Tiramisu honored in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards 2021

From improving personal happiness to corporate productivity, simply helping others has the potential to revolutionize our work and private life – and earned a remote international team an honorable mention in Fast Company’s 5th annual awards 

New York & Tallinn, May 5 2021 – Tiramisu, an Estonian / French project that tackles loneliness and disconnection by engaging people and organizations in meaningful causes, was announced today among the honored projects on Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards in the Wellness category. The Awards honor the businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice, or economic inequality

Tiramisu  was born out of Paris-based innovation studio Scrypt and out of the collaborative spirit of crisis-induced hackathons in early 2020. After a category win at the European Commission’s EUvsVirus hackathon, the international team worked through the challenges of the Covid-19 crisis as a fully digital native Estonian company, building a solution to improve personal connection without being able to meet in person. 

When reported mental health issues soared and life satisfaction was at an all time low, the founding team asked themselves the question: How can we make better use of technology to improve the wellbeing of people at work and at home? In this process, they rediscovered a simple activity that can increase not only happiness and fulfillment, but also drive productivity and engagement: helping others. 

The Tiramisu app, which is currently available in a closed beta version, enables its users to support others with their time and skills. Support ranges from one-to-one connections with peers, like meeting to practice a language, to supporting collective causes like a city-wide waste management campaign. Instead of placing traditional ads, companies can launch impact challenges, engage employees in collective and personal exchange – and reward community engagement through vouchers, celebrations, and events. The team uses technology best practices and behavioural science to build a user-friendly and inclusive solution that helps to increase personal, corporate and environmental wellbeing. 

"As a society, we have been very disconnected and burned out before Covid-19 already, but the crisis has really made it clear that we need to act. We hope that this newfound urgency leads to better choices and healthier solutions, and that our app will guide more people towards meaningful engagement and reconnection. It is amazing to see our work recognized by Fast Company during a year of such groundbreaking change and innovation.” Maike Gericke, Tiramisu's Co-founder

"There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times. So, it’s important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems, Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have discovered some of the most groundbreaking projects that have launched since the start of 2020." Stephanie Mehta

About Tiramisu: Tiramisu is not only a delicious dessert, but also means “lift me up” in Italian. 

Founded during the Covid-19 crisis, the Estonian startup tackles loneliness by connecting people on topics that matter. The Tiramisu platform allows users to exchange personal support, collectively support community causes, and join challenges around sustainable engagement. This not only helps the recipients, but also reconnects people with their environment – and each other. 

About the World Changing Ideas Awards: 

World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.

More about the Fast Company World Changing Ideas