NativeHash in MyCompany Magazine: 'Our national good'

The marketing technology sector is perhaps one of the strongest segments of the domestic startup ecosystem. In recent years, numerous companies have become globally significant entities - just consider companies such as CallPage, Synerise, Brand24, and Nethansa. The entrepreneurs we spoke with cannot definitively answer the question of why Poland has become such a significant player in the martech space. 'We simply have a great feel for this market. It's hard to explain, but we should be happy about it rather than trying to understand what lies at the root of this dynamic development,' says one of our interviewees.

We should be even more pleased given that the global marketing technology innovation industry was worth over $340 billion last year. There is therefore much to fight for, especially since the changes that the coronavirus pandemic has forced on sales and marketing approaches have made the opportunity for growth even greater.

A larger piece of the pie is within reach.

Consumer Intelligence

The startup is engaged in acquiring and managing shopping information. It specializes in building applications for the shopping center market, as well as managing the Blovly loyalty program. The company cooperates with numerous centers, focusing its solutions on optimizing the tenant portfolio and space arrangement in order to provide customers with the best possible shopping experiences. It wants to achieve this, among other things, by proposing to combine shopping with various events. 'Despite the significant upward trend in online shopping, consumers are still looking for interesting experiences during physical shopping. It is primarily shopping centers that have the opportunity to provide these experiences if they analyze consumer needs in detail, modify their offer accordingly, and dynamically adapt to the changing market,' says Michał Barański, CMO of Consumer Intelligence, a specialist in providing market data to corporate clients.

One of the company's newest projects is augmented reality navigation, aimed at expanding the functionality of mobile applications provided to shopping centers with innovative indoor navigation based on the image from a mobile phone. Thanks to it, every user of a given complex's mobile application will be able to easily navigate within it, and ultimately make purchases with the support of an assistant.

In February of this year, Consumer Intelligence announced the acquisition of a new investor - the SPINAKER alfa fund invested one million zloty in the startup's new solutions.

Boostsite

This Wrocław-based technology startup has created software for automated SEO analysis of websites. The software combines the functionality of several disparate tools that were previously used separately, which multiplied companies' expenses related to the maintenance of websites and online services. The technology developed by the company is not only cost-saving but also increases visibility in organic search results. 'We have created a solution with global potential and reach that, in addition to listing data, creates guidelines, even ready-made solutions, and also autonomously improves many areas that are important for positioning,' explains Marcin Gaworski, CEO of Boostsite.com, which is a company belonging to the Hexe Capital group - a technology hub investing in technology projects using a venture building model.

At the end of last year, the Venture Inc. fund invested in the startup. As announced when the information about financing was published, the funds raised will be used primarily to build a scalable infrastructure to handle virtually unlimited traffic and services of any size. The company's roadmap also includes, among other things, fuller integration with tools offered by Google.

Digital First AI

This Polish martech startup has developed a platform that, based on input information such as the type of business, target group, or product USP, recommends tactics that, when embedded in the sales funnel, create a marketing strategy tailored to the client's goal. Digital First AI is a SaaS + marketplace tool - on the one hand, it operates on a subscription model, and on the other, it builds a community of growth hackers, giving them the opportunity to earn money from the created tactics.

The initiative is being developed by digital marketing enthusiasts with many years of experience in the industry. 'From the perspective of advertising specialists working in agencies, we have observed a significant marketing rollercoaster: a lack of standards, the hegemony of large advertising entities, an absurdly inflated martech market... That is why we took on the challenge of creating a platform in which we will use our experience to improve the entire industry,' say the startup founders.

Digital First AI recently signed a 5-year contract with Infinitum Education, an edtech startup incubated at Oxford University Innovation that manages technology transfer at the University of Oxford, and thus - according to the QS University Rankings 2022 - the second best university in the world. The Polish company has not only become a technology supplier of a tool that will be used for marketing education, but will also conduct a series of implementation training for the platform and propose tasks involving the creation of marketing strategies, marketing plans, and sales funnels. 'We are very pleased that our technology will support educational programs from one of the leading edtech startups. This proves that we are able to meet the needs of the most demanding businesses, both in terms of technology and educational aspects of its use,' comments Rafał Tromczyński, CEO of Digital First AI.

Omniaz

The startup - using AI, computer vision, and augmented reality - provides solutions supporting sales for the retail industry through consumer engagement. The technology developed by the company allows brands and retailers to improve customer experiences through content based on game mechanics, while simultaneously influencing the purchasing process. As Łukasz Piotrowski, the founder of Omniaz, has repeatedly emphasized, the development of the initiative was possible thanks to the help of the Łódź Special Economic Zone.

One of the main goals set by the startup is to support purchasing decisions by enabling customers to interact with products. 'Some consumers buy more willingly, spend more, and return goods less often,' say company representatives. As an example of an area that can benefit particularly from their technology, they point to the interior design market - thanks to the Omniaz solution, the recipient can easily check if the desired furniture fits the interior. According to the startup's creators, to implement Omniaz functionality, you don't need to be familiar with virtual or augmented reality technologies - the company helps customers at every stage of implementation.

Omniaz was distinguished during the 14th edition of the European Economic Congress in Katowice - the startup won the Start-up Challenge in the "business processes" category.

Sentimenti

Sentistock by Sentimenti is a tool used to analyze trends in trading various financial instruments: stocks, currency pairs (Forex), cryptocurrencies, or stock indices based on emotions. As the startup founders claim, what distinguishes their technology from competing tools is the ability to understand text and assign specific meanings and emotions that people feel in relation to these meanings. 'In the research conducted in the project, we adapted Plutchik's model, which includes eight basic emotions. We are able to estimate to what extent these emotions are expressed in a given text,' says Damian Grimling, CEO of Sentimenti. And he specifies: 'Effective prediction is enabled by content analysis based not only on sentiment itself (negative vs. positive), but on the precise reading of eight emotions: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, anticipation. The algorithm can read the context of statements, understand emoticons, abbreviations, tone, and temperament, and thus everything that affects the reader. We have 1.5 million words, phrases, and texts labeled with emotions. Thanks to this, we offer the best algorithm in the world for recognizing emotions in texts.

According to the creators of the tool, the effectiveness of its forecasts reaches even 78% for Polish listed companies and almost 80% for cryptocurrencies.

TUATARA

"We create captivating digital experiences," say company representatives. And they add: "We select technologies to create ideas that solve business problems. We work with leading software manufacturers, use our own products, use open-source components and commercial technologies of our partners, to - adding a passion for innovation - deliver optimal results."

The company's latest product is Fintin, an innovative solution tailored to the needs of financial services providers, car dealers, brokers and their customers. It contains a full set of tools needed to provide a comprehensive financing offer. This solution complies with privacy regulations and can be implemented in a selected configuration - on-premise, hybrid or in clouds such as Azure, AWS or IBM. In addition, the company's portfolio includes AI-powered bots, cognitive technologies, and data monetization tools.

A few months ago, TUATARA representatives announced a strategic cooperation in the implementation of a Middle Eastern space program, which fits into the assumptions of the national digitalization strategy and the development of Oman 2040 science. The Polish company's technological solutions are to contribute to the commercialization of satellite solutions in the entire region.

Virbe

The startup has created virtual beings designed to support entrepreneurs in better and more efficient communication with customers - both online and offline. 'Our virtual beings acquire new skills and expand their competencies every day. Their task is to relieve people of the most repetitive tasks, while at the same time ensuring that contact with a human being has a more personal character,' explains Krzysztof Wróbel, CEO of Virbe.

Although - naturally - the main area in which Virbe technology finds application is e-commerce, virtual beings can also be used in HR (streamlining the recruitment process) or education. 'Communication on the internet leaves much to be desired, and the message that we encounter in the online world is often one-sided. If there is an option to enter into a dialogue, it most often means chatbots, which are also imperfect, as they offer only text-based interaction,' adds Paweł Ruszlewski, co-founder of Virbe.

cux.io

This Polish startup specializes in using machine learning for predictive analytics. The tool allows for the reduction of processing huge amounts of data and indicators, and focuses on reasoning in the context of a specific business goal. Simply put, the solution combines neuromarketing and behavioral analysis, making it possible to find the sources of users' problems and frustrations, and then adapt the most appropriate solution to them. 'Time is the greatest currency, so our application not only carries out a large part of the analysis for the user, but also, among other things, indicates points of user frustration,' says Paulina Walkowiak, CEO of cux.io.

The company won this year's 10th edition of the prestigious international I-COM Data Startup Challenge, focusing on the best startups in the Smart Data Marketing category. The award ceremony was a great opportunity not only to establish business contacts but also to present the technology to the biggest players such as Walt Disney and Red Bull.

Cux.io operates in over 100 markets. Company representatives are forecasting further revenue growth before the end of this year.

NativeHash

The company provides creative advertising solutions for brands and influencers. "Our mission is to change the way digital communication is conducted in the area of social media. We want to shape the future of digital advertising and have a positive impact on the influencer marketing industry, so that it works faster, easier, and more efficiently for everyone," explain the creators of NativeHash.

The platform created by the startup - using artificial intelligence algorithms - matches the influencer to the brand archetype, which allows for faster connection with the client, better matching of the offer, and consequently more effective cooperation.

NativeHash has become a quarter-finalist in this year's edition of the Start-up Challenge competition.

Heroify

While Heroify isn't a typical martech startup—it's more of an innovative HRtech—its functionality significantly impacts a crucial marketing issue: recruiting qualified personnel. This is a problem that many companies have brought to our attention, which is why we've decided to include the company in this overview.

Heroify is a platform that creates tailored competency tests for marketing and sales positions, allowing for a quick and effective evaluation of candidates' skills before inviting them for an interview. Creating a test takes just 3 minutes – the system analyzes the job offer and, based on it, suggests competencies worth testing and selects questions that will allow you to do so most effectively. The questions were developed by a team of over 30 experts with many years of international experience.

“The pandemic has forever changed the recruitment market. Acquiring good candidates is becoming increasingly difficult, so companies cannot afford to accidentally reject great candidates or hire the wrong person. This generates costs of tens, even hundreds of thousands of zlotys, which is why competency-based recruitment has been gaining importance in recent years. Research confirms that it brings 2.5 times better results than experience-based recruitment. This process significantly reduces the impact of unconscious biases and recruiter preferences, and also increases the chances of candidates with great skills who cannot boast of education or relevant experience,” explains Paulina Wardęga, CEO and co-founder of Heroify.

Since March 2022, Heroify has been used in dozens of recruitment processes, including those conducted by startups such as inStreamly and HiPets. The company recently raised PLN 1.7 million in a pre-seed round – the funds will help scale sales as well as international expansion.

_{Source: MyCompany Poland}