OPEN CALL European Startup Prize for mobility

The European Startup Prize is announcing its « Day After Programme »

After 2 editions of setting up an « Acceleration Programme » for the 10 best European mobility startups in 2018 and 2019, the EUSP has now become a « Day After Programme», providing a fast track to reinvestment. Thanks to our new partners (EIB, EIT Urban Mobility, EIT InnoEnergy and ESAC), new opportunities for our community of 1500 startups will be offered to connect with European investors in order to support their new mobility & post-covid challenges.

Press release from the Co-founders of the EU Startup Prize:

Karima Delli, Member of the European Parliament and Chairwoman of the Transports Committee

Joël Hazan, Partner and Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group

Jean-François Dhinaux, Head of Strategy & Partnership at Via-ID

Why a « Day After Programme »?

“It made no sense to continue our business as usual. I really believe in our acceleration programme but, this year, given the extraordinary circumstances, we need to help all our startups. This crisis is also an opportunity to reset the innovation ecosystem for mobility in order to m

“Make it greener, cleaner and more inclusive. So it is really a matter of saving European innovation and give it a better chance to bloom greener after the storm“, said Mrs Delli.

“The economic situation is not yet stabilized but startups will eventually need investors to be back on the scene as soon as possible. That’s why it was essential to work on a fast track to provide new opportunities for our startups with European investors. Not to mention that the European Investment Bank and the EIT Urban Mobility are now joining forces with us so our startups can have an additional chance to benefit from their EU-funded programmes.”, added Jean-François Dhinaux, CMO and Strategy at Via-ID.

“Once startups apply for our Prize, they are given opportunities to jump into a series of pitch sessions in front of public and private investors. We will organise those online if we are still under restrictions but we will make sure that there will be pitch sessions for every level of startups including Pre-seed, Seed, Serie A and Serie B.“, underlines Joël Hazan, Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group.

The “DAY AFTER PROGRAMME”
The 10 winners of the EU Startup Prize 2020, together with the rest of our startup community (TOP 10 and TOP 50 of the editions 2018-2019-2020 in particular), will be offered a dedicated reinvestment programme, channeling European public and private funds, in order to help them recover from the social and economic crisis. 

1/ “Pitch sessions” in front of European investors:
Many thanks to our new partners the European Investment Bank, the EIT Urban Mobility, the EIT InnoEnergy and the European Super Angels Club, which bring a tremendous added-value to our programme and show the true meaning of European solidarity.

• dedicated pitch session in front of the European Investment Bank (EIB) experts, targeting some of our SMEs who find themselves eligible to the “Future mobility” funding programme of the EIB;

• dedicated pitch session in front of the EU-funded programme EIT Urban Mobility, covering among others pre seeds and early seeds in order to access their « Finance2Move » programme;

• dedicated pitch session in front of the EU-funded investor EIT InnoEnergy that supports pre-seed and seed-stage startups with different acceleration programmes and finance but also engages in innovation projects with scale-ups, midsize companies and corporates;

• joining a pitch session in front of the European Super Angels Club (ESAC) under the framework of their « Invest and Connect » Smart Mobility Awards 2020. The ESAC is Europe’s leading private investors network: selected startups from our pool this year can earn the chance to pitch at one of its exclusive ‘Invest and Connect’ events throughout the year. Apply on their website directly.

2/ A “Demo Day” in front of European business angels and VCs:

(planned in November on the sidelines of the Award Ceremony, tbc)

• open to the Top 10 and the Top 50 of the editions 2018-2019-2020 of the EU Startup Prize

• showcase and meetings with investors on the menu

3/ “Day After Manifesto” to open the dialogue with EU decision makers:

– a “Day After Manifesto” will define key priorities that could enable a faster and efficient greening of transport, while supporting the European industry recovery in the aftermath of COVID-19 crisis;

– this manifesto will be presented to European decision-makers in the European Parliament.

4/ The Ceremony

Given the cancellation of the Ceremony that was first planned in Vivatech in June, a new Ceremony will be now programmed for the end of the year (date and place to be confirmed)

5/ 1 million APIs designed by TomTom will be offered to the top 50 startups

In addition to the above, the 4 Gold award winners of the EU Prize Ceremony will be awarded with an extra 4 million APIs.

KEY DATES OF THE EU PRIZE

• 20 February 2020: application opened
• 30 April 2020: applications closed
• May 2020: announcement of the top 50
• July 2020: announcement of the top 10
• September-November 2020: implementation of the “Day After Programme”
• November 2020: Ceremony and appointment of the Gold Awards