All successful EU-XCEL applicants will be grouped into newly created European teams of three to five members using proven matchmaking and creative techniques to build and develop the best start-up ideas. As part of a newly created EU-XCEL team, you will have access to:
THE EU-XCEL EUROPEAN VIRTUAL ACCELERATOR INCLUDES:
A WEEK-LONG START-UP SCRUM:
The “Start-up Scrum is a week-long intensive unique and empowering entrepreneurship training and mentoring programme that includes:
- technology scanning & sourcing innovation
- exposure to leading-edge technology trends including Big Data, Health Informatics, Predictive Analytics, E-/M-Commerce , ICT4D and The Internet of Things
- commercialization & market insights to overcome challenges
- entrepreneurship & business development training
- prototyping development training
- pitching techniques & networking
- team-building skills for virtual teams
The EU-XCEL curriculum aims to ignite the prototyping and business modeling of feasible and marketable ICT solutions, while simultaneously building multi-nationality start-up founding teams capable of effectively work on a virtual environment.
The “Start-up Scrum” is a one-week event that will take place across the six EU-XCEL partner countries of Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Poland and Spain this summer.
THE EU-XCEL EUROPEAN VIRTUAL ACCELERATOR
Access to a bespoke virtual accelerator of continuous supports to assist your start-up team further develop and refine your start-up idea, during a 4-month period. The goal of this virtual-phase is to get you “incubator ready” and provide you the opportunity to participate in the EU-XCEL Ultimate Challenge Final.
The EU-XCEL European Virtual Accelerator online platform includes:
- A community forum
- Training content and resources
- Virtual technical support and mentoring
- Virtual business development support and mentoring
THE EU-XCEL ULTIMATE CHALLENGE FINAL
A cutting-edge jury will select the best start-up teams formed during the programme to connect with and pitch to venture capitalists, angel investors and successful tech entrepreneurs in the EU-XCEL Ultimate Challenge Final.
The Challenge Final for the first year of the project took place in Cork, Ireland on November 2nd and 3rd 2015. The 12 finalists of all the Start-up Scrums pitched their ideas in front of a closed-session judging panel consisting of:
- Bruno Dureux, Managing Partner, BAL Partners, Spain
- Francesco Benincasa, Investment Advisor PJ Tech Catalyst Fund, Athens & London and CEO, Gorithmic, London & New York
- Kate O’Keeffe, Technical Training Manager, VMware, Cork
- Dr Kevin Marshall, Head of Education, Microsoft Ireland
- Marcin Jan Fejfer, Investment Manager, SpeedUp Venture Capital Group, Poland
- Martin Corkery, Regional Manager, Entreprise Ireland
- Katarzyna Wlaz, Capital Investment Co-ordinator, Poland
Challenge Final 2015
The 12 finalists taking part in the Challenge Final were SensusCare, CRAW.ly, DataMine, NearBuyNow, SpeechAngel, Nammy, Soceed, Too Too, Tamaze, BeSpaced, ABLE and WeQ4U.
The winners of the prizes are:
1st place: WeQ4U
WeQ4U replaces theme parks’ physical queues with virtual ones, providing visitors with a better experience. The prize is 5000 euros.
2nd place: DataMine
DataMine empowers researchers in the fields of medicine, pharmaceutical, life sciences and biotechnology to cure the most devastating diseases-cancer, stroke, and heart diseases. The prizes is 3000 euros.
3rd place: CRAW.ly
Craw.ly is a retail-price watch tool for manufacturers of consumer goods.
Challenge Final 2016
14 teams participated in the 2016 Final: Codappi, DOCYET, Drive Brands, Gondolaa, GoodLife, Mahoo, Mind Alcazar, Orthofy, POD, Pommi, RefReboot, Segura, Sproutify and VAT Back.
Mahoo won the first place and 5000 euros, drive Brands the second and 3000 euros and DOCYET the third place and 2000 euros.
Team Drive Brands
