and shakers, each Monday Emerging Europe brings you a round-up of the region’s start-up news.
Timbeter: Bringing AI to forest management
Timbeter, a Tallinn-based start-up offering tech solutions to the timber industry, has received 500,000 euros of funding from the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute.
Forestry continues to be an important and controversial issue with world forests decreasing by a third in size over the last century due to reckless practices. Today, the timber industry is dominated by companies formed in the 19th century who are under increasing pressure for supply chain transparency, sustainability and certification, in line with ESG processes.
“The forestry sector needs a digital transformation in order to become more sustainable, transparent and efficient,” says Anna-Greta Tsahkna, CEO of Timbeter. “This collaboration with the FII Institute will enable Timbeter to deliver this important message to high-level decision makers, aiming to help countries mitigate climate change, fight against illegal logging and ensure sustainability across the sector.”
Timbeter’s solution offers an AI-driven photo-optics application that accurately determines the quantities of logs in a load with precise volume and diameter.
Richard Attias, CEO of the FII Institute, adds, “We are delighted to partner with a leading green tech company like Timbeter. Through utilising machine learning technology and artificial intelligence, Timbeter is creating innovative solutions for the management of forests, which will help ensure sustainable practices across the timber industry.”
A recent benchmarking study conducted by Poznan University in Poland demonstrated that Timbeter’s results were statistically identical to the ground truth physical measurements, despite requiring less time and cost.
As such, Timbeter is widely viewed as the industry standard for timber measurement with accuracy at 95 per cent or above and the largest timber database of 1.5 million tagged images. Timbeter’s applications are trusted by global blue-chip corporates who supply and use lumber as well as state government forest owners.
Tuum: Estonian fintech start-up seals partnership with Denmark’s Januar
Januar, the compliant gateway to the new digital economy for crypto businesses and institutional investors, has chosen Estonia’s Tuum as the core banking platform to power its pan-Europe goals. Tuum’s banking core will be used to build account and payment solutions for crypto companies, in order for them to receive and send payments like any other business.
In 2021, Januar received a historic Payment Service Provider license from the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority for the purpose of conducting crypto-related fiat payments. The company is now set to launch its first accounts in Denmark before soon expanding into the wider European market. This news also comes off the back of Januar’s recent historic funding round which saw the company raise six million euros, the largest ever seed round in Danish history.
Tuum was selected for the quality and flexibility of its banking platform, which enabled Januar to develop the solutions it needed while still allowing the company to retain full control over the customer journey and build out its own channels. Januar is using Tuum’s connector with Banking Circle, giving it the ability to make and receive payments in multiple currencies including euros and Danish krone. AML capabilities are also handled through Tuum’s integration partner, HAWK:AI.
Januar is amongst the first payment institutions to offer fiat-to-crypto rails as a service to crypto businesses and institutional investors.
Commenting on the news, Ove Kreison, co-founder and CTO at Tuum, says: “This is a very exciting time for us at Tuum, as we are involved in building a truly world-leading solution. Januar noticed a large gap in the market for crypto businesses that was not being filled by traditional institutions and, using Tuum’s powerful core banking capabilities, is now bridging the gap between the traditional financial system and the new digital economy. When we say that Tuum is building the banks of the future; this is exactly what we mean.”
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