Congrats to the Top5-cohort who completed the STARTUP3 acceleration programme! 

After 1 year and 3 phases of acceleration services, the STARTUP3 Business & Growth Programme ended on 30 June 2021. The mentoring programme is now over, yet that does not mean the end of the matchmaking activities. The STARTUP3 Consortium keeps supporting its startups in their B2B and fundraising activities until the end of the project in December 2021.

Throwback on the STARTUP3 acceleration programme

Sifting through the 250 applications from 36 countries covering 17 industries has only been the start to the programme which selected 5 cutting-edge projects figuring among the best startups in Europe. Shaping the programme through the COVID-19 pandemic, the ever-changing needs of participating innovators and their startups, showcasing resilience and embracing more-than-ever-unpredictable market needs has been challenging, and we are proud of the results and the amazing progress achieved by the supported startups.

In the 3-phase process, 25 startups have been competing to advance from the first (“Best potentials”) to the second (“Ideation2Product” – top 10) and third (“Product2Market”- top 5 startups) phase, based on their respective pitches. Our deep-tech Best potentials involve cutting edge technologies such as Robotics, IoT, AI, Cybersecurity, VR, Biotech and Earth Observation and play in diverse industries, such as Agritech, Greentech, Medtech, Smart City as well as Industry 4.0, Retail and Cosmetics.

Efficient matchmaking thanks to the STARTUP3 networking tools and individualised mentoring

The corporates, investors and startups are brought together not only through pitch stops, events, and workshops but also through the Founder Studio and the Cooperation Platforms. The supported founders use the Founder Studio online platform to publish and improve their projects using different technical and business guidelines, contents, and mentorship as well as to communicate with corporates and investors. In addition, startups have at their disposal the Cooperation Platform – a one-stop-shop to grasp digital opportunities and become more competitive. It is a multi-partner cooperation platform (RTOs, universities, industry associations, chambers of commerce, incubator/ accelerators, regional development agencies, governments).

During the whole acceleration programme, the finalist startups benefited from 18 collective pieces of training, 7 individual workshops and coaching, 7 monthly mentorship meetings, and 5 pitch events. Besides, more than 40 B2B connection meetings have been operated by the STARTUP3 mentors with corporations, potential clients and partners, and advising experts. The Programme also allowed cross-border startups collaboration, generating partnerships of startups with common interests, like our space startups Detektia (Spain) and Latitudo40 (Italy).

Thank you to helpful supporting experts of the STARTUP3 ecosystem

Each phase implied its own set of challenges and accompanying tailored training and mentoring sessions aimed at assessing the needs and challenges each startup faces, crafting the strategies and concrete next steps towards their growth – financially, legally, marketing and business-wise. In this regard, the STARTUP3 Consortium relies on the pool of supporting experts – of targeted markets, technologies, business – from, RTOs, Business Angels, Consultancy firms, and public institutions and EC initiatives.

Major Highlights

Moreover, through the events organised under STARTUP3 in the form of Ecosystem Discovery Missions, Pitch Stops, training and webinars, the innovators had the chance to pitch and get introduced to relevant experts, big players, and potential investors, considering their geographical distribution, facilitating quality networking, and raising the potential for new business deals and ventures.  

Innovators participated in pitch battles before VCs and BAs such as Ernests Stals and Patrick Kedziora, got coached by pitching experts such as Gleb Maltsev and competed for prizes in the form of tickets to world-renowned deep-tech events (Global Hack, TechChill, Hello Tomorrow Global Summit) and other benefits within the programme.

What now?

Matchmaking. With the end of the acceleration programme, the innovators’ journey has just begun, and STARTUP3 remains a cheerleader and matchmaker between startups, corporates and investors. With the consortium member’s expertise, STARTUP3 continues as a reliable support to provide startups with potential matches and new acceleration and funding opportunities.

B2B events. Thus, through collaboration with deep-tech events, the project will provide physical B2B opportunities by bringing its Top5 startups to the upcoming Hello Tomorrow Global Summit.  The Top5was selected to attended Investor Day, one day dedicated to investors-meeting for high-level startups. The Consortium is elaborating on other surprises in the meantime and wishes to organise a final physical event in Autumn if the global context allows it.

Access to the STARTUP3 tools. The supporting tools developed – the STARTUP3 Cooperation Platform and the Founder Studio Platform – remain available for matchmaking purposes until the end of the year.

Startups’ success stories. Moreover, STARTUP3 takes an all-encompassing approach in dissemination and communication activities for the greatest impact and promotion. Such an approach implies regular tracking and publication of our startups’ results and success stories and the development of activities such as podcasts and other audio-visual materials to be disseminated via various platforms. Lastly, in order to achieve true impact and sustainability, STARTUP3 is committed to growing beyond the initial lines of projects. By regularly assessing the success of our innovators and collecting feedback through carefully tailored surveys, the project consortium will form and present the assessment of the accelerator impact at the end of the programme along with its plans for sustainability and pathways for future collaboration.

As taught by the pitch professionals: It is the story that is at the core of all activities and successes. We continue to share the stories of our best innovators as it is our own!