EIT Digital: two months to move 28 European entrepreneurial teams to next level

Twenty-eight entrepreneurial teams from 12 countries have successfully completed the first phase of the EIT Digital Venture Programme,  jointly organised with ABC Accelerator, Building Global Innovators, Found.ation and Startup Wise Guys. The teams pitched in front of tech communities and local investors in Riga, Ljubljana, Athens and Lisbon.

Although the teams started just two months ago, their high motivation, fueled by the Venture Programme’s intensive pre-acceleration program and by financial support from EIT Digital, enabled them to make significant leap to the next level: all of them have delivered a minimum viable product ready for early adopters and many are proceeding at full steam towards incorporation. First important results start being visible: in the Balkan region, the location intelligence platform “Hotspoter” is already implementing a pilot with Eurobank in Serbia and the smart gift-card solution “SOS” has acquired Qlandia shopping centers in Slovenia as their first clients. In the Baltics, Ruupi launched a pilot project with a local real-estate agency and KIDNGO has signed its first paying customers. Indre Jurgaite, Founder of KIDNGO says that “the time at Startup Wise Guys and at the EIT Digital Venture program was the best experience a startup could have in very early stages.” Indre was in particular impressed by the two-day Bootcamp in Riga with inspiring mentors, who were willing to share the best of their knowledge.

International recognition for the quality of the team is increasing. SurgeonMate Devices, from Portugal, which developed a special camera for surgeons, allowing them to share their surgeries’ recordings for training purposes, was selected as one of the top five companies in the Vodafone #5GDIG challenge and received the people’s choice award at Unbound London 2019. Also, Recovery Companion, with their social platform for cancer patients, won the LAPhack Health hackathon and Grand Prix in StarterTallinn. Eric Jackson, co-founder of Recovery Companion said: 'The programme was an invaluable source of information for our start-up, empowering us to understand all facets of the start-up journey'.

Investors looking for new, exciting opportunities are warmly invited to have a close look at these teams.