BeReady2Fly and Make the Big Leap from Startup to Scaleup

THE CALL FOR THE BUSINESS MATCHING EVENT ORGANIZED BY BOCCONI AND POLITECNICO TO BRING TOGETHER YOUNG COMPANIES LINKED TO THE TWO UNIVERSITIES WITH POTENTIAL INVESTORS AND BUSINESS PARTNERS IS OPEN UNTIL 21 OCTOBER

The opening of the call for BeReady2Fly is the first concrete act of the agreement between Bocconi University and Politecnico di Milano, presented on 28 September at Palazzo Marino.
 
BeReady2Fly (beready2fly.it) is the first event, designed by Politecnico di Milano, Bocconi University and their incubators, PoliHub and Speed Mi Up, to bring together potential investors, industrial companies and the best high potential startups of the two universities’ ecosystems.
 
Promoted and conceived in collaboration with Borsa Italiana and with the support of Citi Ventures, Deloitte’s Officine Innovazione and Tinaba | Sator, the initiative is open to 20 companies that meet the requirements of being high-flyers and belonging to the network of one of the two universities. The meeting with investors will be held on 26 November at Palazzo Mezzanotte, home of Borsa Italiana, while the call closes on 21 October.
 
«If overcoming the start-up phase of an innovative company is an enterprise in itself», comments Bocconi’s Rector Gianmario Verona, "it is perhaps even more difficult to reach the so-called scale-up phase, i.e. the achievement of sustained growth and a significant company size, often through collaboration with established businesses.  This is an essential step, which less than one startup in 100 manages to complete. Our initiative aims to identify the startups potentially ready for the big leap forward and encourage the transition to the upper league by facilitating contact with investors and business partners who could accompany the process».
 
High-flyer companies are those established from November 1, 2011 onwards that meet at least two of the following requirements:
 

• The company generated a turnover of € 500,000 or more in 2017.
• Since its creation, the company has raised at least €500,000 in financing, in the form of equity, debt or funds from the European Commission.
• The company has received a formal valuation attesting to a company value of € 1 million or more.

 
Companies incubated (currently or in the past) at PoliHub or Speed MI Up and those in which at least one of the co-founders is a student, professor or researcher or has obtained any degree at one of the two universities or in their business schools, SDA Bocconi School of Management and MIP, are considered to belong to the network of one of the two universities.
 
BeReady2Fly, on 26 November, will consist of a public moment of presentation of the selected companies, in the morning, and a private moment of business matching, in the afternoon, in which the companies will meet potential investors and possible partners.

by Fabio Todesco