With a total of over 700.000 € invested in 2 years, the Venture Program has quickly become a launchpad for the most ambitious entrepreneurs in Europe’s emerging markets. The first edition of the Venture Program was launched in 2018 with two partner accelerators (ABC Accelerator in Ljubljana and Found.ation in Athens). It covered 10 Balkan countries and graduated 13 ventures. In 2019 the program expanded to 27 ventures with 2 new editions run by Startup Wise Guys in the Baltics and BGI in Lisbon.  This year, despite the COVID-19 situation, five regional editions run simultaneously, by adding an edition in Poland with Krakow Technology Park. EIT Digital is ready to invest more than €500,000 to support the winners.

In uncertain times, the EIT Digital Venture Program is a committed and startup-friendly partner for entrepreneurial teams in a pre-MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and pre-company early stage of development. The program pivoted to be held fully online, attracting more and more mixed teams from different innovation ecosystems, making location barriers disappear and helping talents to easily connect and complement their skills. Several of the selected teams address issues raised by the Covid-19 outbreak.

The 33 entrepreneurial teams that joined the program come from 14 European countries. They have each been awarded a financial support of €5,000 and are currently engaged in the pre-acceleration programs with the objective to quickly move their MVP forward and establish their company. Depending on the quality of their MVP and on whether they have managed to incorporate on time, they will be able to receive an additional €10,000 Prize that can be increased up to €20,000 for those that have also managed to attract a third party investment.

Find more information on the supported teams here https://www.eitdigital.eu/venture-program/winners-2020/