15 start-ups from 9 different countries have been selected for participation in the 13th edition of start-up accelerator Fit 4 Start. In addition to 6 months of coaching, pre-seed funding and access to all the key players of the Luxembourg start-up ecosystem, participants will also be encouraged to look into how their products and services can have a positive sustainable impact.
Lena Mårtensson
After two years of digital pitching sessions, Fit 4 Start was back with its traditional onsite pitching event on 26 and 27 October, hosted at Arch Summit, the flagship tech event of accelerator Tomorrow Street. 67 preselected start-ups pitched their business ventures to a jury composed of experts, seasoned entrepreneurs and investors who selected the 10 digital/data-driven and 5 healthtech start-ups that together will make up the 13th Fit 4 Start cohort.
The participants will benefit from 6 months of personalised coaching, ample networking opportunities and pre-seed funding of €50,000 from the Ministry of the Economy. Successful graduates from the programme who manage to raise private capital have the possibility of receiving another €100,000.
“Start-ups have an important role to play in supporting the sustainable transition of our economy to a more digital and green economy. This edition of Fit 4 Start will therefore also include awareness raising activities and specialised coaching on how participating business ventures can have a positive sustainable impact,” says Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot.
The tagline of this year’s edition of Arch Summit, ‘innovation with impact’, perfectly reflects our ambition with Fit 4 Start.
“The tagline of this year’s edition of Arch Summit, ‘innovation with impact’, perfectly reflects our ambition with Fit 4 Start. We want the programme to have a real, concrete impact on the start-ups that take part. Our ultimate aim, as a government-funded agency and programme manager, is that their successful development in Luxembourg will help frame our economy of the future in a sustainable as well as competitive manner, with the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a point of reference,” says Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation.
“After having had to run the last editions digitally due to health restrictions, we are happy to welcome the 15 selected start-ups to Luxembourg for the coaching programme. Their physical presence here will facilitate integration of our international participants into the start-up ecosystem and the wider business community,” says Stefan Berend, Head of Start-up Acceleration at Luxinnovation.
The more than 300 applications received from start-ups in 58 different countries clearly confirm the international renown of the Fit 4 Start programme.
Fit 4 Start is initiated and managed by the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy and national innovation agency Luxinnovation with support from Technoport, the Luxembourg-City Incubator, LuxProvide and the most recent partner, the Luxembourg House of Financial Technologies (LHoFT).
We look forward to creating further value for our innovative start-ups in the field of financial technologies together with LHoFT.
“LHoFT is the expert entity of the Luxembourg fintech ecosystem, and will be a valuable partner for Fit 4 Start. We look forward to creating further value for our innovative start-ups in the field of financial technologies together with them,” comments Sven Baltes, Advisor – Start-up Acceleration at Luxinnovation who coordinates the Fit 4 Start programme.
Photo credit: Luxinnovation/Nathan Ernst
