Famous entrepreneur and venture capitalist from Silicon Valley Michael Baum, who is the founder and CEO of FOUNDER.org, has chosen a team from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) to the Class of 2016. Startup Rubbee offering the innovative e-bike conversion kit, created by KTU masters student Gediminas Nemanis, is among 41 companies selected for funding and mentoring by FOUNDER.org.
The young startup Rubbee from KTU has found itself among the most innovative teams from the best universities of the world. Nemanis, a marketing managing masters student, holding his first degree in mechatronics, met Baum during his visit at KTU earlier this year.
“Michael encouraged us to apply to the 8D company building programme. Our project was thoroughly analysed, and we received a very positive evaluation: we were selected to the Class of 2016 together with the teams from MIT, Berkeley and Oxford”, says Nemanis.
According to Nemanis, among the advantages of his project are the strong team, experience in crowdsourcing and the solutions of the product, protected by intellectual property rights.
KTU student and innovator is excited by the company building opportunity provided by FOUNDER.org: “With the help of the venture capital investors we are planning to introduce a product, which will be one of its kind in the world”.
Rubbee is an innovative electric drive, which can convert any bicycle into an e-bike. The patented product has won many acclaims, among them – the recognition of the world-famous entrepreneur KTU’s honorary doctor Richard Branson, and the Innovation Award 2014 from Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists.
FOUNDER.org is investing in courageous young innovators from universities around the world to advance student entrepreneurship. Each year teams with big ideas from universities in North America and Europe are being selected to join a company building programme. Class of 2016 hail from 45 Universities, 9 countries and more than 20 different industries including space technology, life sciences, mass customisation, agriculture 2.0, industrial sensors, robotics, digital health and genomics. Each of the teams is being awarded the donation of 100 to 10 thousand dollars at the start of the programme.
