FRISS, a company based in the Netherlands that uses analytics software to provide fraud, risk and compliance services to the insurance industry, won the top award of $1.5 million at Connecticut’s VentureClash – a $5 million global investment challenge for early-stage companies.
Connecticut Innovations, the state’s quasi-public venture investment arm which run the venture clash, announced the winners Monday after they were selected in a “Shark Tank”-like event at the Yale School of Management.
VentureClash awarded six companies with investments, mentoring, customer introductions, grants and other services to help them grow in Connecticut. The winning companies, chosen from nine finalists from seven countries, are required to establish a presence in Connecticut.
Second-place winners, which receive $1 million investments each, included:
- SCADAfence, based in Israel, secures industrial networks from cyber threats, reducing the risk of connecting multiple devices in industries like manufacturing, utilities, oil and gas.
- Vouchr, based in Canada, is a secure, payment-agnostic tool that allows users to bundle transfers of funds with photos, videos, social networking and gamification.
Three others will receive $500,000 investment awards:
- Buzzmove of the United Kingdom, a price-comparison and instant-booking platform for services related to moving and the right level of insurance needed to cover moving-related services.
- Davra Networks, based in Ireland, provides an IoT platform that allows customers to define, build and bring to market IoT applications while collecting and easily sharing data.
- EAVE, based in the U.K., is developing the next generation of hearing protection and communication technology, utilizing noise cancellation and speech enhancement to eliminate noise-induced hearing loss.
