European scaleups should be on the lookout, as EIT Digital is giving tech scaleups the chance to compete in their challenge. The program will pick five thriving companies from different categories to receive an international growth support package worth 100.000 euros. The EIT Digital Challenge 2017 is now open for applications.
Accelerating international growth
With their excellent pan-European business and technology ecosystem, EIT Digital is in a unique position to guide scaleups into growing internationally. Thanks to their yearly challenge, most awarded scaleups quickly grew to become internationally successful companies. CEO of EIT Digital, Willem Jonker, said the following: “Deep tech and digital ventures require high-quality specialized support when it comes to finding customers and raising capital.” This is exactly what EIT Digital has to offer. The initiative educates participating scaleups and enables them to grow internationally on their own.
An experienced team
The EIT Digital Accelerator comprises a team of around 40 experienced business developers and finance experts. The organization itself also is internationally operational in 13 European cities. So now, let’s talk about some numbers. Since 2012, the EIT Digital Accelerator has supported more than 250 startups. As a result, more than €80 million has been raised in investment to date. And even though EIT Digital has a great track record in deal making, accelerator alumni companies even have gone on to raise over €250 million in total investment. While the accelerator helped to raise a big amount of money for the startups, they will eventually raise even more themselves because they have learned how to do it.
The challenge
To be able to compete in the EIT Digital’s challenge, scaleups need to meet the following requirements: they must be based in one of the member states of the European Union, they must have reached at least €300,000 in revenue in 2016 or €2 million in total equity investment, and the companies should be in their first ten years of existence. Applicants also have to be related to one of the award categories: Digital Cities, – Industry, – Wellbeing, – Finance and Infrastructure. On winning the challenge, scaleups will receive a prize package worth 100.000 euros. This package will consist of 12 months EIT Digital Accelerator worth 50.000 euros and a cash prize of 50.000 euros.
Apply here
Are you part of a startup that fulfills all the criteria noted above? Does your scaleup want to gain international visibility and access to the European market? If the answers to these questions are yes, what are you still waiting for? The EIT Digital Challenge 2017 is now open for applications.
Startups can apply here until October 8th, 2017.
-“Controlling your entire smart house with Homey: an interview with Stefan Witkamp, co-founder of Athom”, https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/controlling-entire-smart-house-homey-interview-stefan-witkamp-co-founder-athom/?preview_id=10889&preview_nonce=3318247b54&post_format=standard&_thumbnail_id=10903&preview=true
-“Identifying cardiac arrhythmia with an app: an interview with Lars Grieten, CEO and co-founder at Fibricheck”, https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/health-medtech-startups/identifying-cardiac-arrhythmia-fibricheck/
-“Secure sharing made easy: an interview with Storro, winner of the EIT Digital Challenge 2015”, https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/secure-sharing-made-easy-interview-storro-winner-eit-digital-challenge-2015/
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