Marketplace: A Showcase for Smart Ideas in Search of Funding

IT'S TIME FOR YOUNG STARTUPPERS. ON NOVEMBER 24, DURING THE STARTUP DAY, EMPOWERING YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP, 35 TEAMS OF STARTUPPERS WILL PARTICIPATE IN A MARKETPLACE TO MEET POTENTIAL INVESTORS.

Startuppers seeking out financing. That is the leitmotiv of the Start-Up Day, and especially of its Marketplace section. The initiative, realized by Bocconi University with the partnership of Citi Foundation, is planned on November 24. The goal is to encourage and support youth entrepreneurship, giving the young startuppers the opportunity to present their business projects to venture capitalists, business angels and individuals from the private equity sector.

100 teams applied to the marketplace, with 280 members as a whole, with 55% of them under 30. 35 teams have finally been chosen, with 110 members in total, with 65% under 30: this percentage highlights the importance given to the support of young entrepreneurship in particular. Marketplace participation is also strongly international: 13% of selected startuppers are foreigners. The chosen start-up projects concern various sectors and most of them fall under the umbrella of sharing/on demand economy and social networking. Selected business ideas are mostly about fashion, fintech, entertainment and, due to the Expo-effect, food & beverage. Almost every project includes a mobile app and a website. Only teams with at least one student or alumnus of Bocconi University, of SDA Bocconi Masters, of MISB Bocconi and Start-Ups incubated by Speed Mi Up could apply to participate to the marketplace. 

The 35 selected teams will have the opportunity to participate in a training camp consisting in a video course about business planning, realized by the incubator Speed Mi Up, two webinars and two seminars held by experts in the field and by Bocconi University faculty members. “An intensive educational path allowing participants to acquire the basic skills, to draft a good business plan and to put together an effective presentation”, says Silvia Colombo, coordinator of the initiative with Stefano Caselli, “It’s a real platform where participants can, in the end, simulate the actual meeting with the investors in order to receive a feedback”, she explains. 

During the marketplace, each team will be given a workstation to present their start-up projects to potential financiers, in a detailed way. Moreover, among these 35 business plans, up to 5 will be chosen to be admitted in the Speed Mi Up incubator.

November 24 is going to be a busy day. In the morning there will be a workshop about the life of a start-up  and then the Bocconi Start-Up Day Award ceremony. The marketplace will take place in the afternoon.

Start-up Day is realized in collaboration with Speed Mi Up, Bocconi Alumni Association, Economia & Management magazine and with Corriere Innovazione as media partner. 

by Benedetta Ciotto