StartSmart CEE is launching a new edition of its Spring 2024 acceleration program, an opportunity for startups from Poland and Central and Eastern European countries to grow, implement innovations at market-leading entities and receive grants of up to € 90k. Registration has just started and will last until 25 July.
StartSmart CEE announces the call for applications for the sixteenth edition of its startup acceleration program. This is one of the largest initiatives of its kind in this part of Europe – so far more than 3,000 technology start-ups from 50 countries have participated, and more than 300 have received support. Partners of the Spring 2024 edition, Warner Bros. Discovery Poland, PZU, MASPEX, Polpharma, Rossmann, CVC Capital Partners, Smart Soft Solutions, and EFL (Credit Agricole Group), have identified areas in which they are looking for innovative solutions.
StartSmart CEE announces a call for startups. Mentoring, training and up to € 90k for implementations
Startups from the Food & Agritech, Health Tech & Insurtech, Retail Tech, Big Data & Artificial Intelligence, Media & Content Transformation, Energy Efficiency & Environmental Sustainability, Customer Engagement, and Social Impact sectors have a unique opportunity to access mentoring and training and a global network of contacts centered around the world’s top technical university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Participants in the program will not only gain access to mentoring and business-building support, but also have the chance to secure commercial implementation grants of up to € 90,000. An additional award, the CVC Young Innovator Award, will be given to the start-up with the highest social impact, whose key team member is under 30 years old. Its amount is € 25,000.
StartSmart CEE Spring 2024 Acceleration Program. The course of the program and two acceleration tracks
Registration can be made until 25th of July via the application form available at www.startsmartcee.org. Up to 25 start-ups will be selected from among the applications to enter the final stage. The program is being implemented in two independent paths #ReThink and Pilot Ready, which will respectively address the start-ups’ development level. The former provides relevant business education and comprehensive mentoring for startups at an earlier stage of development (MVP) to prepare the product for faster market entry, fill in the gaps of business competence in the team, and prepare the startup to work with clients (corporations).
The #PilotReady path, on the other hand, is prepared for start-ups at the so-called growth stage, which are looking for customers and want to scale in new markets. Under it, young entrepreneurs receive dedicated mentoring and participation in selected workshops and work directly with the program’s corporate partners on a Proof of Concept that is expected to lead to commercial collaboration.
StartSmart CEE. Experts, funds and corporations in one place
The goal of StartSmart CEE is to support the development of entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe and build an innovation ecosystem in which start-ups will emerge and grow. The 15 editions of the accelerator program to date have involved more than 220 mentors and experts, as well as 300 investment funds and business angels and more than 50 corporate partners.
The content partners of this edition are EUPatent Law Firm, Hasik Rheims and Partners, HR Hints, Kingmakers and TaxLab. The program is co-financed by the European Funds for a Modern Economy (FENG) program under the Startup Booster Poland – Smart UP measure implemented by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) from December 2023 to October 2024. The total value of the project is € 2,488,929.
