The 20 startups selected in the 4 categories of Fit 4 Start will benefit from the specialised coaching as well as €50,000 of funding from the Ministry of the Economy each, with the possibility of receiving an additional €100,000 if they graduate successfully from the programme and manage to raise some private capital. On top of that, the 3 startups selected in the new track will benefit from a special programme, including access to computing and data analytics capacities of the national supercomputer MeluXina.
Artificial intelligence (AI) a common technology
In line with previous editions, one third of the applications came from Luxembourg, the rest being equally divided between EU and non-EU startups.
This 12th call for applications also showed a clear trend for AI related solutions. 30% of the applications used this technology, followed by the internet of things (11%) and machine learning (11%).
“The new track attracted 20 applications, which means that there is a real interest for this kind of offer from startups. It links directly Fit 4 Start to MeluXina, which is a highly strategic initiative of the Government meant, among others, to build a competitive ecosystem for ambitious startups,” noted Stefan Berend, Head of Start-up Acceleration at Luxinnovation.
Fit 4 Start: a powerful facilitator
Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot added: “The Fit 4 Start acceleration programme is a powerful facilitator providing entrepreneurs with attractive pre-seed funding. In addition, the new HPC and data analytics track offers a unique opportunity to benefit from the real added value that we can offer in Luxembourg in terms of technology and expertise in the field of supercomputing and I hope that this will lead to the development of innovative solutions.”
The Fit 4 Start acceleration programme is a powerful facilitator providing entrepreneurs with attractive pre-seed funding.
The programme will kick off in early January. It will last 6 months, with coaching sessions taking place both physically and online depending on the sanitary situation.
Initiated in 2015 by the Ministry of the Economy, Fit 4 Start is managed by Luxinnovation in collaboration with Technoport, the Luxembourg City Incubator and the Luxembourg Space Agency.
Selected startups
ICT
- Circu Li-ion (Luxembourg)
- Devseis Consultancy (Luxembourg)
- ITC (Israel)
- Recube (Luxembourg)
- Rejustify (Luxembourg)
- RiDERgy (Gemarny)
- Smart Beehive (UAE)
Space
- AM 4 AM (Luxembourg)
- Digantara (India)
- Hypernova (South Africa)
- Ride! (France)
- The Lunar Grid (Luxembourg)
Healthtech
- AkknaTek (Germany)
- DropsLab Technologies (Luxembourg)
- Dynaccurate (Luxembourg)
- KidnAI (Luxembourg)
- Voicemed (Luxembourg)
HPC
Photo: © Luxinnovation/Marie De Decker