Do you have a business idea and want to turn your innovative digital technology into an MVP and start your venture?
Are you and your team based in one of these 24 countries?
Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine.
What is the EIT Digital Venture Incubation Program?
EUROPEAN ENTREPRENEURS
- Get financial support of up to € 30,000
- Develop your Minimum Viable Product
- Establish your deep tech venture
- Get business development help from top international experts
- Find a first investor
- Join Europe's leading innovation ecosystem
Requirements
- Multidisciplinary teams of at least two individuals with an innovative business idea, PoC or prototype in the fields of Digital Industry, Digital Tech, Digital Wellbeing, Digital Finance or Digital Cities.
- Non-legal entities or startups incorporated after 01/01/2024.
- Residents of any of the following 24 countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine.
The EIT Digital Venture Incubation Program takes you from idea to investment in less than a year. The ambitious trajectory takes entrepreneurs with a brilliant idea from concept to MVP, market validation and funding. Further benefits unlock with each milestone achieved. The program will be held fully online.
This unique program benefits from EIT Digital ecosystem centered around its network of Nodes and local partners delivering the program editions.
GROWTH PACKAGE
A two-day Bootcamp
An 8-week virtual Pre-Acceleration Phase - training in entrepreneurial skills and support to develop and finalise your MVP from entrepreneurial experts.
€ 5,000 cash prize
MVP
Teams who successfully complete the program, incorporate the venture on time and present a strong MVP, qualify for the first tranche of the Final Prize of € 10,000.
TRACTION
In addition, the fastest ventures that have received the first tranche of the Final Prize and achieved funding or commercial traction by November 24th 2024 have the opportunity to receive an additional € 10,000 (if they have found an investor investing at least € 50,000) and additional € 5,000 (if they have achieved sales of at least € 10,000).
How to apply
1. Read carefully the Rules & Regulations
2. Complete the application form
- Visit the → Application page.
- Select your country of residence.
- Describe your team.
- Explain the business model, the technology underlying your product/solution, and your innovative idea.
- Upload your pitch deck.
3. Application deadline
28 April 2024
Questions
For any question(s) concerning the Venture Incubation Program and the application process contact us at venture_program@eitdigital.eu.
Partners
The Venture Incubation Program is executed by the Innovation Partners of EIT Digital responsible for the pre-Acceleration Phase and to support the teams to:
- Focus on market verticals & offer, shifting from a product to a market perspective.
- De-risk deep-tech ventures via product and market validation, pushing participants to test market hypotheses with real potential customers.
- Create opportunities for peer-to-peer learning among selected teams encouraging a strong community spirit amongst the cohort that will last far beyond the end of this program.
- Enable participants to maximize their product-market fit by exposing them to real market actors in their target sectors.
- Prepare the teams for a seed-stage investment from Business Angels or Venture Capital firms in Europe.
- Support teams in finding the first Investor.
Testimonials
"Thanks to EIT Digital, we built our initial MVP and validated business hypotheses. With their ongoing support we survived the pandemic, pivoted our product and raised the next investment round." - Tomasz Marcińczyk, Co-founder of Restimo
"We are extremely grateful to the EIT Digital Venture Program for taking a chance on us in such an early stage of our startup journey. They provided us with essential knowledge on how to start and grow our business and gave us a financial support without which we would not be able to build our MVP and validate our idea." - co-founder Karolina Czaplicka, Subjective Guide
"The EIT Digital Venture Program helped us building a solid foundation to grow and scale. Its main focus was on business and how to prepare an MVP. During the program, we had different courses from pitching sessions and customer interviews to ‘how to talk to potential investors’ training. It made our service clearer and helped us to identify the other sectors to cover." - Igor Anicic, founder of Hotspoter
"During the EIT Digital Venture Program, we were able to develop our MVP and to gain access to experts in the entrepreneurship world, who provided us with important tools to scale our project. It was essential to leverage our idea and to transform it into a real thing." - Diana Mota, CMO and co-founder of PARQIST
"During the Venture Program, our service became more complex and clearer at the same time. Our mentor was a senior software engineer and he and other experts helped us develop the perfect software base for our solution. Besides the mentoring and financial support, EIT Digital helped us with the incorporation process, with their experience in investments in the EU. The Venture Program gave us the opportunity and support to think bigger." - George Foroglou, Project Manager at EMBIOTS
"Good ideas need development help in the beginning. EIT Digital's Venture Program offered a funding and development program, providing the basics of running a company and new connections essential for improvement." - Jurij Triller, founder of Smart Octopus Solutions
"We faced so many hurdles and obstacles when we started our project. So we took the chance and enrolled in the Venture Program. The first steps were much easier with the support of EIT Digital and we gained dozens of new contacts during the program." - Marco Marques, CEO of Indoor 4.0
"Every session the startup gets is tailor-made. The benefits are huge, and the programme can help startups find the right path for growth." - Andrej Evtimov, KIIMO
"It is the only programme we found that actually understands early-stage startups. We needed money before our incorporation, specific mentorship for our startup and the investment afterwards. ARISE has it all!" - Miloš Jokić, Gradoid
