Central European Startup Awards: Puzl CowOrKing is the Best Co-Working Space
For a second year in a row the Bulgarian Puzl CowOrKing won the award for best coworking space in the region. Founded in 2014 Puzl is the largest and IT only coworking space in Bulgaria. The space where over 80 tech companies live and work together, and skill-sharing events are hosted several times a week, already has 6000 m2. So far €2M have been invested in its development. As the model turned out to be a successful one, the founders are already planning expansion in the region.
“The competition is growing stronger by the year, which is good because it pushes all of us to evolve and become better and makes this award even more valuable to us. We’re soon to announce our first location outside Bulgaria and receiving such recognition on a CEE level is a great booster”, said Thibaut Taittinger, founder of Puzl.
The other CESA winners
Unlike the previous year when the winners came predominantly from Bulgaria, there’s no clear geographical domination this year. There are two Austrian, two Polish, two Slovenian, two Hungarian, two Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovak, Croatian and even UK winners. Take a look at them:
| Category | Company | Description |
| Startup of the Year | Brainly.pl | Polish peer-to-peer learning platform/ social network; has recently raised €15M |
| Newcomer | InSimu Patient | Hungarian company founded in 2016 that develops a solution that improves diagnostic skills in the safety of virtual reality |
| Coworking space | Puzl | Largest IT only coworking space in the region |
| Investor of the year | Speedinvest | Austrian investment fund focused on industry, fintech and marketplaces |
| Blockchain startup | Blockpit | Austrian web and mobile app that offers tax documentation and portfolio management for cryptocurrencies |
| Acceleration/Incubation program | ABC Accelerator | Slovenian private acceleration group targeting startups and scaleups, combined with a 25k€ convertible loan and an option for 100k-250k€ investment |
| AI startup | Turbine AI | Hungarian company that uses AI to simulate cancer biology, and finds the best treatment options. |
| Biotech startup | GenePlanet | Slovenian company that develops personalized health, nutrition, rejuvenation and sports plans based on your DNA |
| Fintech | Instant Factoring | Romanian company that provides flexible working capital financing through invoice financing for small businesses and micro-companies |
| IoT startup | 1000 realities | Polish software studio focused on Virtual and Augmented Reality |
| Prop-tech startup | Spaceflow | UK Property tech company founded in 2016. The main product is Spaceflow app is a community platform for buildings |
| Social Impact startup | MultiplexDX | Slovakian company that wants to eliminate cancer misdiagnosis by creating reliable, 100% accurate, quantitative and affordable diagnostic tests |
| Founder of the year | Alexandru Iliescu | Co-founder and CEO of the Romanian Mondly, the best-known and most downloaded foreign language learning app |
| Female role model | Dita Prikrylova | Founder of Czech non-profit organization Czechitas, which is raising and empowering new talents for stronger diversity and competitiveness in tech. |
| People’s choice | HUBBIG | Croatian company that develops digital Platform for intermodal cargo transportation |
