Speed MI Up in Search of Brave Startups
A NEW TENDER FOR WANNABE AND NEW ENTREPRENEURS OPENS TODAY AND WILL CLOSE ON 16 APRIL. IT'S DIRECTED TO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GROW A SOLID BUSINESS THROUGH A PERIOD OF INCUBATION AND ACCELERATION THAT CAN LAST UP TO TWO YEARSWannabe and new entrepreneurs have time until 16 April to take the chance to spend a period of incubation and acceleration that can last up to two years at Speed MI Up, the incubator promoted by Università Bocconi, Municipality and Chamber of Commerce of Milan.
The new tender for up to 30 businesses opens today and will close on 16 April. The selected startups will enter Speed MI Up on 1 June. They will thus gain access to numerous value-added services: training and mentoring by the Bocconi faculty and Formaper instructors, one-to-one and collective networking initiatives to meet investors, and finally a place where to work. Unlike other incubators, Speed MI Up does not enter the capital of the startups, thus preserving their value and entrepreneurial freedom. Many services are offered by Speed MI Up’s partners: PwC (advice on tax and legal issues), Armando Testa (communication and media planning), Aruba (cloud computing) and Innovhub (innovation services).
The selection committee will rate the startups based on an elevator pitch (a video of 3 minutes maximum), a business plan, participants’ resumes and, in some cases, an interview. Startuppers can find in the Speed Mi Up website a 12-hour videocourse teaching how to draw up a business plan and directions about the making of the elevator pitch.
Selection is open to wannabe entrepreneurs (at least one of the members of the entrepreneurial team mast have a university degree) and to micro, small or medium enterprises incorporated in the last 20 months. Selection criteria include the entrepreneurial team quality, the business idea feasibility, its scalability and its potential in terms in terms of new employment.
The selected startuppers will be welcomed into a stimulating environment, working along the startups with a longer experience in the incubator. Among the companies incubated in the last two years there are some successful cases. Quattrocento, an e-commerce site of eyewear entirely produced by Belluno’s craftsmen, was reported by Forbes as one of the 15 startups to watch, worldwide, in 2015. Cercaofficina.it, the site that helps to choose the best quote for car repairs, is already active in Milan, Rome and Turin and has recently received funding from Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), the leading association of Italian business angels, which has a collaboration agreement with Speed MI Up. One Tray designed an airport tray for passengers objects which speeds up the security controls and has signed its first contracts. SpeedyPlan, a truck routes management system, has as its first client a major automotive brand. D1 Milano, which offers watches designed as fashion accessories, has completed its incubation period and opened a showroom in one of the fashionable streets of Milan, Corso Como, and has recently launched its first collection of thermocromatic watches. Junto Italy, which provides market research for SMEs, can show the first results. Among the companies at an advanced stage of development, Lattina Design is planning a crowdsourcing portal for designers and Ats Enterprise has designed, and is prototyping, a microcombustor (a 2 cm. engine) able to recharge, during the use, the batteries of drones and other equipment.
by Fabio Todesco
