Our journey through Carinthia’s innovation scene continues with this third instalment of our series, in which Startupbusiness met the key players in the ecosystem who are shaping the future of this Austrian state, which borders Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Slovenia. A region that positions itself as a catalyst for opportunities, drawing on academic institutions, the local business community and innovation development centres, such as Build!, which we wrote about in the first article of the series. The incubator is one of the main points of reference for start-ups in the region, both because it is equipped with all the tools and expertise to offer the support that innovative entrepreneurs seek, and because it acts as the linchpin for the collaborative efforts that the various components of the ecosystem – financial, academic and industrial – make available to those who choose to develop their innovative businesses in the region.
Our journey could not, therefore, have come to an end without gaining a deeper insight into some of the start-ups that are forging their entrepreneurial journey right here within the Build! incubator, accompanied by Christoph Riegler from EBS Startup Coordination and Project Management.
PiktID
Davide Righini, an Italian, CEO and founder of PiktID, explains how he chose to move to Klagenfurt to attend university – or, more precisely, to pursue his PhD – whilst exploring the use of generative AI in image creation and developing software capable of anonymising faces in images. “The encounter with Build! was decisive,” he says. “Not only was my start-up incubated, but I was immediately offered the opportunity to access funding from the KWF (Kärntner Wirtschaftsförderungsfonds), which enabled me to create the first MVP (minimum viable product, ed.) and build the team, which now consists of six people.”
PiktID’s technology immediately proved to be highly effective, but a market was needed that would be interested in implementing it. There were countless potential applications, but the startup team’s skill – with the support of the incubator – lay in understanding where to position themselves effectively. They needed a dynamic market, with investment available and open to the use of new technologies and business models, and they identified the fashion industry as that market. “We realised that our ability to create highly realistic images, particularly when it comes to faces, was perfectly suited to the needs of the fashion market. Our technology, in fact, allows us to create content of the very highest quality for a variety of contexts, without running into the issue of image rights that arises when human models are hired. With our synthetic content, this problem is resolved at source.”
Take, for example, e-commerce sites that sell clothing and need to publish hundreds of images to showcase each individual product to its best advantage, often using models to demonstrate how the products look when worn: with PiktID’s technology and services, high-quality ‘digital mannequins’ can be used for this purpose, making the process much more efficient, faster and cost-effective for businesses.
Today, the start-up already has a number of clients in both Europe and the US; it is also working on developing specific initiatives for the Italian market; in 2024, it completed a pre-seed funding round of 500,000 euros, raising funds from industrial investors, business angels and small venture capital firms; and it has a recurring turnover of between 10,000 and 20,000 euros per month, which is growing at a significant rate.
Avemoy
The start-up Avemoy was founded in October 2024, and its CEO and co-founder, Michael Gruber, explains its journey: “We firmly believe that technology applied to agriculture is fundamental to the future, and we have decided to specialise in creating a system that makes it possible to grow tomatoes in greenhouses automatically. The aim is to improve production in terms of both quality and quantity, and to create a model of agriculture capable of evolving in terms of its social impact too, as it will no longer rely on unskilled labourers but on people with specific technological skills.”
Avemoy, too, was founded and has flourished thanks to the support of Build! and the various players in the Carinthian ecosystem, and today it already has its first operational prototypes: “We have a pilot plant in the Netherlands; we know that the operating cost is around a thousand euros per month per hectare, which enables us to draw up a specific commercial proposal. In Austria, we already have 16 hectares in operation; we know the product is of a high quality and we are starting to receive enquiries from all over the world. For example, there is strong interest from Saudi Arabia, which is investing heavily in greenhouse agriculture, for obvious climatic reasons.”
Avemoy currently has a team of 11 people, has raised 1.5 million euros from equity investors and three million euros from grants and debt, and is currently valued at around 20 million euros. “We have just entered the go-to-market phase, during which we can also count on the support and expertise provided by Build!, and we aim to sell 170 systems by the end of 2027. At present, we have a significant technological competitive advantage because our technology, which operates between the rows of vines, is unique and specialised, and we intend to make the most of this advantage.”
Markets Flare
Markets Flare is a highly sophisticated fintech company led and co-founded by Andrii Ivanov, which develops artificial intelligence-based agents to support asset management in the private banking sector, and thus financial investments. “For me, it was only natural to develop my start-up here in Carinthia and to come and knock on the door of the Build! incubator as soon as possible. I was already here for my studies and found fertile ground to nurture the business idea that I wanted to turn into a start-up together with my co-founders.”
The start-up began selling its solution in the spring of 2026, after spending two years on its development: “Today we sell mainly on the Swiss market, but we also have installations in some EU countries and in the Middle East. One of the biggest challenges is compliance: our solution must be beyond reproach in terms of adherence to the regulations of the countries where we sell. It is a complex issue, which we are able to manage effectively thanks to our team, which now numbers 15 people and is proving to have a very high level of expertise – something that also helps to make us even more competitive,” adds Ivanov, who is of Ukrainian origin and came to Carinthia to study in 2021.
The start-up is growing rapidly and is also working on a system that will allow users to query LLMs without any risk of information leakage and, therefore, without any issues regarding privacy and data protection. “Our system is highly sophisticated from a technological point of view, capable of delivering high performance and a high level of security, whilst saving financial operators a great deal of time. Part of our work is also cultural in nature, as we need to demonstrate how the implementation of artificial intelligence in a solution such as ours is reliable, secure and effective. This is also why we are constantly engaged in research and technological development of the product.”
Markets Flare has been supported by Build! from the very beginning and has received a grant from KWF to fund its research and development phase.
Attracting and retaining talent
Three start-ups that serve as examples, across three different sectors – applied AI, agritech and fintech – of how the Carinthian ecosystem network is able to attract talent whilst they are still studying, thanks to the academic provision on offer, and then retain them when they decide to become entrepreneurs by providing them with substantial support. Among the tools available is the KWF grant, which we have described in previous articles, citing, for example, the start-up Princes Tech, which began as a spin-off from Silicon Austria Labs in Villach.
Entrepreneurs such as Davide, Michael and Andrii immediately recognised the opportunities that could be realised by deciding to set up their start-ups in Carinthia, and they are proof not only that the ground is fertile but also that there are no limitations of any kind – geographical, for example. The three start-ups we met on this trip, accompanied by Regionmarketing Carinthia, are all already up and running with clients across half of Europe and beyond. It is also interesting to note how the financial aspect plays a decisive role: the example of KWF’s research grants – which draw on local public funds and European contributions totalling 35 million euros – illustrates how the ecosystem is structured not only around areas of expertise but also around stages of development.
Support for start-ups right from the research and development stage demonstrates how the ecosystem supports projects from the very beginning, underpinning entrepreneurial risk and creating the conditions to retain the talented individuals who have come to Carinthia to study.
This approach builds the strongest teams and, consequently, the strongest and most innovative economies. But it is also achieved by attracting entrepreneurs and investors who are looking for a robust and agile ecosystem, where it is easy to engage with those offering industrial, financial and academic support.
Because just as it is important to nurture talent, it is equally important to attract top talent. And it is by implementing a strategy that pursues both these objectives that the Carinthian ecosystem presents itself as an opportunity in a context which, from the heart of Europe, forges strong international links.
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