Startup Wise Guys, a leading international b2b accelerator, is launching JUMP for Italy, an online program to help foster the creation of new start-ups in an after-crisis environment.
Startup Wise Guys have been flirting with expanding to more Western territories for a while; Italy was one of the countries that caught their attention already last year. Being amongst the largest EU countries, Italy has high growth potential in terms of start-up ecosystem, and it still somewhat underserved in terms of start-up support services/resources. As Cristobal Alonso, CEO of Startup Wise Guys, said: “This is our great opportunity to position ourselves in a large and important ecosystem like Italy”. And the pandemic hasn’t stopped them from their plans.
According to Andrea Orlando, Partner for Italy and EiR at Startup Wise Guys: “We don’t want the current situation to slow us down. We know that a crisis could be an opportunity to build new things. We want to move now and help talented and ambitious founders to bring their business ideas to life.”
JUMP Italy is an online program that consists of three phases: Idea Garage events, Online Hackathon and 6 weeks Online Pre-accelerator program.
IDEA GARAGE
The first phase (11th May – 22nd May) consists of 6 online public events that will bring together developers, designers, entrepreneurs, researchers and creatives with the aim of facing the digital challenges of our time.
Idea Garage events are open to anyone willing to either pitch his/her own idea, or participate as a listener, and eventually join the person or team with the idea his/her liked the most afterward. Around 10 ideas per event will be selected to pitch.
Some of the more mature teams from Idea Garages will then be invited to participate in the next phases of the program: Online Hackathon and Pre-Accelerator program.
HACKATHON
The second phase is a 3-day event that will take place within Milano Digital Week. Participants will organised themselves into teams to identify solutions and formalise projects from scratch, with the aim of solving existing problems and relaunching the Italian ecosystem.
The online hackathon will begin on May 26th; a closing online session will take place on May 28th with pitches to the general public.
The best Hackathon start-ups will be then invited to participate in the online Pre-Accelerator program.
ONLINE PRE-ACCELERATOR
The third phase will help start-ups to shape their ideas, gather a team, and turn ideas into proper businesses. With a 6-week program of online courses, webinars, 1-1 tutoring, start-ups will improve their MVP, refine the sales process and product-market fit, and learn how to raise funds.
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For Idea Garage applications: https://swgform.typeform.com/to/Pt90Br
For more information, visit: https://startupwiseguys.com/jumpforitaly/