Pre-acceleration support and over €500,000 of investment from EIT Digital is helping entrepreneurs launch their startups.
28 teams from Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Southern Europe graduated from the EIT Digital Venture Program. They received business mentorship and a total of over €500,000 in investment from EIT Digital.
The early-stage program empowered entrepreneurs to go from idea to incorporation within a 2-months online pre-acceleration program. The program allowed the teams to validate their business ideas and find appropriate product-market fit. At the final “Pitch Days”, the teams had the opportunity to showcase their solutions in front of early-stage investors, potential clients and experts from the tech community.
In addition to the pre-acceleration support, EIT Digital awarded each team with a cash prize of €15,000 in two tranches: The first in May 2020, and another €10,000 in September 2020 after incorporation and successful finalization of their MVPs. The next step is for the ventures to attract investments from private investors: the first ten ventures that will have raised at least €50,000 before November 30, 2020, will be entitled to an additional €10,000 in co-investment from EIT Digital.
The EIT Digital Venture Program 2020 is a pan European program organized by EIT Digital, in partnership with ABC Accelerator (Slovenia), BGI (Portugal), Found.ation (Greece), Kraków Technology Park (Poland) and Startup Wise Guys (Baltics).
In the past three years, the EIT Digital Venture Program has been supporting more than 70 teams and more than 200 entrepreneurs in an early stage of their development before incorporation. Many of these teams have attracted investors during or shortly after the pre-acceleration program. In the 2020 edition, Polish payment startup Restpay stands out with a Business Angel investment received directly at the end of the program. The eHealth startup Amygdala from Bosnia and Herzegovina is another success story that will continue its growth as part of the H+ Innovation Programme implemented by the InsurTech Hub Munich (ITHM) and the Medical Valley Digital Health Application Center.
Startups from previous EIT Digital Venture Program editions that have raised follow-on investments from private investors include Worig, Kiimo, Roster, Hireflows, Recovery Companion, Ruupi and Sensomatt.
Investors looking for new exciting startups that have gone through the EIT Digital Venture Program are invited to check out this year’s graduates:
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