It was not long back when the Ubers and Airbnbs were presenting their pitch decks to get investments. In this span of 10-15 years, there has been a lot of emphasis around Start-ups. Be it the investors, established corporates or media, everyone is closely watching this space and want to be the first to make the move and be part of the next big innovative idea.

So for anyone who is involved in or observing the start-up ecosystem, will have their eyes lit when hearing about accelerator platforms. Most of the renowned accelerator programs prevalent in the market are the ones who onboard start-ups which have a MVP, initial set of customers, shown revenue generation, etc.

Patch provides a platform to bring the ideas to life. I virtually attended the Patch accelerator program’s demo day 2022.

“Patch is a 6 week long summer accelerator for 16 – 21 year olds that want to push the world forward”

There were a total of 9 pitches that happened during the demo. Amazing ideas touching some real life changing issues to simple yet innovative solutions for recurring irritants of daily life.

Before I write about those ideas and the brains behind them, I wanted to appreciate Patch and the people behind it.

There are research articles which shows that majority of the start-ups having founders in the age group of 23-30 years. But I also read articles which say the success ratio of start-ups who have founders in the age group of 40-50 is comparatively higher.

It is a known fact that the younger the person is , the risk taking appetite will be high. The liabilities are lesser (again comparatively) and hence can venture out to bring their ideas to life. One of the reasons why start-ups by the later group are succeeding might be because of the prime reason that they cannot afford to fail. They are putting their life earnings in building it and most of them will be having families who are dependent on them as well. So they jump into this only after doing enough research, exit strategies, min / max loss that can happen, surplus savings, etc. The experience earned during their career helps them to plan this out.

Patch is an amazing platform which is in a way unique. I see this as a start-up summer camp for young minds. They have lot of ideas going in their minds, minimal apprehensions, high on confidence or conviction but just need the right mentorship to complete the puzzle. At Patch, I could see a great line up of mentors and supporters who are ensuring that these young minds have the required guidance.

Now coming to the 2022 demo day pitches:-

1. UV-Lave : A solution for sanitising the hands without using water or hand sanitiser. Though it will have to be used and results will have to be validated by a bigger sample size , the idea looked to be a good idea as it will definitely save a lot of water. As mentioned by Surabhi during the pitch, still there is enough confusion in regard with the norms around cleaning hands. UV Lave will help in eliminating that as well. Website: UV-Lave

2. BloodBox: Malaria is still a huge concern, especially in the African countries. It is a doctor less solution to detect malaria. Their website mentions this “The BloodBox is a low-cost, easy-to-use malaria diagnostic tool that enables rapid diagnosis of the disease in areas with limited medical infrastructure. “ This looks to be a really promising idea.

3. TenantAp: One of the biggest concern prevailing in Ireland. With more students scheduled to join colleges in Sep and more corporates moving to Ireland, the issue is here to stay for a while for sure. Tenantap is trying to speed up the renting process. Though in the current scenario where apartments or houses are not available anywhere , this App might have to look at pivoting to providing simplified documentations for both parties, showcase the most person who is first on the waiting list, etc. But nonetheless, a much needed app which if tweaked as per market needs has a great potential. Website: TenantAp

4. Verif-ID: This idea falls into the category of simple innovative solution to tackle the regular irritant factors. It is a pain to carry the ID cards and a bigger concern when you end up losing them. Verif-ID is providing a solution to use images of the ID cards as the authenticated proof and help people from not carrying their original IDs. The young team has already tied up with two of the biggest event places as their ID verification partner. There are similar products available in the market. So it will be interesting to see how this young team will be able to create differentiators.

5. ElectroTilez: The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this was – ‘electronic lego’. ElectroTilez is trying to simply learning electronics. “Learn electronics through fun. One tile at a time” – this is what their website says and indeed looks to be an interesting product. The major challenge for them would be to sail through the current global chip shortage issues and they also need to plan well to reduce the cost of each tile significantly. The more affordable the product , the higher will be the usage. They have also incorporated Augmented Reality into this and the user can visualise the circuits using AR.

6. GoHackk: Are hackathons meant only for technology related events ? The people behind GoHackk says no. Any ideation or crowd building activity comes under Hackathon. With GoHackk, the team is providing a solution to run and manage hackathons with their web app. The required analytics will be provided by GoHackk. I am interested to see the user feedback for this product. Website: GoHackk

7. DispensAPill: A very innovative idea. This can be an easier way to remind the elderly to have their medication, on time. But having said that even people from across age groups tend to forget about their medications or vitamin supplements. This can be a great solution if it has customisation features and something more than the reminders as well.

8. Modu.la : 3D models, yes . What a time to get into this…!!! With a lot of talk around immersive tech, metaverse, etc. , brands are looking for options to build 3D models. The team knows that there are similar products in the market. But strongly believe that this can be a game changer.

9. Cerebyte: Artificial Intelligence based content development system. The pitch mentioned that work which normally takes 4 hours can be completed in 4 seconds. Cerebyte has already signed their first B2B customer. I see lot of potential for this product across age groups and organisations. The key point to watch out will be the quality of the questions generated by the platform from the text / url links.

It was indeed amazing to see youngsters in this age group with abundance of enthusiasm, energy coming up with such detailed ideas, presentations and solutions in just 6 weeks time period. I am sure that the team at Patch has definitely played a huge role in guiding, mentoring and refining their ideas into presentable format. But even with that, it is an incredible work done by all these participants.

Dogpatch labs also plays a role by providing the space for hosting such events. A big shout out to all the sponsors who are supporting Patch.

Congratulations and all the best to the youngsters. Hope to see these products and services getting wide recognition and usage in the coming years. The start has been great. It will be exciting to track their journey in the coming years and see what all they can achieve in the next 18-24 months.

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Visit Patch website to go through last year’s pitches / ideas. There are some interesting ones out there.