Every fall the national entrepreneurial contests reveal exciting new companies. Last year’s finalists include a global niche leader in forestry equipment, a developer of charging stations for electric cars – and planes, one of the European “Climate Leaders”, and several industry 4.0 companies.
The two top national entrepreneurial awards are The Slovenian Gazelle and The Entrepreneurial Stars. Both award ceremonies take place in fall. The Slovenian Gazelle focuses on the best fast-growing companies. Last year’s Golden Gazelle is the Pišek Vitli Krpan company, one of the global leaders in forestry winches. Despite being an established company, Pišek Vitli Krpan continues to grow fast – in five years the company has doubled its revenue.
The other five finalists in the Gazelle competition were Nimrod, Benkotehna, Status, Sodimex and Etrel. Nimrod is one of the largest European game meat traders, bridging the gap between hunters and the end-market. BenkoTehna is a fast growing building materials retailer. Status from Metlika in Southeastern Slovenia manufactures small home appliances mostly for vacuum food storage. Their products are sold in 40 countries all over the world. Sodimex is a fast-growing manufacturer of components for chairs and other furniture. Their business philosophy is based on sustainability and top-notch design.
Etrel is an innovative developer of charging stations for e-mobility. In July 2021, Etrel was acquired by Landis+Gyr, a Swiss based multinational focusing on energy solutions. The company is also one of the “Entrepreneurial Stars”, selected by Slovenia’s largest daily Delo.
The Entrepreneurial Stars include several highly interesting companies less known to the wider public even in Slovenia. Few Slovenians would recognize names like Agiledrop, Blubit, Emrax, Filo, In516ht, Kamino, Robotehnika, or Zebra BI. An exception that proves the rule is Kronoterm: one of the leading European producers of heat pumps. Kronoterm is among the five companies ranked as Climate Leaders by the European Environmental Bureau: a recognition that high quality heat pumps are among key technologies in reducing the carbon footprint.
Other finalists: Agiledrop is a dynamic web-page developer with customers like Nestle, UNESCO, Radio France and Qatar Airlines in its portfolio. Blubit, an industry 4.0 solutions provider offers complete solutions, combining mechanical engineering, automation, robotics, and specialized software. The company with 33 employees and 4.7 million euros of revenue is included in the Financial Times’ list of 1000 fastest growing companies in Europe. Emrax is a highly innovative developer of electric aircraft engines. Filo (24 employees, 21.5 million euros of sales) is an Italian owned company producing highly specialized cored wires for use in steelworks and foundries. In516ht develops cloud data based analytical solutions for large companies. According to the leading company in the branch, US based Snowflake, In516ht is their most innovative partner in the EMEA region. Kamino develops health and fintech apps for various customers. Robotehnika (38 employees, 3.6 million euros of sales) manufactures precision machined elements for industrial customers mostly in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Zebra BI (over 5 million euros of sales in 2022) develops data visualisation technologies for customers in over 100 countries. They include Microsoft, Coca Cola, Intel, Deutsche Telekom, Ikea, or PWC.
