The international character is growing from one edition to the next. For this 8th round, 221 applications were received from 44 different countries. Among them, 50 preselected candidates came to defend their project during the “Pitching and Graduation Day”, on the 28. March 2019.
“The growing number of companies attracted by the Fit 4 Start programme and the success of some start-ups that have followed the programme are proof that Luxembourg offers a favourable environment for the development of young innovative companies with high potential”, said Minister of the Economy, Étienne Schneider, during this “Pitching and Graduation Day”. “We have created an ecosystem where it is possible to create successful companies from innovative ideas.”
Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation, added: “The Luxinnovation Fit 4 Start programme is a key element of the start-up ecosystem. Tto function properly, it can count on the many partners directly involved: the Ministry of the Economy, which not only finances the programme, but also provides information and strategic orientation; Technoport and Luxembourg-City Incubator, which provide premises for start-ups participating in Fit 4 Start; the members of the jury who have dedicated their time and energy to selecting the best start-ups and finally all the coaches who will support the entrepreneurs for 16 weeks, will challenge them and push them to achieve and exceed their objectives.”
The 10 start-ups chosen by the jury to participate in Fit 4 Start are:
- Ambitrace
- Cargofive
- F4A
- Firefly
- Gamma
- Keexle
- Niaouli
- Rafinex
- RoomMate
- Valuu.io
The start-ups selected will be able to take advantage of the following from the Fit 4 Start programme:
- 16 weeks of expert coaching using Lean Start-Up, a structured methodology for rapid product and service development, and Agile methodology which calls for high flexibility and the ability to pursue and realise well-defined short-term objectives;
- free access to co-working space in a business incubator; and
- a grant of €50,000, to be matched by €10,000 of equity. An additional €100,000 is offered by the Ministry of the Economy to start-ups that have both successfully graduated from Fit 4 Start and managed to raise at least €50,000 of private equity at the end of the programme.
The “Pitching and Graduation Day” evening was also an opportunity to celebrate the graduation of the start-ups from the previous edition of Fit 4 Start who succeeded in fulfilling all the objectives defined by their jury at the beginning of the session.
In addition to the ICT sector, the seventh edition of Fit 4 Start was open to companies from the health technologies sector, as will be the case for the next edition
The graduates are:
ICT
- BondWeaver
- Eiravato
- Goldbaum
- Loro
- Morfin
- Oko
- Spoticle
- StarTalers
Health Technologies
- ARSpectra
- LuxAI
- Molecular Plasma Group
- SOVI Solutions