By MOTIFE Insights, 31 July 2024
Check out also: Krakow IT Market Report 2024
There are over 150 companies in Krakow that meet the criteria of a start-up. According to the OMGKRK survey in the Krakow Startups Report, the city’s start-ups are relatively young, with 60% established within the last five years. The majority have up to 50 employees, with 33% having a maximum of five team members. About half of the start-ups cater primarily to Polish clients, while 42% operate predominantly in international markets.
In the national start-up scene, Krakow ranks as the second leading start-up ecosystem in Poland as per the Startup Blink Report 2024, after Warsaw and ahead of Wroclaw. According to the 2023 Polish Startups Report by Startup Poland, 12% of Polish start-ups are registered in the Krakow region, compared to 19% in the Warsaw region and 28% in the Wroclaw region. Additionally, 30% of Polish start-ups declare that they operate in the Krakow region, with 19% in the Warsaw region and 28% in the Wroclaw region.
In recent years, the start-up scene in Krakow has experienced rapid growth. Local startups employ hundreds of people and offer innovative solutions used worldwide. The city attracts young and creative individuals, promoting economic growth. The Krakow ecosystem hosts both locally-born companies and international branches of foreign startups, including 22 foreign unicorns.
Krakow’s start-up creation is driven by a well-connected ecosystem that includes incubators, mentors, investors, and organizations collaborating with start-ups. Examples of such organizations are the Krakow Technology Park, and OMGKRK.
Early-stage teams have access to various support programs, including incubators like KPT Incubator and Academic Incubation Programs, pre-accelerators such as OMGKRK, Dragons Cave Pre-Accelerator, and KRK InnoTech Starter, accelerators including #StartUP Małopolska, and acceleration programs of Krakow Technology Park such as Poland Prize, KPT ScaleUp, and EIT Digital.
Krakow start-ups specialize in various areas. This is a selection of the main areas and start-ups operating in specific fields.
This list highlights 15 top start-ups from Krakow, ranked by their Crunchbase Rankings. So far, there isn’t a better way to evaluate these companies since up-to-date valuation information is mostly not available. Together, these companies have gathered more than $300M in funding since they started. Although they began in Krakow, firms like Estimote and Kontakt.io have moved their main offices to the United States, but they keep growing their research and development centers in Krakow.
After browsing this ranking, make sure to check out the Krakow IT Market Report 2024 to learn more about Krakow’s tech ecosystem, key players and newcomers in 2023/2024, salary trends, cost information, business practices and expert opinions from 20+ tech leaders and ecosystem representatives.
Brainly is a leading learning platform worldwide with the most extensive Knowledge Base and 300 million users from over 35 countries relying on it as the proven platform to accelerate learning.
brainly.com
Kontakt.io builds secure and configurable beacon hardware and software to power competitive proximity-based solutions.
kontakt.io
Stonly is a Polish - French start-up offering a platform for businesses to teach audiences and users more effectively, enabling creation of step-by-step guides that can be embedded anywhere.
edrone is an autonomous e-commerce CRM platform that provides advanced marketing automation solutions.
edrone.me
Synerise produces a Big Data and AI platform that allows users to process data in real time from various sources based on proprietary database systems and proprietary artificial intelligence algorithms.
synerise.com
SALESmanago operates a cloud-based online marketing automation platform used by over 10 000 customers in over 40 countries.
salesmanago.com
Estimote is a technology start-up, building a sensor-based context and micro-location platform for mobile developers.
estimote.com
CallPage is an ICT SaaS company that converts website visitors into sales calls.
callpage.io
SATIM develops AI software for object detection and classification using SAR satellite imagery and synthetic SAR signatures, for quick training of their AI model to classify objects with 90% accuracy.
satim.co
LiveKid is the most popular system for kindergartens and nurseries in the EU and includes tools for communication with parents, settlements and documentation.
Orbify offers professional Earth observation solutions allowing users to create their own applications and digital solutions without codes.
orbify.com
Intelliseq offers an automated genome interpretation platform tailored for next-generation genome sequencing (NGS) data, producing comprehensive reports, and providing clinical insights for doctors, genetic counselors, or patients.
intelliseq.com
Upacjenta is an online platform that enables patients to search, book medical appointments and receive healthcare-related services.
upacjenta.pl
Cardiomatic offers AI analysis of Holter ECG data in the cloud. The system provides healthcare providers with clear reports. They collaborate with physicians and Holter device providers globally.
cardiomatics.com
Certifier streamlines the creation and distribution of high-quality certificates with its platform. Users can design personalized certificates using professional templates or their own designs, and manage recipients efficiently.
certifier.io
The Krakow start-up ecosystem does not only consist of Polish start-ups, but also includes foreign businesses that have decided to set up offices in Krakow, such as ActiveCampaign (Software/USA), Grammarly (Software/ USA), Kitopi (Food Tech / United Arab Emirates) or Revolut (Fintech / UK).
Why do foreign start-ups come to Krakow to set up tech teams? With its large IT talent pool of approximately 60 000 IT specialists and competitive salaries, Krakow offers foreign companies great potential for rapid scale up of their IT teams. Often, these companies decide to set up a subsidiary in Poland or opt for a Build Operate Transfer model (BOT) with a local partner.
Learn more about what foreign start-ups have achieved with their Krakow tech labs by downloading the Krakow IT Market Report 2024.
As of April 2024, there are approximately over 1 200 privately owned companies valued at $1 billion or more worldwide, according to data from CB Insights. Although no Polish-born company has yet made the list, Brainly (an EdTech company) seems to be the most likely contender for the title of the first Krakow-born unicorn.
Despite the absence of a Polish-born unicorn, the unicorn scene is well represented in Krakow, with over 20 such organizations operating in the city. These companies have established R&D teams and are tapping into the city’s pool of IT talent and expertise. Their presence in Krakow highlights the attractiveness of the city as a tech hub and provides valuable entrepreneurship exposure to the local start-up ecosystem and talent pool.
If you are looking for information about setting up your presence in Poland, download our Krakow IT Market Report 2024
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If you are looking for interesting job opportunities in tech companies in Krakow and remote, check out open roles at motife.com/jobs.
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