Otly to receive symbolic “pocket money” from Travis Kalanick (Uber)

Dutch Startup Otly! is about to receive some ubercool funding money in its pocket. The company with its innovative pocket money app for kids will receive a “symbolic” investment from powerful taxi behemoth Uber. Back in June, Otly became one of the four winners of the first UberPITCH event. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is so impressed with the winners that his company will now also make investments in these four European startups.

Impressive vision and determination

At UberPITCH European companies got the opportunity to present themselves with a quick elevator pitch. As over 4,000 companies from 21 different countries participated in the competition, winning this pan-European competition is quite a milestone. Together with the other three winners, Otly co-founder and CTO Vedran Vego got to meet Kalanick for a photo-op in Berlin. The Uber-emperor has now surprised the four winners with a nice little extra: they will all receive an undisclosed amount of symbolic funding from his company. The Uber-capo announced the news on his Facebook-page:

“I recently had the chance to meet with the four finalists in Berlin, and I was so impressed by their vision and determination that Uber has decided to make a small direct investment in each of their companies”.

Best Uber-ride ever

Kalanick is confident about the success of these four companies, but knows from experience that even the most promising startups out there can still benefit from a little push: “Being an entrepreneur is never easy — even the best ideas can struggle to get the exposure and support they need to succeed”. Vego’s excited commented on the announcement was spot-on: “This is the best Uber ride ever!”

Virtual Piggy Banks

As far as Otly is concerned, the days where parents give their kids pocket money in cash are long gone. Pocket money is now virtual money, which is passed on through apps that both parents and kids will have installed on their phones. The parents can see how and where their little ones spend their coins. The other three winners of the competition also have exciting and revolutionary concepts: French startup Brigad has an app that helps restaurant solve their staffing issues, British company Memrica helps people with memory loss with an app that makes them remember things, and Polish Hipromine introduces insect mining as the answer for global nutrition issues.

Not-so kid-friendly Facebook page

While Otly provides a kid-friendly solution with their digital piggy bank app, the guys behind the digital pocket money phenomenon have not yet adjusted their Facebook-pages accordingly. Curious parents who google the motley crew of Otly may be surprised to see CTO Vedran Vego posing with a rifle on the backdrop of his Facebook-page.  It almost looks as if he’s saying: “Your pocket money or I’ll shoot!”