The 2022 edition of the EIT Digital Venture Program just hit a significant milestone.
At the end of September, the 31 successful applicants from Southern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics that completed the eight-week pre-acceleration program and incorporated their startup, were rewarded with a cash prize of €10,000 each.
An initial €5,000 tranche of support had already been awarded in May 2022, bringing EIT Digital support to participants to €15,000 each.
The pre-acceleration program was executed by seven regional partners: Found.ation in Greece, Techcelerator in Romania, KTP in Poland, JIC in Czech Republic and Slovakia, BGI in Portugal, University of Ljubljana (SEB) in Slovenia and LIC in Lithuania, across 19 European countries (full list here).
Participants learned how to develop and finalise their Minimum Viable Product (MVP), establish their startup company, and raise funding.
"All the teams worked hard throughout the entire program, refining their ideas and validating their business solution at the final "Pitch Days", at which they showcase their solutions in front of early-stage investors, potential clients, and experts from the tech community," EIT Digital's Venture Program Lead, Mirko Tadic, says. "We are proud to have contributed, together with our partners, to the development and successful launch of these promising startups."
EIT Digital's financial support does not end here. The first ten ventures to raise at least €50,000 in funding from private investors by November 27, will be entitled to an additional prize of €10,000.
In the last 5 years, the EIT Digital Venture Program has invested in the creation of 124 deep tech startups, supporting more than 200 entrepreneurs in their early stages of development.
In March last year Greek startup Oliveex, a graduate of the 2020 edition of the Venture Program, closed a €270K financing round to expand its team, and boost research and development activities. Another 2020 graduate, Revolab, quickly went from inception to closing a pre-seed round and expanding to the US.
In the 2021 edition, Polish remote health monitoring startup Horsano raised funding immediately at the end of the program. Bulgarian company Omnio also quickly found investors for its financial crime compliance solution. Other successful companies emerging from previous editions of the program include SeaVision, Amygdala Health, and Ruupi.
