#WeArePlay
Discover the stories of people from all over Europe building apps and games businesses on Google Play.
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Meet Tessa and Saasha from the UK, best friends and founders of Olio. The app helps millions fight waste by giving-away, sharing or selling food and household items.
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Meet Marian, Simon, Lucia and Filip from Bratislava, Slovakia. Their company Pixel Federation Games has become one of the most pioneering game studios in the country.
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Meet Valentin from Innsbruck, Austria. He co-founded Gronda to bring the world’s culinary knowledge into the pocket of foodies everywhere.
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Meet Katrin and Nora from Berlin, Germany. They created Selfapy to make it easier for everyone to access mental health treatment.
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Discover more stories from around the world
Explore now
Co-founders
Tessa Clarke
Saasha Celestial-One
Company
Olio
Location
London, UK
Downloads
5,600,000+
# of employees
99
Tessa and Saasha met when studying business. Both ex-consultants, they are passionate about the environment and recycling. The idea for Olio came when Tessa was moving: she could not pack leftover food in air-freight, and could not find anyone to take it. The app began helping people give away (and get) spare food in their neighborhood, but they recently launched a feature for lending and borrowing household items too. It is now used in 62 countries, and Olio also partners with supermarkets and restaurants with their volunteers collecting and redistributing surplus food – an estimated 1 million meals per week.
"We have so many stories of people who have been feeling depressed or like they are lacking a sense of purpose. And through our volunteering, they are getting to give back to the community and connect with others"
Co-founders
Marian Fridrich
Simon Sicko
Lucia Sickova
Filip Fischer
Company
Pixel Federation Games
Location
Bratislava, Slovakia
Downloads
111,248,800+
# of employees
270
Marian, Simon, Lucia and Filip scrimped and scraped every penny to build their business from nothing. They took a leap of faith quitting their jobs at the same gaming company to start designing the creative titles they really wanted to. Their courage paid off and they've become one of the pioneers of the Slovak gaming industry with over 111 million downloads across their portfolio, which includes simulation and puzzle adventure games. Simon and Lucia also had a baby as they built the business. Together with Marian and Filip, they have a new game in the making and want to invest in more transport simulation titles.
"We started with nothing but we were committed to our business, and we were determined to succeed"
Co-founders
Valentin Schütz
Juan Vicci
Tobias Zetzsche
Company
Gronda
Location
Innsbruck, Austria
Downloads
853,000+
# of employees
31
With hotelier and restaurateur parents, Valentin grew up learning about the challenges of the hospitality sector. As he was a better programmer than a cook, he decided to not join the industry. But at 22 - whilst successfully working abroad - he felt his life was lacking purpose. Valentin went back to his hometown and, after hearing his parents had troubles with hiring, created a hospitality recruitment app with co-founders Tobias and Juan. When Covid hit however, Gronda transformed into a platform for chefs to share and monetize their recipes, inspiring other culinary lovers. Next, Gronda wants to help ambitious chefs worldwide unleash their full potential.
"We create value, helping people learn something new and lifting their passion - that's amazing. I mean, what more can you wish for?"
Co-founders
Katrin Bermbach
Nora Blum
Company
Selfapy
Location
Berlin, Germany
Downloads
16,800+
# of employees
65
Katrin and Nora met when they were psychology students. They bonded over their frustration with treatment waiting times for mental health patients and vowed to do something about it. Despite having no tech background, the pair realized an app would have the reach they aimed for. So they built Selfapy to offer online therapy. It’s one of a few apps in Germany treated as a pharmaceutical product, which means people can get the cost of it reimbursed from insurers. They are now developing new therapy programs for people with eating disorders, and continue to fine tune Selfapy, so each patient has a personalized, tailored plan.
"We wanted to ensure easier access to mental health treatment for people suffering from depression, anxiety or panic disorders"
Founder
Theodhor Pandeli
Company
CubicApps
City
Tirana
Downloads
85,000+
# of employees
2
For Theodhor, learning the basics of coding at a young age was like entering a whole new world - one that inspired him to become a software developer team leader. But he missed actively coding himself in this job, which is why he created CubicApps as a side project. His most popular app, Whiteboard, is a simple blank board for quickly sketching ideas that can be fine-tuned later on. It was inspired by his desire to have somewhere to brainstorm his own projects. In the future, Theodhor wants to introduce some new colors onto the board and switch up its design while still maintaining its essential simplicity.
"I haven't done any advertising, so I've been really pleased with the amount of downloads the app received organically through Google Play"
Co-founders
Evi Dedja
Mikaela Pinari
Company
ToGo Express
City
Tirana
Downloads
3,000+
# of Employees
14
Having traveled all over Europe, colleagues and fellow foodies Evi and Mikaela wanted to create a food delivery app for Albania. With Evi handling the tech and Mikaela on the financial side of things, it didn't take the pair long to launch the Tirana-based ToGo. What sets their app apart is its promotion and empowerment of local businesses serving traditional dishes, favoring quality local cuisine over fast-food chains. Group and multiple orders are features currently in the works, as is future expansion into Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
"Local restaurants are so happy that, thanks to the app, they are becoming known around the city and getting more customers coming in"
Founder
Ervin Kalemi
Company
Kalemi Code
City
Tirana
Downloads
5,200+
# of employees
15
Ervin always had a taste for the visual, designing covers for his video games as a kid. So it was only natural that he would combine this talent with programming and become a developer. When his brother started a travel agency and wanted to automate and schedule his company's social media posts, Ervin got the idea for his first solo project: Publer. On the app, people can easily schedule and share posts across multiple social networks at once. In the future, Ervin hopes that he can inspire other talented young people to stay in Albania and help foster a local community of startups.
"In Albania, many of our brilliant minds go abroad. That's why I'm extra motivated to leave a legacy behind, to inspire others to come back to Albania and build their dreams here"
Stories from Albania
Co-founders
David Grigoryan
Arman Manukyan
Hayk Grigoryan
Company
Zoomerang
City
Yerevan
Downloads
16,215,100+
# of employees
20
As a child, David's mother always told him he'd become a programmer. And he did, but it was his other passion, music, that led to Zoomerang. After uploading his music online, David got limited views because his video editing wasn't engaging. So, along with co-founders Arman and Hayk, he created a platform where content creators could get editing templates for their videos, allowing thousands to grow their brand and vivify their content. Now, they want to become the number one video template marketplace and a major social media platform.
"I always wanted to design a product that would encourage millions of people to excel in a creative way. To help them feel better, be more inventive, and able to express themselves"
Founder
Gevorg Safaryan
Company
Earlyone
City
Yerevan
Downloads
377,600+
# of employees
25
Gevorg has always been keen to get the most out of his time and never had patience for lines. In fact, he developed Earlyone to avoid standing in lines. It's an online waiting system that allows people to schedule appointments at banks or healthcare services without having to actually be there – freeing up time for more fun activities. After succeeding in Armenia, Gevorg has expanded to five other countries, and he plans to target new industries such as beauty salons and restaurants.
"Google Play gives us a great opportunity to distribute what we have created and hopefully expand our business to other markets"
Founder
Petros Kirakosyan
Company
Next Epic
City
Yerevan
Downloads
1,200,000+
# of employees
12
When Petros showed his wife an excerpt of his new game, she screamed. A positive reaction, despite appearances. The Hotel Project is a spooky take on home renovation. Petros has a passion for compelling storylines and his gaming projects all feature mystical undertones, twists, turns and zany characters. Petros is planning to release more games in the same genre with equally gripping stories, all with the support of a dedicated team and his wife, who is not only his "player zero", but also one of the visual artists behind the games' unique and captivating look.
"Every member of our team puts something into the game, whether that's the art, the mechanics or the story. And as a result, the whole team genuinely loves the game"
Stories from Armenia
Co-founders
Valentin Schütz
Juan Vicci
Tobias Zetzsche
Company
Gronda
City
Innsbruck
Downloads
853,000+
# of employees
31
With hotelier and restaurateur parents, Valentin grew up learning about the challenges of the hospitality sector. As he was a better programmer than a cook, he decided to not join the industry. But at 22 - whilst successfully working abroad - he felt his life was lacking purpose. Valentin went back to his hometown and, after hearing his parents had troubles with hiring, created a hospitality recruitment app with co-founders Tobias and Juan. However, when Covid hit, Gronda transformed into a platform for chefs to share and monetize their recipes, inspiring other culinary lovers. Next, Gronda wants to help ambitious chefs worldwide unleash their full potential.
"You can't just work for working, you need a purpose. If a company can't give me that, then I'll create my own"
Co-founders
David Jöch
Daria Travnytska
Company
Mindvoll
City
Waidhofen an der Thaya
Downloads
1,270,000+
# of employees
2
Couple David and Daria share a deep interest in self-improvement. With David's programming skills, as well as Daria's background in psychology and talent for illustration, they had the right skills to create their first project: Avocation. The app helps people form healthy habits as they grow a virtual plant by completing daily routines and goals. Recently, they added more data insight options so people can see their progress more clearly. They're also releasing another app, Moodmonk, which is a guided journal app for inspiration and reflection.
"Google Play was really pushing us in the beginning and helping us grow. It was great for us to get that kind of support"
Founder
Markus Hohenwarter
Company
GeoGebra
City
Linz
Downloads
31,000,000+
# of employees
45
During his doctoral computer science and math studies, Markus set out to improve and revolutionize mathematics teaching. This led him to create GeoGebra, an interactive, cross-platform math teaching tool. Being free, the software has helped level the playing field in education, as kids from all backgrounds have access. It also centers around community, allowing teachers to upload and share their resources. They recently added an illustrative curriculum feature, and a virtual classroom function, allowing teachers to host remote classes. Next, they're adding augmented reality to help students visualize geometry in 3D.
"GeoGebra's reach has enabled us to help level the mathematics educational playing field without concern for location or context"
Stories from Austria
Co-founders
Amiraslan Bakhshili
Orkhan Alikhanov
Company
Oxuyan
City
Baku
Downloads
65,000+
# of employees
6
Top students Amiraslan and Orkhan met when they spontaneously teamed up at their university programming competition — and won. A series of tandem hackathons and coding all-nighters later and the pair launched Oxuyan ("scholar" in Azerbaijani), a platform for publishing exams and testing knowledge. Education had been a ticket to so much opportunity for Amiraslan, including studying abroad and traveling Europe, so his motivation was to make learning accessible to everyone. With new students joining every day, sharing their scores on social media and a chat interface in the works, more and more young people are getting the access to the education they deserve.
"It's an honor for us to bring knowledge into people's lives, especially in parts of Azerbaijan where technology and resources are limited"
Co-founders
Mia Omarova
Bakir Omarov
Company
Cool Bears
City
Baku
Downloads
8,000,000+
# of employees
7
When Mia and Bakir set up their first gaming studio they were one of a few in Azerbaijan. There was no tech network, no one to ask for advice, and Bakir had learned to code by watching online tutorials. They went bankrupt, but the couple refused to give up. They got a loan and built a new studio, creating their game Boxing Physics. Their aim now is to build a supportive tech community in Azerbaijan, to share experiences and help startups find their way.
"Google Play has a good community and forums, where you can ask a question about technical details, and someone will help you. It's like a big, friendly family of Google Play developers"
Co-founders
Huseyn Aliyev
Orkhan Jafarov
Company
Tokhum
City
Ganja
Downloads
200+
# of employees
2
Huseyn and Orkhan, now teenagers, have been friends since they were children. They shared a common dream – to make apps and create a startup. Huseyn, who learned to code when he was 12, is now the CTO, and Orkhan, an agriculture student, manages the business side of things. Their app Tokhum.agro is a place for farmers to connect and share knowledge. The friends are working on bringing professional consultants on board, and they hope to help modernize farming in developing countries.
"Farmers in developing countries like Azerbaijan don't necessarily have a lot of resources, so city people can't reach organic products easily, which makes them more expensive. Our app can help with all of that"
Stories from Azerbaijan
Founder
Stéphane Dupont
Company
Binary Guilt Software
City
Liège
Downloads
3,041,000+
# of employees
1
Stéphane's earliest memories were of his dad playing guitar, instilling a lifelong love of music and a subsequent career as a guitar teacher. But he also had a background in computer science and, keen to merge his two passions, decided to create Complete Trainer - a set of musical training apps. The platform helps budding musicians train their ears, develop rhythm and learn to read music. Next, Stéphane wants to improve the way teachers build custom content on the apps and even create virtual classrooms.
"Google Play is a great support for small niche apps with no marketing budgets. And if people like it, Google's algorithm starts to suggest it to others and it grows organically"
Founder
Bart Bonte
Company
Bart Bonte
City
Aalter
Downloads
12,000,000+
# of employees
1
Bart started out making old-school flash games in the early 2000s and, decades later, still captures this retro charm in his zany mobile puzzle games. Take his color series, for instance. Here, players have to use logic to get their screen to turn a certain color. But with the yellow game, he set out to recreate the magic of using a touchscreen for the first time and became a runner up of Google Play's Indie Games Festival. Bart’s goal is always to make players feel accomplished and relaxed, and his fans say they find his games meditative. His 20th mobile game, orange, has been recently launched and the next one is already in the making.
"I get a lot of feedback from people telling me that one of my games helped them in some way, that it gave them a boost when they felt low or it put a smile on their face"
Founder
Geert Houben
Company
Cubigo
City
Hasselt
Downloads
20,000+
# of employees
50
Geert's grandmother inspired Cubigo Community. When she moved into a nursing home, managing her care felt overwhelming, so he used his experience from working in tech to create his app. It is aimed at elderly people - they can use it to book taxis, days out, order food, schedule appointments and message friends. But it can also be used by family and nursing staff, so they know what’s happening and when. It's about giving elderly people independence, and Geert hopes Cubigo will become a global player in senior care.
"Instead of relying on other people, older people can use the app to control everything themselves. That's a big step forward in empowerment and independence"
Stories from Belgium
Co-founders
Enver Suljić
Mersad Husić
Company
Stage Coding
City
Travnik
Downloads
90,000+
# of employees
7
Self-taught coders Enver and Mersad first met at an Android programming event in Travnik. From there, they began a professional partnership developing a range of apps as freelancers. The pair wanted to create something useful for readers and started their own independent project, Speed Reading, an app that helps people read at a quicker pace. Recently, a redesign introduced more customization options allowing readers to choose their own font, text size and color scheme. Next, they're working on their new task management app, Time Tracker.
"At first we didn't focus too much on Speed Reading, but when we got positive feedback and saw people needed this kind of app, we worked on improving it"
Founder
Bilal Drndo
Company
SOFTLINE
City
Ilidža
Downloads
5,900+
# of employees
1
At age 11, Bilal was a programming prodigy. By age 14 he was already developing off-the-wall apps, like a calculator with a hidden chat function. It was while observing the lack of connection felt by Balkan immigrants in Germany that he got the idea for a Balkan dating app. Disby connects Balkan people to their roots and community. Bilal hopes to use the app to start his own love story soon, but in the meantime plans to add social networking features like posts, photos and threads.
"The Google Play analytics tools are awesome. They go hand in hand with Firebase and this integration and ease of use empowers me as an entrepreneur to build better products. That’s why I like Google Play"
Co-founders
Armin Subasic
Muhamed Bećirović
Company
MonadGames
City
Sarajevo
Downloads
80,000+
# of employees
4
From a young age, Armin loved making games as he could build new worlds from his imagination. Through sharing his projects on social media, he met Muhamed, a passionate coder and gamer. With so much in common, the pair decided to combine their respective artistic and programming skills and collaborate making games. Their most well-known title, Gigycube, is a puzzle which involves building bold, colored blocks that resemble jelly cubes. Next, they're releasing an equally wacky running game where characters balance on top of barrels and avoid obstacles to complete the course. They also hope to invigorate the gaming industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina by offering training to young people.
"Our goal is to boost game development here in Bosnia and Herzegovina by teaching young people how to program and build games. We want to show people it's possible and give them the knowledge to do it"
Stories from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Founder
Deyan Vitanov
Company
LAN GAMES
City
Sofia
Downloads
25,000,000+
# of employees
2
Deyan is a board game lover, with a passion for strategy and a home full of family games. So it's no surprise that after working as a developer for a large gaming company, he set out to create his own platform, LAN GAMES, exclusively for multiplayer board games. With a focus on the social element, the game Rento, where players can trade lands and build houses, has options for playing in teams and tournaments. Deyan now wants to introduce a new word-assembling game, Happy Words.
"Google Analytics is priceless. Also, the plug-in on Google Play Console is so advanced - I can test my game with different icons, see how players react, and see how many clicks there are"
Co-founders
Jane Dimitrova
Velin Kerkov
Company
FoodOBox
City
Sofia
Downloads
12,300+
# of employees
6
After finishing her Master's in Business in Italy, Jane returned to Bulgaria, intent on setting up an anti-food waste company. She was put in touch with app developer, Velin, via a mutual friend and the pair hit it off - both professionally and romantically. Together they launched Foodobox: a platform for businesses to sell leftover food at a discount. The app has changed perceptions around food waste and saved over 2000 KG of CO2 so far. Now, they plan on spreading Foodobox across Eastern Europe.
"When you buy a Foodobox, you don't buy new food. So you reduce the amount of food that's produced. This saves resources and energy as well as prevents waste, helping the environment"
Co-founder
Rossen Varbanov
Company
Sirma Medical Systems
City
Sofia
Downloads
1,000,000+
# of employees
5
When Rossen was diagnosed with diabetes at 24, he quickly realized he needed more resources to keep on top of his condition. When he couldn't find software that met his needs, he decided to make his own and launched Diabetes:M - Blood Sugar Management Diary. The app, which has a medical advisory board, allows people to log their blood sugar levels, calculate insulin doses and track food intake. Due to demand in different countries, it's been translated into 19 languages. Next, Rossen hopes to connect more clinicians to track their patients on the app.
"I still use the app to track my diabetes, and for my 9 year old son who recently developed the condition. It's really helpful to see it from the viewpoint of a parent"
Stories from Bulgaria
Co-founders
Anica Kačan
Kristijan Kačan
Company
Dub Studio Productions
City
Preko
Downloads
131,275,700+
# of employees
2
Anica and Kristijan love music and dance, and first met at a club where Kristijan was DJing. Music has always been an important part of their lives and Kristijan wanted to get the best sound quality on mobile. He put his coding skills to use and created Music Volume EQ. The app gives people control over the music on their phone with an equalizer, bass booster, and 3D virtualizer to simulate different acoustic environments. Dub Studio Productions is a family business. The parents' passion for music and technology inspired one of their sons, who is now a budding musician and game developer.
"We enjoy what we do, and our way of life. Google Play helped us to develop all of this from where we are."
Co-founders
Tomislav Podhraški
Boris Barbir
Vladimir Koščica
Company
Pine Studio
City
Samobor
Downloads
531,800+
# of employees
17
In college, friends Tomislav, Boris and Vladimir had a dream to one day own a games studio. Fast-forward 10 years and they're now the proud founders of Pine Studio. Their game, Cats in Time – a puzzle where players need to find and save cats – was the first title they independently published. For every 100,000 cats saved in the game, 10kg of cat food are donated to shelters in Zagreb. They took part in Google Play's Indie Games Festival and Indie Games Accelerator in 2021. Next, they plan to release more levels and a new game, Escape Simulator.
"We won Google Play's Indie Games Festival and it brought more players to the game. Google Play is our most popular platform"
Co-founders
Ivan Bešlić
Zlatko Hrkać
Company
Sofascore
City
Zagreb
Downloads
50,000,000+
# of employees
201
Ivan and Zlatko grew up playing sports together in the local parks of Croatia. As they got older, they developed a shared passion for coding and apps, but their friendship and love of sport remained. Sofascore started life as a simple sports forum. Today it's the last word on ratings, stats and results for over 23 million fans. With a team of 200+, the friends have the ambitious goal of covering every single sporting event, including smaller local clubs. And they are well on the way, currently covering 23 sports with mixed martial arts (MMA) coming next.
"We've been friends since the first day of primary school. We grew up together as new technologies developed. And we're still together, sitting in the same office. It really is a successful story"
Stories from Croatia
Founder
Olga Dynyak
Company
Mediartis
City
Nicosia
Downloads
100,000+
# of employees
5
Olga, a mother of two, graduated from medical school but swapped a career as a doctor for the tech world to create IQsha, a popular educational games platform. Motivated by a strong desire to help children learn in an engaging way, Olga wants to translate the app into multiple languages and increase the number of games to reach more children worldwide. She loves hearing how kids are using her fun learning app to improve their literacy and math skills, and her own children are fans too.
"Google Play is great at supporting small developers - it has saved us money and it's been very helpful. I'm very thankful for this"
Co-founders
George Iacovou
Antonis Neocleous
Demos Pavlou
Kyriakos Stavrou
Company
11 Pets
City
Nicosia
Downloads
576,000+
# of employees
8
As pet owners and animal lovers themselves, George, Antonis, Demos and Kyriakos all wanted to use their tech know-how to help the pet community. When Kyriakos' dog became poorly, it sparked the idea for 11Pets: a digital platform for logging the medical history and care schedule for furry - or scaly - companions. As well as individual pet owners, the app is used by around 165 animal shelters globally. Their ultimate goal is to provide equal resources and tools for animals as there are for humans. To do this, they're introducing scores of new features, including telehealth and 24h vet support.
"We believe the pet industry still lacks the tools and technology to provide the same care a person gets. Our vision is to change that by providing pets with a service equal to what people receive"
Founder
Constantinos Samuel
Company
BLEND
City
Nicosia
Downloads
10,000+
# of employee
6
When Constantinos was helping a restauranteur friend to run his business, he saw first-hand the complications of managing staff rotas. Pen and paper timetables, instant messages and spreadsheets – Constantinos had spent years working for startups, so this manual approach had to go. He built Employee Scheduling by BLEND so people like his friend could organize staffing shifts from their mobiles. No need to open a computer, and definitely no need to pick up a pen. He's now working on task management and clock-in, clock-out features, which he hopes to launch soon.
"We imagined people using our app to plan their weekly schedule from the beach, or the commute, or while sitting on the couch late at night. It's about convenience"
Stories from Cyprus
Founder
Petr Nálevka
Company
Urbandroid
City
Prague
Downloads
42,800,000+
# of employees
1
As a self-confessed health obsessive, Petr developed his smart alarm to optimize his own life. But 40 million downloads later, it really caught on. By tracking sleep cycles, it wakes people within a set time window as they enter their lightest stage of sleep - cue a better, and more energized day. Petr, who created his first computer game aged six, is now developing technology so that people can measure sleep cycles, breathing and heart rate without having to have a device beside their bed, or even in the same room.
"I do very minimal marketing, so it's all based on organic growth, and Google Play is the source of that"
Co-founders
Jiří Mlavec
Hana Mlavcová
Company
Asamm Software
City
Prague
Downloads
5,000,000+
# of employees
10
Married couple Jiří and Hana are ecological enthusiasts and wanted to create an app that encouraged people to reconnect with nature and their community. The hiker and biker navigation app, Locus Map - which started out life on a small but dedicated internet forum - was the result. Today, despite the app's huge success, its community origins remain integral, with a focus on feedback and input from outdoor enthusiasts. Looking forward, Jiří and Hana want to offer hikers more customization options and build an even bigger community presence.
"The simplification of distribution with Google Play, as well as the option to sell the app with a billing subscription, has been an amazing help for us"
Founder
Michal Jakob
Company
Umotional
City
Prague
Downloads
711,000+
# of employees
11
Michal was researching sustainable mobility at university when he decided to step out of the lab and create his app Cyclers to promote cycling. It helps pros and newbie cyclists have a great time on their bikes by suggesting safe and enjoyable routes. Today it's the official cycling app in multiple cities across the world, with some even using its data to adapt their cycling infrastructure. As a keen cyclist himself, Michal uses the app to go on bike rides with his wife and two kids. Next, he plans to improve the features to make the navigation even more user-friendly.
"Our goal was to create a digital tool that would bring people together, promote cycling and promote sustainable means of transport"
Stories from Czech Republic
Co-founders
Christian Munter
Johannes Beyer
Company
TwoScape
City
Copenhagen
Downloads
259,300+
# of employees
2
Software engineers Christian and Johannes are long time ski buddies. Sportler is their passion project, created initially so they could share their love of skiing with family and track their young children on the slopes. It measures runs, speeds, and altitude, as well as supporting the social side of skiing - helping people meet for lunch on the slopes or share a drink in the nearest ice bar. They plan to expand on this interactive element over the next year.
"Because we love skiing so much, we had to make this app, no matter what. We get a lot of energy from doing this"
Co-founders
Christine Hebert
Nima Tisdall
Company
Blue Lobster
City
Copenhagen
Downloads
5,000+
# of employees
3
When Christine first moved to Denmark, she was surprised by the lack of fresh fish options. After visiting the harbors, she discovered why: the fishing industry was inefficient and favored industrial methods, harmful to the ocean. So Christine, along with friend and activist Nima, created an app for connecting sustainable fishermen directly with buyers. And it's sparked a local drive towards sustainable fishing, with 32 Danish restaurants so far pledging to never buy unsustainable langoustines again. Now expanding into Germany and Sweden, Blue Lobster is a revolutionary force for the fishing industry.
"Google Play has been great for distribution, getting feedback, and it will be an effective way to attract more people now that we are expanding to new regions"
Co-founders
Oliver Whimster Martinsen
Oskar Dahl Hansen
Company
Climaider
City
Copenhagen
Downloads
21,800+
# of employees
7
High school friends Oliver and Oskar were inspired to do something about climate change while traveling and working on ecological farms across South America. So when they returned to Denmark, they created Climaider: an app which helps people reduce their carbon footprint by altering their lifestyle habits and offsetting their footprint through donating to NGOs. They recently introduced energy consumption integration, allowing people more insight into their environmental impact. In the future, they want to work on improving the carbon calculator and adding more country-specific data.
"We've had an impact in educating people on their carbon footprint and how you, as an individual, can change your habits to live a more sustainable lifestyle"
Stories from Denmark
Co-founders
Kelly Lilles
Mikk Lilles
Madde Rebane
Reimo Meier
Company
ALPA Kids
City
Tallinn
Downloads
875,000+
# of employees
7
Kelly loves studying languages, and Mikk is super into tech. While living abroad, they wanted to find a way to keep their sons connected to their Estonian heritage. They combined their passions, and along with relatives Madde and Reimo, created ALPA Kids - a mobile language game for Estonian children. After receiving several awards, they've now expanded to include the languages of Ukraine and India, with the ultimate goal of including as many languages as possible. They have also recently received funds to invest in artificial intelligence, to develop customized games based on each child's individual skills and ability.
"Our games are used by families and also by schools and preschools. It has had a huge impact for language preservation and language learning in early childhood education"
Co-founder
Aune Aunapuu
Company
Yaga
City
Tallinn
Downloads
386,500+
# of employees
17
When environmental consultant Aune was on maternity leave, she would sell her kids' outgrown clothes online. But she was left wanting more - something that would encourage people to enjoy fashion sustainably, allow them to make money, and do it in a simple way. So, she created Yaga with the goal of making person-to-person buying and selling preloved clothes online easy and safe. Focusing on South Africa, Kenya and India, Yaga has enabled the sale of over 1.5 million secondhand fashion items so far.
"I feel proud to be a woman in the technology sector and to be doing it successfully. I love that I have created a product that supports other women"
Co-founders
Alari Aho
Krister Haav
Ahti Aho
Company
Toggl
City
Tallinn
Download
1,500,000+
# of employees
127
While running his own software consultancy company, self-taught developer Alari noticed that it was often difficult to negotiate fair prices that reflected the amount of time he and his team put into projects. So, along with colleague Krister and brother Ahti, he got the idea for Toggl: a time tracking tool where freelancers, consultants and employees can accurately log the amount of time they spend working. The trio aim for simplicity with the app, with a straightforward and accessible tracker, calendar and earnings calculator to provide people with clear insight into their workflow.
"Distributing on Google Play gave us visibility in the marketplace and provides a platform for us to interact with our audience"
Stories from Estonia
Founder
Jutta Haaramo
Company
Happy Bob
City
Espoo
Downloads
11,000+
# of employees
6
When Jutta's son was diagnosed with diabetes aged six, she found the data involved in his care overwhelming. So using her experience from working in games, she created Happy Bob, to make it more fun. People can link Happy Bob with their Continuous Glucose Monitor and connect with others to share their real-time glucose values and get some encouragement. Jutta's son drew funny pictures to describe how he felt as his blood sugar fluctuated, and these inspired the tone of the app – she says he's her co-creator. She plans to expand further into Europe and has launched a 'rewards' feature to celebrate achievements.
"I wanted to combine humor, gamification and community to help people with diabetes to feel like human beings, rather than patients"
Co-founders
Mikko Kaipainen
Christoph Thür
Company
Yousician
City
Helsinki
Downloads
150,000,000+
# of employees
120
We've all been there - the feeling of being inspired to learn a new instrument but quickly losing motivation and giving up. That's why Mikko and Christoph, who became friends after winning a university competition, got the idea for Yousician: an app that keeps you enthusiastic and on track while learning piano, guitar or ukulele. And they have partnerships with huge musical artists, so that budding musicians can learn from the best. Next, Christoph wants to add collaboration options, so that people can play together and maybe even form their own bands.
"Every step of the way, we want to optimize the app and make it better for people. The tools Google Play provides are a fantastic way of doing that"
Co-founders
Evgeny Lomtev
Iaroslav Kovshikov
Company
SwimUp
City
Helsinki
Downloads
88,600+
# of employees
5
Evgeny is an ex-competitive swimmer on a mission to make expert training available to everyone. Fresh from the Junior European Swimming Championships, he met finance student Iaroslav at university. The pair swiftly partnered up and dived in to launch SwimUp: an aquatic app to help motivated swimmers improve their form, technique and fitness. The platform has coaching plans and tips for honing your technique and perfecting your strokes, from beginner all the way up to triathlon hopefuls. Next, Evgeny wants the app to be as effective as a real-life coach.
"Our goal is to help people master the technically challenging sport of swimming, achieve better health and reduce drowning rates in countries where swimming isn't taught in schools"
Stories from Finland
Founder
Arnaud Megret
Company
Elokence
City
Chartres
Downloads
650,000,000+
# of employees
11
Arnaud is a computer scientist with a passion for artificial intelligence. He originally created Akinator as a side project to experiment with AI tools. Now, it's his company's most popular game - featuring a genius who 'reads people's minds' and accurately guesses the name of a celebrity, character or historical figure. Launching only in French, it's now available in 16 languages. Arnaud believes the popularity of the game is due to audience collaboration, as people can add their own data. The company is now working on an app that will recommend movies based on people's answers and preferences.
"Akinator was a personal project. I was not aiming to change my job for this, but it became a huge success"
Co-founders
Maxence Henneron
Oxana Ivanchenko
Company
Appsent
City
Lyon
Downloads
1,600,000+
# of employees
2
Maxence and Oxana struggled to keep their house clean when they were both working from home. Sweepy is their solution – it's a smart home cleaning schedule that assigns household tasks on particular days and for particular people. The couple are really proud that their app has been downloaded by lots of people with autism and ADHD, who tell them that it helps them to manage their homes. They are now developing a points and rewards feature, to try to encourage children to get involved in the housework too.
"Sweepy had success almost immediately after we published, we could see people buying it and that gave us a lot of motivation"
Founder
Maija Airas-Ceri
Company
Gotta Yoga
City
Charbonnières-les-Bains
Downloads
363,000+
# of employees
2
Maija first took up yoga when she was pregnant and her midwife showed her some poses. Fast forward, and she is now a yoga teacher and the brains behind Gotta Yoga. Maija has a knack for creating routines of varying lengths (some are just five minutes) and clearly explain postures that could otherwise be complicated. She is now hoping to use artificial intelligence to help create a more intuitive approach to guide each person on their yogic journey.
"Google Play is a great tool - we have a lot of interaction with people through feedback and reviews"
Stories from France
Co-founders
George Tsiramua
Tornike Tsiramua
Company
Biliki
City
Tbilisi
Downloads
29,700+
# of employees
4
Biliki, meaning 'trail' in Georgian, was created by brothers George and Tornike. After years working for big companies, they joined forces to create the app to inspire people to explore Georgia's dramatic landscapes. Their passion for hiking comes from their father, who they still travel with now. He gave them the inspiration and energy to build the company. Biliki is a marketplace for self-guided tours and allows people to follow trails at their own pace, contributing to more sustainable travel. The brothers have expanded to eleven other countries and hope to move into parts of Asia and Africa too.
"We wanted Georgia to be visible not just as a wine and music country, but also as a technological and touristic country, to introduce its rich history, cultural and natural heritage to the world"
Co-founders
Anano Dolaberidze
Giorgi Chugoshvili
Company
Phubber
City
Tbilisi
Downloads
64,900+
# of employees
42
Anano was a hot shot in the fashion industry while Giorgi — also godfather to Anano's daughter — had a software background. Natural business partners, the pair combined their experience and talents to create the marketplace app Phubber. Their focus is on changing the mindset in Georgia around buying secondhand and boosting sustainability. They also value having a strong social network component and emphasise direct communication between users. Recent updates include a bargaining feature and discounts for multiple purchases. Already present in Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Armenia, they hope to launch in a further four Eastern European countries.
"We are proud to have a positive impact on the environment. We've saved around 30 million liters of water by reselling items that could have been bought new"
Co-founders
Josuah Rechtsteiner
Irakli Shalamberidze
David Gobronidze
Company
Kroudi
City
Tbilisi
Downloads
5,000+
# of employees
4
While looking at e-scooters online, Josuah realized how much cheaper it is to buy multiple units directly from the producer. This gave him the idea for the group purchasing platform, Kroudi, where people can team up to bulk buy goods directly from the manufacturer. This has the double benefit of saving people's money and reducing waste. To bring his idea to life, Josuah partnered with developers Irakli and David. After making a splash in the Georgian market, the trio now have their eyes set on the USA.
"I think Kroudi has come at the right time. People want to consume more responsibly while still having plenty of choices when it comes to what they buy"
Stories from Georgia
Co-founders
Jonas Lüthke
Ina Wortmann
Company
Ori App Studio
City
Berlin
Downloads
513,300+
# of employees
2
Couple Jonas and Ina met at university - both have computer science backgrounds and love to travel. In 2016, while planning a 6-month trip through Southeast Asia, they needed a way to make their money last but couldn't find the right tool to help. So, as Jonas had experience in developing apps, they decided to create TravelSpend. It helps people travel on a budget by tracking expenses, sharing and syncing budgets, and showing spend in local currencies automatically converted. Their passion for exploring also inspired them to launch Roadie, a route planner app for campers and roadtrippers.
"When people see that someone's traveling through Mexico and only spending €500 for a month, they're inspired to go traveling themselves"
Co-founders
Sebastian Gaede
Philipp Legge
Julian Weddige
Company
MyTherapy
City
Munich
Downloads
6,800,000+
# of employees
91
When economist Sebastian discovered how many people don't take their medicine correctly, and how many premature deaths this leads to, he was shocked and decided to do something to help. He enlisted former colleagues Philipp and Julian and set up MyTherapy. The app reminds people to take the right pills at the right time and has information about using each medicine correctly – for example with the right food or drink. They now plan to add a symptom tracker and a drug database to help people live safely and for longer.
"Google Play is really willing to give us access to experts, and that's something that we always appreciated a lot"
Co-founders
Katrin Bermbach
Nora Blum
Company
Selfapy
City
Berlin
Downloads
16,800+
# of employees
65
Katrin and Nora met when they were psychology students. They bonded over their frustration with treatment waiting times for mental health patients and vowed to do something about it. Despite having no tech background, the pair realized an app would have the reach they aimed for. So they built Selfapy to offer online therapy. It's one of a few apps in Germany treated as a pharmaceutical product, which means people can get the cost of it reimbursed from insurers. They are now developing new therapy programs for people with eating disorders, and continue to fine tune Selfapy, so each patient has a personalized, tailored plan.
"We wanted to ensure easier access to mental health treatment for people suffering from depression, anxiety or panic disorders"
Stories from Germany
Co-founders
Vagelis Antonopoulos
Nick Konstantoglou
Company
KickBack
City
Larissa
Downloads
75,000+
# of employees
2
Cousins Vagelis and Nick spent a lot of time playing computer games together as kids, so creating their own game as adults felt like a natural step. Lost Echo is a science fiction mystery adventure. The visuals are full of dramatic dark shadows and shards of light, which were inspired by Nick's previous job creating graphic lighting effects on architects' designs. He says he could visualize the game right from the outset. The sequel, Lost Echo Resonance, is underway, and the cousins are honing the final details of the story.
"We get a lot of nice feedback and that really makes our day. Everyone wants to know when our next game is out, and that's what keeps us going"
Co-founders
Yiannis Nikolopoulos
Daphne Tsevreni
Andreas Fatouros
Company
Clio Muse
City
Athens
Downloads
60,000+
# of employees
27
Software engineer Yiannis met his co-founders Daphne and Andreas at a weekend long hackathon for tech enthusiasts. Keen to satisfy their combined entrepreneurial spirit, they tapped into Andreas' background as an antiquities expert to build Clio Muse Tours. The app guides people around over 500 tours in 25 countries, and includes museums, landmarks, historic sites and city walks, taking in well-known spots as well as some off the beaten track. Their mission to promote a great experience for cultural heritage visitors has won the trio numerous awards for sustainable practices. Next, the team aims to incorporate personalized and augmented reality experiences into the tours.
"Our tours are designed by local professionals. We find local talent, like geologists, historians and tourist guides, because we want to tell stories that make an impact"
Founder
Nikos Sklavounos
Company
UniStudents Team
City
Athens
Downloads
158,000+
# of employees
7
Nikos was frustrated by his university's grade tracking system, so while working at his family's hotel in Lesbos over the summer, he began working on an app — hiding his drawings from his uncle who thought he was slacking off. Once the beta version was up on Google Play, it quickly spread by word of mouth and, after going public, it snowballed. On UniStudents, students can track their grades and keep up with news and course announcements. Timetabling, deadlines, exam dates and goal setting are features in the works — as is expansion into Cyprus.
"We went from 1,000 downloads to 150,000 downloads on Google Play through organic growth — with no ads, nothing. You can see from the start, it really helped to bring the app to more people"
Stories from Greece
Co-founders
Nóra Németh
Torkel Fagrell
Ildikó Németh
Company
PregHello
City
Budapest
Downloads
150,000+
# of employees
3
When Nóra was pregnant she found the amount of different advice online overwhelming. She decided that if there was just one place to turn to, where all the information was checked by healthcare professionals, then that could make life easier for all pregnant women – so she created it alongside her husband Torkel and sister Ildikó. PregHello has weight trackers, blood pressure and sugar monitors, and tips on what foods to eat (and what to avoid). Next step is a second app to help families through those first few months with their little ones.
"Basically, every second pregnant woman in Hungary uses our app, which gives me goosebumps, because we really didn't expect this result"
Co-founders
Dorka Horváth
Dani Karanyi
Company
BOOKR Kids
City
Budapest
Downloads
525,700+
# of employees
36
Dorka is on a mission to make children love reading. The interactive stories on BOOKR are designed to keep the ethos of books while making stories modern and engaging. She developed the concept whilst studying for her PhD in Education, and BOOKR has been found to improve children's ability to learn. She built the business with her husband Dani and within two years their app was available in 70 different countries. Dorka's goal is to digitize 10 million books in 27 languages, from global classics to regional stories and folk tales.
"If I think about how far we've come, then I feel really proud. I have a great team and with their help I can really make all my dreams come true"
Co-founders
Zsolt Czigler
Enikő Czigler
Adrián Gaál
Alex Dósa
Company
VIMAGE
City
Pécs
Downloads
12,700,000+
# of employees
8
Zsolt is an entrepreneur with a head brimming with ideas. When he created a tool for animating images through moving photo effects, he knew he was onto something. Teaming up with his sister, Enikő, fellow co-founders Adrián and Alex, and three other friends, they created VIMAGE: a cinemagraph app for jazzing up photos with presets, filters and GIF templates. The platform has helped make graphic design, artsy editing and animation available to everyone, with just a tap. The team have recently been developing a feature to convert text into images, and are next hoping to make the app even more automated.
"Thanks in part to our organic growth through Google Play, we've reached over 12 million downloads. With these numbers, we can develop this company, build new features, new products and do what we want to do"
Stories from Hungary
Co-founders
David Orn
Asgeir Visir
Company
Smitten
City
Reykjavík
Downloads
261,000+
# of employees
22
In 2013, David and Asgeir packed their bags and moved from Iceland to San Francisco in pursuit of creating a successful startup. Following an entrepreneurial roller coaster - with hits, misses and many lessons - the duo landed major success back in their home country with Smitten: a dating app that prioritizes entertainment and fun. It even has questionnaire games, like Guessary, and a fun facts feature. They recently made the platform all-gender inclusive and became one of the most popular dating apps in their country. Next, they're expanding into Sweden and the UK, and have global ambitions beyond that.
"We've helped form thousands of relationships, and there's even been several Smitten babies. So we are literally changing people's lives. We are making the world a better place for our audience, which is really fun"
Co-founders
Pidsinee Einarsdottír
Jérémy Barbet
Company
hello aurora
City
Reykjavík
Downloads
71,900+
# of employees
2
Viewing the spirals and rays of the northern lights was a special experience for Pidsinee, who moved to Iceland from Thailand as a child, and Jérémy, who came over 7 years ago for work. They wanted to make sure everyone could experience this brilliant natural light display to the max, so created hello aurora: a community for polar light fans to see the best viewing spots and share their photos of the dazzling phenomenon. The couple is motivated to make it even better with a recently launched pro version.
"I really like Google Play analytics as this gives us insight into where the audience is coming from and provides us with data we can use to improve the app"
Co-founders
Leifur Björn Björnsson
Steinunn Anna Gunnlaugsdóttir
Company
Locatify
City
Borgarnes
Downloads
61,000+
# of employees
9
Leifur always loved how his mom brought things to life through telling stories. His wife, Steinunn, was a teacher determined to make learning fun. Put these two passions together and you get TurfHunt: a platform where creators can publish narrated treasure hunts and tour guides oriented around storytelling. Their app has been used by schools, scout groups and companies for team building activities. Leifur and Steinunn have also partnered with museums, parks and tourist attractions to build apps with interactive maps and themed walking routes. Next, the couple wants to incorporate augmented reality to make tours and hunts even more exciting.
"We wanted to create a fresh way to teach and learn. With our games, you're having fun and learning without even realizing it. That's what motivated us to create treasure hunt games"
Stories from Iceland
Founder
Jeremy Freeley
Company
Kollectiv Studio
City
Dublin
Downloads
16,700+
# of employees
1
When Jeremy stopped doing bar work and finally had weekends off, he found himself getting more and more hooked on Irish national sports, like Gaelic football and Hurling. With a degree in software development, this newfound passion quickly manifested in the creation of the app Gaelsport: a platform for fans to keep up with Irish sports - including the often overlooked female version of Hurling, known as Camogie. It's since taken off, not only in Ireland, but with Irish people all over the world. Plus, thanks to the new My County feature, fans can even tailor their newsfeed to their home county teams.
"Most of our audience is Irish, so you could never truly say that this is an app for the world, but it's an app for the Irish around the world. It helps them keep in touch"
Founder
Fabien Peyaud
Company
Herdwatch
City
Tipperary
Downloads
53,900+
# of employees
33
Fabien may be more at home with tech than with farming, but he's passionate about helping people who work the land with his app Herdwatch + Flockwatch. After realizing many farmers still used pen and paper, he collaborated with a farming co-operative to build a mobile app that helps cattle and sheep farmers manage their business on the go. With little experience of the Irish farming industry, he met the challenge head on and has come to admire the work and passion of farmers. He hopes his apps will help free up millions of farmers from time-consuming paperwork.
"Google Play provides a top-class experience – it offers a great user experience and our farmers can use the app offline. I knew from day one we had to be on Google Play"
Founder
Wendy Oke
Company
TeachKloud
City
Cork
Downloads
18,000+
# of employees
1
Through education, Wendy's grandfather climbed out of poverty — a story which always inspired her to value learning. Later, while pursuing her PhD in early childhood education, she noticed that teachers were so occupied with health and safety forms and compliance checks, they couldn't give all their attention and energy to actually teaching. This gave her the idea for TeachKloud. It allows preschools to streamline operations, providing everything from staff training to enrollment forms. Teachers love that the app frees up their time, allowing them to focus on the kids in their care. Already present in Ireland and the UK, Wendy hopes to launch in the USA soon.
"I always grew up with the belief that if you raise a child up with education, care, emotional and social development, they'll be able to do amazing things as they grow older"
Stories from Ireland
Founder
Andrea Dal Cin
Company
Andrea Dal Cin
City
Milan
Downloads
15,000,000+
# of employees
1
Andrea created his app School Planner while he was still at high school. He saw many of his fellow students struggling with organization, so he made a place to take notes, upload timetables, and track homework and test results. More than 15 million downloads later, he is still a one-man company, balancing the running of the app alongside his PhD studies and a job as a teacher. Andrea plans to build a series of apps that will draw on the social side of school, as well as studying help and advice.
"Google Play provides these great tools that allow me to manage the lifecycle of the app – to improve responsiveness, improve quality, and measure the engagement that people have"
Founder
Massimo Di Cosimo
Company
Max Di Cosimo
City
Rome
Downloads
1,765,500+
# of employees
1
Walking around the monuments, sites and nature of Italy can work up a thirst. That's why Massimo put the country's fountain database into an app — so anyone can easily find the nearest fountain with fresh flowing water. And the impact extends beyond quenching people's thirst, it's helped reduce plastic bottle circulation and revived an interest in Italy's decorative fountains. As a result, local authorities have stepped up their involvement in restoring and maintaining these coveted water sources. Next, he wants to add an icon to differentiate sparkling water fountains for those looking for a little extra fizz.
"Someone wrote to me saying I saved their life in the mid-summer Italian heat. I'm very happy when I hear these kinds of stories"
Co-founders
Valerio Raco
Simone Carcone
Company
PunchLab
City
Rome
Downloads
417,300+
# of employees
6
Valerio grew up in a boisterous family, where the children loved combat sports - that's where he found his passion for boxing. He trained as a neuroscientist, building PunchLab: Home Boxing Workouts in his spare time with his friend Simone. But what started as a personal fitness aid quickly turned into a business. The app measures hits on a punch bag, with interactive routines and coaching. Valerio is especially proud of feedback from people with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's, who say it's helped them with strength and coordination, and enjoy exercise again. The pair has recently added a leaderboard and plans to offer workouts in more languages to expand globally.
"50 million punches have been thrown on our app in the past few years but it's the individual stories that are the best part of the job, the fact that what we are doing helps people"
Stories from Italy
Co-founder and CEO
Liene Grenevica
Company
Roadgames
City
Riga
Downloads
10,100+
# of employees
10
Liene often braves the big outdoors and discovers what nature has to offer - so much so, that she organizes team-building, orienteering based games for her team at work. Seeing their joy as they explore the world around them inspired her to create Roadgames. It guides players through adventurous scavenger hunts, discovering new terrain and unexplored destinations. Recently, augmented reality was added to give the game another immersive dimension. In the future, Liene has big ambitions to go global and share new adventures across the world.
"We hear from people that they love the cool spots we feature. Our goal is to surprise them - and I think that's what we do"
Co-founders
Aleksejs Mjaliks
Arturs Vitols
Company
Prime Peaks
City
Sigulda
Downloads
19,700,000+
# of employees
3
Aleksejs and Arturs are a gaming dream team, with combined experience in programming and visualization. After working together in other game projects, both could not think of anyone better to join forces with and create their own studio. Prime Peaks started as a side project until their off-road racing games became hugely popular, with their realistic physics and nail-biting courses. The duo have recently added more customization features, and have other games in the works.
"We have a commitment to creating the best game possible"
Co-founder
Andris Kovalausks
Company
Pro Active App
City
Riga
Downloads
10,000,000+
# of employees
4
In 2007, it was Andris' wife Inga that came to him with the idea for a digital platform for tracking menstrual and fertility cycles - and he agreed it was a great plan. The platform uses artificial intelligence to make fertility and ovulation forecasts more precise. And this has paid off, as highlights of the app's feedback include people saying they've successfully got pregnant using the platform, after years of struggle. In the future, they want to include more articles on women's health and better tailor content suggestions to each woman using the app.
"With Google Play, you can be a small company of just 4 people and stay small but still gain a huge audience of millions of people"
Stories from Latvia
Co-founders
Andrey Drobitko
Alex Danilin
Company
SketchAR
City
Vilnius
Downloads
5,560,000+
# of employees
10
As a mural artist, Andrey had the idea to use augmented reality to project his sketches onto building facades. With this vision in mind, Andrey and his co-founder Alex created SketchAR: an app that makes creative and drawing tools more accessible, empowering people to unlock their full potential. The platform also offers seasoned artists collaborative spaces and channels for promoting and monetizing their creations. Passionate about fostering creativity, Andrey's main goal for SketchAR is to enable artists to make a living from their artwork.
"We try to make it as simple as possible for people to jump into this creative space and practice drawing"
Co-founder
Milda Mitkute
Company
Vinted
City
Vilnius
Downloads
50,000,000+
# of employees
1,500+
Milda fell into the tech world trying to find a solution to a very relatable problem: an overflowing wardrobe. With co-founder Justas onboard for the tech side, they created a site for a small group of friends to pick from each other's closets. The idea quickly took off and today millions of members across 18 countries come to the Vinted app to sell their pre-loved apparel, bag bargains and shop more responsibly. Milda has left Vinted to focus on her family and personal projects. Now, the team is branching out with new categories such as home decoration, toys, pet items, books and games.
"The secondhand trend will continue, and I think resale will become more and more part of consumers' everyday life. Vinted's member base of over 80 million people across 18 markets seems to prove this"
Co-founders
Algirdas Sakmanas
Gabija Gertiene
Company
DeepFin
City
Vilnius
Downloads
10,000+
# of employees
10
It was while working in banking that Algirdas noticed the accounting problems facing freelancers, and set out to solve them. He reached out to friend and co-founder Gabija with the idea for DeepFin - an accounting app designed specifically for freelancers - who promptly left her corporate job in the UK to work on the project. With DeepFin, people can create and track their invoices, as well as calculate taxes - something that has been particularly well received by gig economy workers, like couriers. In the future, the pair wants to work on adding tools to help self-employed workers secure mortgages and hope to expand into other markets.
"Going from a big corporation to a startup was a challenge – but it's one that I really love. It's a totally different world but it's full of possibilities, full of growth and it's incredibly fulfilling"
Stories from Lithuania
Founder
Ilana Devillers
Company
Swoople
City
Luxembourg
Downloads
10,000+
# of employees
12
When Ilana's friend invited her to dinner and served food entirely sourced from dumpster diving, she got the idea to connect supermarkets that have leftover food with students on tight budgets. Fast forward to today, and her company Swoople has saved one million products from being wasted, and helps provide healthy, tasty food to those on lower incomes. Already spread into Estonia, the app is now heading for Paris, with plans to expand their scope to non-food product waste.
"Our community has saved almost one million products from being wasted, which is huge, it equals approximately 700 tonnes of CO2 that have been saved from our beautiful planet"
Founder
Daniel Mavrakis
Company
Myriel Aviation
City
Luxembourg
Downloads
100,000+
# of employees
4
Daniel was always interested in planes. So alongside his career as a software developer, he qualified as a pilot so he could fly in his free time. But he soon noticed it was difficult for non-commercial pilots to get instant and free access to aviation data, like maps and weather updates. So he created Airmate - an app to provide global navigation data and flight simulations to pilots free of charge. It's not designed to be used as the sole instrument for flying, but hobbyists find it very useful for planning airborne journeys. Soon, Daniel wants to enhance the pilot experience further with photo-realistic weather and terrain simulations.
"One pilot in France told us Airmate literally saved his life when he got into trouble in the air and used the app to get back to his airport. So we're very proud of that"
Co-founders
Nigel Bergstra
Quentin Delforge
Company
No Big Deal
City
Luxembourg
Downloads
75,000+
# of employees
4
When Nigel and Quentin first met at an IT company, they quickly figured out that their respective behavioral marketing and software backgrounds were a great match for a tech partnership. Observing how overwhelming the wellness industry could be, they decided to create a platform that could gently incentivize people to make positive changes. No Big Deal checks in with people daily and, depending on their mood, motivates them to walk or run and earn rewards. It's popular with companies who set up challenges for their employees, like charity fundraising walks. Next, they plan to boost the platform's social aspect with status updates and an upcoming stories feature.
"Starting out, we didn't have much money and nobody knew us. But through Google Play, we were able to get that initial traction that was critical to letting us scale up and reach the point we're at now"
Stories from Luxembourg
Founder
Melvin Zammit
Company
NeuronDigital
City
Kirkop
Downloads
11,101,300+
# of employees
1
Melvin studied electrical engineering but has always had a passion for coding. He loves creating apps inspired by his personal interests so when he got into fitness, he came up with Exercise Timer. The app allows people to take charge of their health by creating their own customized workouts. The platform is suitable for all levels, including professional athletes. In the future, Melvin wants to add video features so that people can share their workout routines with others.
"I was going through a fitness phase and had the idea to create an app that could give people more power to exercise in the way they want"
Co-founders
Cagatay Gundogan
Ahmet Tekin
Eda Bisel
Burcak Caner
Company
Soft Towel Games
City
Valletta
Downloads
15,000,000+
# of employees
15
Cagatay, Ahmet, Eda and Burcak were building automation software for the tourism industry when the Covid pandemic struck and their business stalled. Undeterred, the ambitious quartet, who are also avid gamers, pivoted the business to create a relaxing crossword game. Calming Crosswords, which takes people on a tour of beautiful places as they play, has become a big hit, ranking among the top game downloads of several European countries. Since then, they've launched five games in total with more in the pipeline.
"Google Play has the power to reach many people, so we launched our app there first. Since then, 90% of our downloads have been on Google Play"
Founder
Zach Ciappara
Company
FreeHour
City
Naxxar
Downloads
33,400+
# of employees
13
Zach started designing apps when he was 13. Ten years later he is founder and CEO of a tech company turning over a six figure sum each year. It's been a steep learning curve but now he has 13 employees. Zach designed FreeHour to help students share timetables and find mutual free time, but it's since morphed into the go-to student app in Malta. He has a growing following in Italy and is now planning to launch FreeHour in other countries too.
"It kept growing until we literally, within two years, had most of the local student population using it. So every university, every college and every sixth form were using the app"
Stories from Malta
Co-founders
Diana Andronic
Andrian Andronic
Company
FunEasyLearn
City
Chișinău
Downloads
67,000,000+
# of employees
18
Ten years ago, Diana started learning French but grew frustrated with grammar books and outdated phrase guides. It led to a lightbulb moment for her and her brother Andrian, inspiring them to build FunEasyLearn, which lets people learn a new language from their native tongue. The app now boasts 34 courses in 62 native languages. Diana and Andrian plan to release new fun features that would encourage people to connect and communicate.
"We give a voice to the less popular languages of the world and help people who speak them learn other languages"
Founder
Alexandru Craciun
Company
Ten Percent Red
City
Chișinău
Downloads
1,160,000+
# of employees
1
Every time Alexandru played a game, he was left with the feeling that it could be improved. So while working as a graphic designer, he began to learn to code in his spare time so he could create his own games. Slowly but surely his passion became his job. Now with Heroes Forge: Battleground he's got a hit on his hands and plans for a sequel. He's driven by the thought his own games could always be improved just that little bit more.
"Google Play was like a revelation to me. It opened the doors to the world and allowed me to deliver my games to everybody who wants them"
Co-founders
Cristian Oprea
Vladislav Siumbeli
Ilia Cimpoes
Company
Riloat
City
Chișinău
Downloads
13,000+
# of employees
6
By age 7, Cristian was already making games, creating vibrant worlds with unique rules. At university he met Vladislav and artist Ilia who both shared this zest for game creation, so they teamed up to launch the Riloat studio and their first game, Rumi Defence. With vivid 2D graphics and cutesy-action star characters, the game has a distinctive look. A new map, new levels and some new "enemy" characters have recently turned the game into an even more exciting quest to compel players. Their goal now is to grow their team with Moldova's hottest talent and roll out more exciting projects.
"Our biggest goal in the next two to three years is to grow our company with really talented people. With a good team, good projects will come"
Stories from Moldova
CEO
Jelena Jankovic
Company
3Hills
City
Podgorica
Downloads
1,000+
# of employees
16
Despite having no tech background and not being a big gamer, Jelena has become a pioneer of the gaming industry in Montenegro. While she was working as head of HR at a software development company, she was invited to set up one of the first gaming studios in her country. Apart from producing mobile games, 3Hills is also a tech academy teaching hundreds of developers digital skills for free. Jelena is passionate about inspiring others and helping them take their first steps in mobile gaming and app design of the future.
"We make games that change lives, that are really visual and tell a story. Our games can transform the way people do things in the wider world"
Founder
Miloš Milošević
Company
fleka
City
Podgorica
Downloads
10,100+
# of employees
14
For a long time, Miloš wanted to merge his graphic design background with technology. An expert in user experience, he founded fleka and created products for retail and banking clients, until he decided it was time to build his own apps. Sken helps people to track their expenses and manage their budgets. Miloš wants to transform the way people see and manage their finances, and the positive feedback has been helping the team plan the next steps. Miloš aims to turn Sken into a digital wallet which links directly with people's banks.
"We help people gain awareness on how they spend their money. We help them budget better and plan more, so their money goes further"
Co-founders
Olga Zavadska
Sergey Polkovnikov
Company
Alphyn Apps
City
Budva
Downloads
15,000+
# of employees
8
Olga has a business background but struck up an interest in computers when she started working for an IT magazine. Motivated by her new passion, she collaborated with Sergey - a devoted programmer - to launch their company Alphyn Apps. Their first app WinGo Plan was inspired by the difficulties Olga and her colleagues faced keeping on top of their work to-do list. The app allows people to set goals and track their tasks and projects with a simple, visual, no-distractions design that keeps you focused. Next, they plan on adding a teamwork feature and making the app as effective as a virtual personal and business assistant.
"Google Play has a lot of technical tools which help developers gain insight into the app's performance, including Google Analytics and Firebase. This allows us to understand where to go next in the app's development"
Stories from Montenegro
Co-founders
Eefje Tabak
Gijs de Beer
Company
Campy
City
Eindhoven
Downloads
136,200+
# of employees
2
When Eefje and Gijs embarked on a journey across Europe in their camper van, finding the best spots to park up for the night wasn't easy. So Gijs taught himself to code, and with the marketing expertise of Eefje, they launched Campy. The app acts as a digital camping encyclopedia, helping travelers search, find and filter places to stay across the continent. The couple's ultimate goal is to help the community of motorhome and camping enthusiasts discover the beauty of Europe.
"It never ceases to amaze me what a tiny app can do for so many people. We are tapping into a community with so much knowledge and creativity"
Co-founders
Denes Zajac
Olha Misincsuk
Company
MobiCastle
City
Amsterdam
Downloads
200,000+
# of employees
2
Avid traveler Denes spent a decade touring Europe with his wife Olha, exploring its historic castles. Combining this with his passion for coding, they created the World of Castles app, a digital travel guide to help holidaymakers discover the continent's castles and fascinating histories. They often get approached to add hard-to-find castles, helping to attract tourists and preserve history. While the app focuses on 20 European countries and the USA, Denes and Olha plan to expand it to other locations and let travelers upload their own photos and information.
"History is something we can't rebuild; if we lose it, we lose it forever. Our app helps preserve what we have"
Game Designer
Adriaan de Jongh
Company
Adriaan de Jongh
City
Amsterdam
Downloads
1,800,000+
# of employees
4
Adriaan was studying to become a game artist before he discovered his love for video game design and prototyping. With a penchant for socially interactive games, his trademark is mixing digital devices with player interactions that happen in real life. Hidden Folks, made in collaboration with illustrator Sylvain Tegroeg, is his most popular title and finalist of Google Play's Indie Games Festival. It involves locating hidden characters in hand-drawn, whimsical landscapes. Adriaan is currently working on his silent disco-like project, Secret Shuffle.
"Google Play Pass has been a wonderful opportunity for Hidden Folks. The subscription service has essentially doubled its revenue on Google Play since it came out. I'm very thankful for that opportunity"
Stories from Netherlands
Co-founders
Gorjan Jovanovski
Dragan Gelevski
Company
AirCare
City
Skopje
Downloads
301,200+
# of employees
4
During cold nights in North Macedonia, Gorjan and Dragan used to joke about the smell of the air until they discovered it was down to poor air quality. Gorjan, who taught himself to code as a boy, and Dragan, with his technical knowledge, set about building an app to tell people the air quality wherever they were. Aircare has since taken off and received a global award from the United Nations. Gorjan and Dragan ultimately aim to keep educating and empowering people, with the app being used to campaign for cleaner air.
"We don't just want to inform; we want to educate and empower. It's our goal to tell people about air quality, to help them understand it's not just a bad smell or a cough, it's a real problem"
Co-founders
Stefan Aleksikj
Olga Raichikj
Simon Janevski
Mitko Orcev
Teodora Chizhbanoska-Kalosheva
Company
GreenIT
City
Skopje
Downloads
10,800+
# of employees
5
A hackathon and a green ideas competition sowed the seeds for Stefan, Olga, Simon, Mitko and Teodora's environmental app project. Many coffee shop meetings later, they built Challenger - an app which rewards people with points every time they use sustainable transport. Those points can be used for discounts with local businesses. The innovative team plans to introduce recycling, nutrition and other healthy activities. They've also begun partnering with a children's charity, so companies donate money for every kilometer an employee walks or bikes.
"Our app began life over a beer and now it's being used by thousands of people. People get involved, they give us feedback and we've created a real community. That's an amazing feeling and great for motivation"
Founder
Ljupcho Koshchicovski
Company
SnowballGames
City
Skopje
Downloads
1,595,400+
# of employees
5
Ljupcho always loved board and card games, especially ones with tricky mathematical elements. In 2019, he turned his hobby into a profession, launching SnowballGames. His studio takes classic, old-time games and adapts them for online players. Its most popular title is Yatzy Ultimate, which allows players to choose from different sets of rules based on their skill level, providing them a unique game experience. Next, Ljupcho plans to release a card game to educate kids about healthy eating, as well as a series inspired by ancient games, especially from Egypt.
"Google Play gives us access to a broad audience. For somebody from a small country, having this wide reach is essential for distribution and ultimately the success of the game"
Stories from North Macedonia
Co-founders
Karen Elen Thorsen
Nikolai Mathisen
Company
Sulten
City
Oslo
Downloads
16,900+
# of employees
6
Karen is a whizz with leftovers. As a student, she started to post delicious meals cooked with whatever she had in the fridge on social media and quickly became a digital influencer. She then partnered with her career manager Nikolai to create an app to spread her menus and reduce food waste. Sulten, which means hungry in Norwegian, allows people to add ingredients they have in the fridge and receive suggested recipes. To grow the business, they've recently translated Sulten into English and invited some of Norway's biggest food influencers to publish their recipes on the app.
"From the start it was very easy for people to find our app on Google Play, which is very helpful since we're such a small company and don't spend a lot on marketing"
Co-founders
Rich Larsen
Charlen Larsen
Company
bSafe
City
Tønsberg
Downloads
1,000,000+
# of employees
12
School teacher Rich faced his worst nightmare when his daughter Charlen revealed she'd been raped. Despite her trauma, they were determined something good should come from the attack and transformed bSafe into an app to protect women from abuse' provide support if they're being attacked and help them in the aftermath. The voice-activated SOS feature lets women alert friends and family where they are, tracking their location as well as live streaming and recording an incident. Rich hopes the app will give women globally greater security and plans to connect it to emergency services in some countries.
"If we can prevent even one girl or one family from going through the hell that we did, then we have succeeded"
Co-founder
Åsmund Furuseth
Company
Kahoot!
City
Oslo
Downloads
50,000,000+
# of employees
500+
Åsmund and fellow co-founders Morten and Alf are on a mission to make learning awesome for everyone with their educational quiz app, Kahoot! The app started life as an experimental research project conceived by Morten, when he was a tech student, and Alf, a professor of gaming. Åsmund joined the team of co-founders to lead the strategy and development of the app. Kahoot! became even more successful during the Covid pandemic when the world was forced to study and play online and has since been downloaded over 50 millions of times. They now want to build a Kahoot! marketplace and increase personalization to make learning even more joyful.
"We are determined to make Kahoot! a safe platform for learners of all ages and Google Play does the same for them, ensuring people's safety and privacy when they download apps"
Stories from Norway
Founder
Zuzanna Stanska
Company
DailyArt
City
Warsaw
Downloads
1,500,000+
# of employees
7
Zuzanna is an art historian who truly believes art can lighten up anyone's day. Ten years ago, she worked for startups and found herself surrounded by coders and app designers. Inspired by their work and passion, Zuzanna had the idea to create DailyArt. The app shows people a masterpiece each morning, accompanied by a bite-sized story. She wants to make art accessible and enticing for everyone, and it's now available in 21 languages. Zuzanna is planning a 10th anniversary redesign - plus two new features: Spotlight, showing collections around a theme, and City Guides to accompany people traveling.
"The A/B testing in Google Play is super cool and very useful. Also, the translation and localization – that was very valuable."
Co-founders
Igor Pielas
Dorota Matula
Company
Mindy
City
Warsaw
Downloads
193,200+
# of employees
13
Igor and Dorota are sports lovers who previously launched a 'keep-fit' business based on providing bicycles for commuters. And then the pandemic hit. With business and leisure premises closed, many in Poland reported an impact on their mental health. The sporty duo decided to launch Mindy, an app that provides mental and mindful – rather than physical - exercises. As academic studies have confirmed its positive effects, the plan is to develop more video and interactive content for its ever-growing fan base.
"It's an app that helps people. It motivates them to be healthier. Not only in their bodies but in their heads too. These are exercises for your mental health – because if you train your body, you can also train your mind"
Founder
Dariusz Furman
Company
Funventure
City
Kraków
Downloads
4,100,000+
# of employees
12
As a child, Dariusz was surrounded by games and knew he would one day make his own. And he did - launching his own indie studio, Funventure, and a series of games made with his distinct pixel art style. His most popular title, Miners Settlement, transports players to a small mining village in a far-off realm where they have to manage the local industry and complete epic quests alongside fantastical creatures. Now he's working on revamping the game's look and working on a new release based on mythologies from around the world.
"In the community we've built around our games, it's nice to see people connecting and forming friendships in a healthy place"
Stories from Poland
Founder
Muhammad Satar
Company
Infinity Games
City
Odivelas
Downloads
102,000,000+
# of employees
25
Muhammad was a finance graduate but soon realized it wasn't for him. He shifted to mobile gaming development, despite never having been a gamer before, and quickly became an avid fan. After launching the first title by himself, Muhammad built a team to create many more immersive experiences, including Energy: Anti Stress Loops, a brainteasing, attention-focusing game. He now aims to research the drivers of stress and anxiety, and how his creations can promote calm and relief. Infinity Games took part in Indie Games Accelerator and was an Indie Games Festival finalist in 2020 and 2021.
"We have been part of Google Play's Indie Games Accelerator which was an amazing experience – it's helped us climb ladders and build some truly wonderful relationships"
Co-founders
Kati Pereira
Gonçalo Lima
Company
Kati & Lima
City
Viana do Castelo
Downloads
7,840,000+
# of employees
2
Kati and Gonçalo found the inspiration for their app in their local health shop. They were reading a pamphlet about how it takes 21 days to break a habit and they knew immediately it could work as a challenge app. They were already seasoned developers at this point, with two other apps and a wellness blog in their portfolio. But 21 Days Challenge is their biggest success so far. The couple, who met as students, say they have tons of ideas for new apps, they just need the time to build them.
"I feel so proud of us and the app that we have made - the messages that we get from people honestly warm my heart"
Co-founder
Daniela Seixas
Company
Tonic App
City
Porto
Downloads
142,000+
# of employees
37
Despite learning to code at age 9, Daniela trained to be a medical doctor in adulthood. Her tech know-how came into play when she decided to create an app to combat inefficiencies and miscommunication in healthcare. At Tonic App, doctors can access a range of resources to better diagnose and treat their patients, including knowledge, video consultation and case discussion tools, among others. They recently added disease prevention content and a medical quiz to keep doctors entertained in their free time. Looking ahead, the team hopes to create new apps tailored to nurses and pharmacists.
"We receive lots of nice messages thanking us for how quickly we were able to adapt to doctors' needs during the pandemic and other profession-impacting events"
Stories from Portugal
Co-founders
Arthur Csertus
Oana Csertus
Company
Cobalt Sign
City
Timișoara
Downloads
1,239,500+
# of employees
17
Husband and wife team Arthur and Oana met at university while studying software engineering and developed a passion for mobile tech, launching Ready Set Holiday! The app gets people excited about their vacation and lets them create a holiday countdown. Since then, they've had a daughter and are using their own experiences to make it more family-focused. The couple plans to add more social features to the app, building a thriving community of holidaymakers who share advice and experiences with each other.
"We're software engineers who love traveling so we created an app around all the things we would want when we travel. People loved it and it started to grow"
Co-founders
Alexandru Iliescu
Tudor Iliescu
Company
Mondly
City
Brașov
Downloads
71,000,000+
# of employees
50
Languages didn't come naturally to Alexandru at school until his teacher asked him to learn an English poem. He did it by recording it and playing it back. Top marks followed and he was instantly hooked. Years later he and his brother, Tudor, turned his method into an app, Mondly, where people can learn any language online through interactive games and real conversations with native speakers. The ambitious siblings have since launched it as a language learning platform in schools and have augmented reality and virtual reality versions in the pipeline.
"On Google Play, once we launched, our app grew rapidly and in less than a year we doubled the business"
Co-founders
Lorena Andreea
Laurentiu Popa
Company
Rention
City
Arad
Downloads
4,425,000+
# of employees
2
Lorena and Laurentiu met at a local ice rink, but it wasn't just skates they shared a passion for. They wanted to create games people could enjoy, but the success of their brain-training games took them by surprise. Millions of people now play along and doctors tell them how much it helps their patients after accidents and traumas. The pair's sights are set on growing their business by creating new games and developing more challenging levels. Despite having over 4 million downloads, Laurentiu's mom boasts position one on the leaderboard of Smarter, their most successful title.
"We have a lot of doctors that email to tell us that their patients play our games and use them to recover after certain accidents or trauma. This is really awesome for us"
Stories from Romania
Founder
Marko Petkovic
Company
Peaksel
City
Niš
Downloads
483,094,900+
# of employees
60
As a chemistry student, Marko was never really interested in tech - then he received his first computer and everything changed. He quit his degree to focus on his new passion and now, owns his successful studio Peaksel with over 480 million downloads. One of their most popular titles is 100 Doors Games: School Escape, with over 100 levels to challenge the minds of even the most experienced players.
"Google Play is our partner, an advertising channel and a source of income. The support just gets better and better"
Co-founders
Vladica Stankovic
Marko Nikolić
Company
Ascendik
City
Niš
Downloads
3,643,300+
# of employees
6
Being a graphic designer and computer scientist respectively, former college dorm mates Vladica and Marko are natural partners. The pair get their ideas for their food tracking and workout apps from health and fitness goals they have in their own lives. But it was addressing mental health that led to their most popular app, Quillio, a digital journal for making quick notes or deep reflections. With a recently added mood tracker and motivational quote notifications, they want to work on creating more health and wellness apps and continue to foster a health-focused work environment for their employees.
"The best feedback is when people say that the app helped them through a tough time - that's the real impact that we're aiming for"
Co-founders
Ivana Zirojević
Vladan Zirojević
Company
SrediMe
City
Belgrade
Downloads
22,000+
# of employees
12
Ivana and Vladan have shared a love of adventure ever since they met at college. They'd already co-founded a successful business and were both looking forward to a new venture. But when Ivana suggested developing SrediMe, a beauty salon booking and business management app, Vladan was initially sceptical. After all, he knew nothing about cuticles and styling – but he did know plenty about coding. Today their apps are used throughout Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, and they will soon be able to offer online payments too.
"Google Play is an easy way to reach businesses and their clients. And for them, it's just as easy, quick and safe to find our app"
Stories from Serbia
Founder
Miroslav Majdan
Company
myrApps
City
Nitra
Downloads
6,000,000+
# of employees
1
Miroslav is a software developer with a passion for music: playing guitar, trumpet and piano. It was while practicing trumpet that he realized recognizing notes and tuning accurately was challenging as a beginner. So he created MyEarTraining, an app for helping budding musicians attune their ears to intervals, chords and scales. Miroslav is currently working on merging his other music theory app with MyEarTraining, to create a more comprehensive learner experience. He also hopes to add fun exercises for children, and is currently testing them out on his own kids.
"I wouldn't have been able to distribute the app in the Philippines, Indonesia or Italy without Google Play. I don't speak the languages and I don't have the channels, but Google Play provides that for you"
Co-founders
Samuel Bednar
Stefan Mitrik
Company
Habitics
City
Bratislava
Downloads
21,678,800+
# of employees
7
When Samuel's life started to change all at once, he began journalling. This gave him the idea to turn diary-therapy into an app to help others. So, along with ex-colleague, Stefan, he launched the company Habitics. The pair's first app, Daylio, allows people to log their mood and daily activities, and then converts their data into stat-snippets, like monthly mood charts. Now, they're working on offering tailored mood enhancement advice on Daylio and want to improve their other wellness tracking apps, Nutrilio and Better Weight.
"We have this tradition, Friday Messages, where we share all the feedback received with the internal team. That way, everybody sees how we're positively affecting lives"
Co-founders
Marian Fridrich
Simon Sicko
Lucia Sickova
Filip Fischer
Company
Pixel Federation Games
City
Bratislava
Downloads
111,248,800+
# of employees
270
Marian, Simon, Lucia and Filip scrimped and scraped every penny to build their business from nothing. They took a leap of faith quitting their jobs at the same gaming company to start designing the creative titles they really wanted to. Their courage paid off and they've become one of the pioneers of the Slovak gaming industry with over 111 million downloads across their portfolio, which includes simulation and puzzle adventure games. Simon and Lucia also had a baby as they built the business. Together with Marian and Filip, they have a new game in the making and want to invest in more transport simulation titles.
"We started with nothing but we were committed to our business, and we were determined to succeed"
Stories from Slovakia
Co-founders
Bojan Blažica
Tilen Blažica
Vanja Blažica
Company
Proventus
City
Ajdovščina
Downloads
139,800+
# of employees
3
Brothers Bojan and Tilen grew up watching their green-fingered father meticulously plan his garden every year. Together with Bojan's wife and meteorologist Vanja, they created Tomappo Easy Gardening, turning their father's expertise into a digital gardening assistant. Currently focused on European regions, the trio plan to expand to climates worldwide and translate it into more languages, while adding automated pest identification and garden planning features.
"Our father inspired us, but more than that, he was great for the app. It has the best user-centered design possible because we were able to create exactly what gardeners like him want"
Co-founders
Rok Arnus
Marko Vauda
Company
Zombodroid
City
Ptuj
Downloads
60,079,800+
# of employees
2
Childhood friends Rok and Marko always told each other there were no boundaries so when the pair set up a business developing apps, they were determined to create something unique that no one else did. Their app, Meme Generator, struck a chord with people before memes were an everyday thing and is now one of the most popular apps in this field, enjoying more than 60 million downloads. Rok, a computer programmer, and Marko, a philosophy graduate, are now developing a meme browser where people can search other people's memes.
"I think Google Play is perfect for distribution but it's also important for security – if there's an issue or malware it's quickly removed so it's great for both developers and gamers"
Co-founders
Grega Čučnik
Klemen Klemenčič
Company
Fishing Points
City
Ljubljana
Downloads
6,100,000+
# of employees
2
Grega fished regularly with his dad but couldn't precisely remember where they caught a big one. He searched for an app that would help fishing enthusiasts save their favorite spots, but didn't find any. He decided to put his programming skills to the test and Fishing Points became a reality. Grega later partnered with his high school friend Klemen, who swapped his tax advisor job for the project. The pair has recently included species information and regulations that promote responsible fishing, telling people which fish to catch and which are endangered. The app also has nautical maps, tidal times and weather to help people stay safe.
“We promote responsible fishing, helping people understand when they can fish and how to protect endangered species. It’s important to us that the oceans can be enjoyed for generations to come”
Stories from Slovenia
Co-founders
Clara Fernandez Porta
Juan Cartagena
David Gil Pérez
Company
Rosita Longevity
City
Cofrentes
Downloads
10,000+
# of employees
13
Clara runs a longevity clinic in rural Valencia where people learn to live a longer, healthier life. It's powerful knowledge and she knew it could go far beyond her little village, so with husband Juan and his university friend David, who both worked for tech startups, they created their company Rosita Longevity. Their app gives seniors long term physical and mental health plans, some spanning ten years or more. They have just launched in the USA and hope to grow their business there, whilst continuing to create pioneering health technology.
"We've had people who could barely go out or could not go out alone, who are now sending us pictures from their holidays. And they know that it's because of us"
Founder
Octavi Royo
Company
Agora Awards
City
Barcelona
Downloads
2,330,000+
# of employees
15
Film maker Octavi wants to empower fellow creatives to share their work. A keen traveler, he had the idea for Agora while journeying through Central America. He wanted to share both his experiences and the inspiring work of the communities he met. Agora allows people to exhibit their art online. Octavi sets themes and people can vote for their favorites. He hopes that winning might launch an artist's career and he is looking for high-profile partners to help do that. He has already worked with the United Nations on a climate change exhibition and plans to launch more categories for the contests.
"70% of people on our app come from Google Play. It is a big market for us worldwide now, and that is the whole point of our app"
Co-founders
Gemma Malet Codinach
Albert Junyent
Company
Learny Land
City
Sallent
Downloads
752,300+
# of employees
9
Gemma and Albert loved building websites and producing content, so they decided to start a business where they could create educational apps which really meant something to them. Women Who Changed the World, which brings to life inspirational women throughout history, is one of more than 20 apps and games they've developed. It came about when Gemma's daughters asked questions about gender and stereotyping. As well as adding more celebrated women, they are developing a children's gender-neutral coding app to encourage girls and boys to try programming.
"Women Who Changed the World is the most personal app for me because it came from teaching my own daughters – I want them to be inspired and to know they can do anything they want"
Stories from Spain
Co-founders
Therese Ericsson
Anna-Lina Kvarnsmyr
Company
Walking Talking
City
Stockholm
Downloads
17,700+
# of employees
5
A freak swimming pool accident led Therese and Anna-Lina into app development. After suffering a neck injury, Therese, a health consultant, underwent rehabilitation and began to appreciate the power of walking and conversation. Despite having no tech background, Therese and her sister-in-law Anna-Lina created Walking and Talking, an app which lets people meet other walkers. The app has been downloaded in more than 150 countries and they plan to extend it to companies to be used as a meeting platform and productivity tool.
"We create opportunities for people to meet, walk and enjoy interesting conversations with each other. They can talk, find their way and improve their mental health"
Co-founders
Ingrid Sundqvist
Totta Ogander
Erika Hjertén
Company
Ridely
City
Uppsala
Downloads
145,000+
# of employees
14
Keen horse riders Ingrid, Totta and Erika love connecting with other equestrians. But while there were plenty of other sporting apps for tracking activity and learning, they couldn't find similar apps for riding. Undaunted, the three enthusiasts quit their jobs and combined their experience in marketing, programming and economics to create Ridely, giving an online voice and training platform to the equestrian community. As well as partnering with the US Equestrian Federation, they're creating expert programs, monthly riding challenges and want to build a social feed for horse riders.
"We're a female-led app company with many female staff, constantly innovating and looking at ways we can develop our app to improve our members' horse riding experiences"
Co-founders
Clara Zelleroth
Helga J Wennerdal
Sofia Brandt
Isa Cederberg
Company
Birds Relations
City
Gothenburg
Downloads
10,600+
# of employees
8
Psychologists Clara and Helga noticed that couples often sought out help with their relationship problems too late, making it harder to repair the bonds. This inspired the pair to build an accessible platform for strengthening relationships without traditional therapy. They teamed up with Clara's sister, Sofia, and friend, Isa, to create Birds Relations: an app where couples receive personalized relationship analyses and tips for growing closer to their partner. As their ultimate goal is to help people around the world build loving and healthy romantic partnerships, they've been working on adding even more content and just launched a version of the app in English, Ally: Couples & Relationships.
"We're really focussed on helping couples reconnect and regain that spark. Even after 10+ years, you can still learn new things about each other"
Stories from Sweden
Co-founders
Ivan Stefania
Samantha Borromeo
Simon Birrer
Fabio Cianciola
Company
SAM Entertainment
City
Zürich
Downloads
285,000+
# of employees
5
What started as a side hustle has turned into a full-time gig for Ivan and Sam, who quit their corporate jobs to concentrate on their closed community app for events called Sam. Together with their co-founders and friends Simon and Fabio, they want to use technology and gamification to make social connections at events easier. People can extend the joy by sharing favorite photos and experiences long after the gathering has ended. The team has launched a future box feature, is testing the app in many different markets, and wants to encourage people to interact for longer before and after their events.
"Google Play has brought the world to us - we would never have been able to launch without such a huge platform"
Co-founders
Christian Ammann
Stefan Geiger
Company
GIANTS Software
City
Zürich
Downloads
150,000,000+
# of employees
100
Christian was a young boy when he fell in love with gaming, and it was this lifelong passion which brought him and Stefan together at university. After a friend challenged them to create a virtual world, the business partners created Farming Simulator, where players own a farm and learn to manage it. They've learned a lot about farming along the way as well as built a community of like-minded players. With the game's future focused around what those players want, Christian, Stefan and their team intend to build bigger farms, include better graphics and develop their community connections.
"Google Play has the features we need. The visibility is great – it works for us and it gets the job done"
Founder
Martin Poix
Company
Kidjo
City
Zürich
Downloads
1,510,000+
# of employees
12
Martin used to work in the videogame industry, but after his first child was born he wanted to make an impact and give his life more meaning. The result is Kidjo TV, an app named after his daughter Josephine, with 3,500 videos in seven languages which helps entertain and educate kids online. With a passion for education, one of his priorities was to allow children to explore the app independently. Martin loves getting honest feedback from his own kids. He's added audiobooks to the app to give children screen-free time where they can listen and imagine instead of watching.
"My biggest accomplishment is seeing the app through the eyes of my kids – it's very satisfying to see them get excited about using a product their dad created"
Stories from Switzerland
Founder
Anil Şimşek
Company
Codeway Dijital
City
Istanbul
Downloads
38,000,000+
# of employees
109
In his first year studying computer science, Anil dropped out, taught himself to code, and became an entrepreneur. With the tech world evolving so quickly, he opted to focus on artificial intelligence and brought AI experts into the team. On his popular title Face Dance, people can transform their selfies into dancing animations that mouth along to song lyrics, with dance content choreographed and performed by real professionals. Next, Anil wants to launch an advanced AI photo editor with a wide range of options, even capable of changing people's expressions.
"Our vision is to make sophisticated artificial intelligence accessible to everybody on mobile devices"
Co-founders
Kemal Uğur and Oğuz Bici
Company
Pixery
City
Istanbul
Downloads
50,000,000+
# of employees
45
Kemal and Oğuz first met in the video tech scene in Finland. When they moved back to Türkiye, they wanted to use their expertise to invigorate the digital industry in their own country. Aware that video editing is often perceived as long and boring, they decided to make it exciting and accessible to everyone, not just experienced editors. On Funimate, people can easily play around with effects, transitions, overlays and filters. They recently added 3D editing features and soon hope to incorporate virtual reality and artificial intelligence to take it to the next level.
“Google Play allows us to develop products from Türkiye that millions of people use around the world. Through its reach, it helps small companies, and that’s something we’re really grateful for”
Co-founders
Zafer Elcik
Sercan Değirmenci
Company
Otsimo
City
Ankara
Downloads
284,800+
# of employees
33
Seeing his autistic brother play on his smartphone as a teen inspired Zafer to create mobile tools for kids with learning difficulties. Fast forward to his college years, Zafer and his course mate Sercan made a series of apps aimed at children with delayed speech and developmental disorders. The first, created alongside special needs experts, was Otsimo | Special Education which can be tailored to the individual's requirements. Their apps use voice recognition and machine learning to help children improve their speech, cognitive and social skills, with rewards and stickers to keep it fun. The Otsimo team have just launched a fully customizable Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app for non-verbal people of all ages and plan to release more titles in the future.
"Google Play doesn't just value companies that are generating large revenues, they also support developers that are making a positive change in the world"
Stories from Türkiye
Founder
Victoria Repa
Company
BetterMe
City
Kyiv
Downloads
50,000,000+
# of employees
380
Victoria grew up in a small village in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. After undergoing a personal health transformation in adulthood, she was inspired to launch BetterMe, a health and wellness platform. Her most popular app, BetterMe: Health Coaching, takes a holistic approach to health and wellness. Fans of the app particularly love the emphasis on inclusivity, with workouts designed for pregnant women, individuals with decreased mobility and the elderly. A recently launched feature allows people to talk directly with nutritionists and trainers for tailored programs. The platform also includes a mental health app and an online shop with clothing and a smart band to help people achieve their goals.
"For us, Google Play is a great partner because it allows young entrepreneurs to easily run their business from around the world, and easily scale it globally"
Co-founders
Roman Mogylnyi
Oles Petriv
Yaroslav Boyko
Denys Dmytrenko
Kyrylo Syhyda
Dima Shvets
Ivan Altsybeiev
Company
Reface
City
Kyiv
Downloads
154,827,000+
# of employees
187
Whilst working in the machine learning industry, Roman, Oles and Yaroslav used artificial neural networks to collaborate with Hollywood post-production studios. This technology was so exciting, they decided to make it available to everyone. Teaming up with co-founders Denys, Kyrylo, Dima and Ivan, they launched Reface, which allows people to place their faces onto GIFs and videos, generate artificial intelligence portraits from selfies and add voice-over content. The creators wanted to emphasize the fun side of face swapping while raising awareness of how visuals can be manipulated. The team has recently launched a new app, Restyle, with cartoon AI video filters to further empower content creators' creativity.
"We wanted to create a technology that would empower content creators. We don't support creating misleading deepfakes, we want to show how AI and synthetic media can be used for entertainment and fun"
Founder
Stepan Tanasiychuk
Company
Stfalcon
City
Khmelnytskyi
Downloads
15,000,000+
# of employees
54
When Russian air strikes started targeting Ukraine, Stepan realized that many of his friends were not hearing the warning sirens. Within days and with the support of another tech company, Ajax Systems, his team developed Air Alert, an app to notify people of air strikes in their area and save lives. The Ukrainian government ensured the app was widely publicized. Stepan is currently working on additional updates – such as features that identify your nearest shelter and an alert for possible nuclear attacks.
"The war began on a Thursday. By day four, we had started on our alert. By the late morning of day six we published the official announcement. It was less than 48 hours from the start of our real development"
Stories from Ukraine
Co-founders
Alyssa Awuah
Yvonne Ottley-Awuah
Company
Frobelles
City
London
Downloads
50,000+
# of employees
2
At age six, Alyssa loved playing mobile dress-up games but struggled to find characters that looked like her. Her mom, Yvonne, wanted Alyssa to embrace her natural look with confidence and, despite not having any prior experience creating games, suggested they create their own. Frobelles is a game to style the hair, clothes and accessories of three sisters – Coco, Kelli and Krista – and swap finished looks on social media. It celebrates hair styles from their African and Caribbean heritage, like up-dos, locs and protective twists. Alyssa is now 11 and has many new ideas. Next, they are planning an Afro-anime collection and adding boy characters.
"It was hard to create the game and thanks to Google Play, the easiest part for us was to get it published"
Founder
George Parkinson
Company
Droplist
City
Bristol
Downloads
1,174,500+
# of employees
1
A fan of sneakers and streetwear, George would constantly search online for new limited editions. He decided at the age of just 16 to teach himself to code and launch Droplist. The app shows all upcoming special collections from major labels – plus where and how to get them. George spent hours in his bedroom working on the app without telling anyone, until his parents asked where his money was coming from. George now works directly with brands, has added a new restock alert feature, and built a community of people passionate about streetwear.
"The reviews are very useful. They are broken down with daily ratings and stars. It is easy to see all the data I want"
Co-founders
Tessa Clarke
Saasha Celestial-One
Company
Olio
City
London
Downloads
5,600,000+
# of employees
99
Tessa and Saasha met when studying business. Both ex-consultants, they are passionate about the environment and recycling. The idea for Olio came when Tessa was moving: she could not pack leftover food in air-freight, and could not find anyone to take it. The app lets people give away (and get) spare food and household goods in their neighborhood. It is now used in 62 countries, and recently launched a feature for lending and borrowing household items. Olio also partners with supermarkets and restaurants: their volunteers collect and redistribute surplus food – an estimated 1 million meals per week.
"We have so many stories of people who have been feeling depressed or like they are lacking a sense of purpose. And through our volunteering, they are getting to give back to the community and connect with others"
