Luxembourg’s startup ecosystem kicked off 2022 with the year’s first tech event, Fit 4 Start Day. As usual, the country’s flagship acceleration programme celebrated the graduates of its recently concluded edition and presented the 20 start-ups selected for the new edition.
“Many startups, but also established businesses, have had to adapt and rethink their business (during the COVID crisis). Acceleration programmes such as Fit 4 Start have a particularly important role to play in this context in supporting startups and helping them adapt to future challenges,” recalled Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot in his introductory speech.
Fit 4 Start is above all a tool for entrepreneurs to challenge their own assumptions and business model in a harsh, yet controlled environment.
This objective was confirmed by one of the programme’s coaches, Simone La Torre, during the round table discussion organised as part of the event. “Startups that join the programme don’t expect that they will learn a lot about their own company. Fit 4 Start really pushes them to test all of the aspect of the business,” Mr La Torre said. “Besides granting access to equity-free funds, offering awesome office spaces, stimulating interactions with experts from local and international settings, and propelling young companies towards a facilitated access to funds, Fit 4 Start is above all a tool for entrepreneurs to challenge their own assumptions and business model in a harsh, yet controlled environment. I frankly recommend it to all young companies.”
The acceleration programme viewed by 2 graduates
During the webinar, two graduating entrepreneurs shared their experience of the programme.
“It has really helped us get more structured in everything we do. The response we are getting now from investors is not the one we got before Fit 4 Start,” said Carlos Manuel Entrena Utrilla, CEO of Plus Ultra Space Outposts, who graduated from the Space vertical.
The response we are getting now from investors is not the one we got before Fit 4 Start.
“There will be questions from the jury that you have never thought about before and you can think that they are not relevant, but they will open new perspectives and provide a really good framework for your thinking process,” added Julia Markhadaeva, CEO of toStories, a graduate of the ICT vertical.
Introducing the new HPC track
This webinar was also an opportunity to discover the 20 startups selected for the new edition of Fit 4 Start. Although their names were already known, the event was an opportunity to get to know their solutions better. A 30-second pitch elevator video featuring all new participants was broadcast.
The new cohort includes 3 startups that have been selected for the brand new high performance computing (HPC) track. “We received 11 applications for this track with a lot of difference in terms of usage of the HPC, from modelling brains and going for artificial intelligence to finance,” Pascal Bouvry, CEO of Luxprovide, pointed out.
#13 pre-registrations already available
Sven Baltes, Advisor – Start-up Acceleration at Luxinnovation in charge of the HPC and Space tracks of the programme, who moderated the event, concluded the webinar by inviting interested startups to preregister already for the 13th edition of Fit 4 Start.