Technology that helps people improve their movement, jewellery made from discarded carbon fibre, personalised hotel wellness content and tools for teaching art: four female-led businesses presented their ideas at K2Match’s tenth Investor Lounge at Le Méridien Beach Plaza on Thursday 22nd October.
Held as part of Hers Monaco, ahead of its jury day and gala, the evening connected entrepreneurs with investors through pitches and questions about their products, business models and plans for growth.
The line-up demonstrated the breadth of businesses seeking backing, from Japanese movement technology to French manufacturing and British education and hospitality platforms.
SHOSABI: understanding how the body moves
Co-founder and CEO Sachiko Kamiyama presented Shosabi, a system combining 3D motion sensing and AI to reveal the difference between how people think they move and how they actually move.
Using a depth sensor, laptop and monitor, the technology provides live feedback intended to help users understand and correct their movements without wearing tracking devices.
The company is targeting premium fitness clubs and preventive health clinics, with hospitality among its expansion markets. Its pitch described existing customer deployments and a business model combining an upfront system payment with a monthly software licence.
For coaches and clinicians, the proposition is a way to make movement easier to explain. For users, it offers an opportunity to see what verbal instructions alone may struggle to communicate.
BY KARBON: giving racing materials a second life
Presented by partner and creative director Nathalie Colin, By Karbon turns high-performance carbon fibre waste into jewellery, accessories, trophies and collectible objects.
The French company collects and traces materials from shipyards and racing teams, then designs and manufactures products in Brittany. Its broader concept draws on carbon fibre from sailing, cycling, Formula 1 and aerospace, preserving the material’s provenance as part of each creation’s appeal.
One example had a particular Monaco connection. According to its presentation, By Karbon has recovered 400kg of carbon fibre from Team Malizia, associated with Pierre Casiraghi and Boris Herrmann, for use in accessories, jewellery and boat models.
The business is seeking to expand production and develop its corporate and consumer markets, building on its relationships in offshore racing.
Tethered: turning a hotel’s location into a wellness experience
Scottish company Tethered approaches hotel wellbeing through the stories and sounds of the surrounding area.
Co-founder and chief creative officer Karen Kerr presented a platform that uses generative AI to create sleep and wellness content informed by a hotel’s location. Stories, music and soundscapes are delivered under the property’s own brand through QR codes, guest apps or in-room televisions.
The intention is to offer something more closely connected to the stay than a generic relaxation playlist, while making bespoke content accessible to hotels without the budget to commission an extensive library themselves.
Tethered’s pitch identified Virgin Hotels Edinburgh as an existing deployment. Its growth plans include a self-service product for smaller independent properties.
Everybody Creates: helping teachers bring art into the classroom
Everybody Creates, presented by co-founder and CEO Emilie Scholey, aims to give primary school teachers the confidence and practical resources to deliver art lessons.
Its proposed subscription platform provides complete teaching packages, including lesson schedules, materials lists, substitutions and adaptations for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
It also incorporates tools to capture evidence of learning and track progression, addressing the administrative work that accompanies classroom teaching.
The company’s development plans include machine-learning tools to support learning analysis and curriculum adjustments, with its pitch emphasising that these would provide indicators rather than diagnoses. Privacy, transparency and bias testing form part of its proposed safeguards.
The next stage is to develop the core product and pilot it with 10 to 20 schools.
Building connections beyond the pitch
Across the four presentations, investors heard businesses at different stages of development explain how funding could help them reach their next milestones, whether through product development, manufacturing capacity or international sales.
Hers Monaco’s focus on investment in female entrepreneurs also informed the discussion around fundraising. One useful reminder from the evening was that founders should feel entitled to assess prospective investors themselves, rather than accept the first offer simply because funding is difficult to secure.
The pitches were followed by opportunities for individual conversations, allowing founders and investors to explore the businesses in greater depth.
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Photo by Monaco Life