B4i Announces the 19 Startups for Third Acceleration Program

B4i - Bocconi for innovation, the pre-acceleration, acceleration and in-company development platform of Bocconi University, has announced the launch of the third round with the acceleration and pre-acceleration paths of 19 new startups selected from over 280 candidates. 

For Komete, movido, Nutriti and Qodeupal, that marks the start of the four-month acceleration program and a loan of 30 thousand euros. aMuse, BugsLife, Campo Digitale, CIBI Spray, DEMETRA, EasyLab, GALLERINSTA, Ittinsect, KHOON, Kidaria Bioscience, NextGenGuard, Readders, SVEI, The Hijabis and Urbana (Eat's Green) are the 15 startups that will take part in the pre- acceleration lasting 3 months, aimed at aspiring entrepreneurs who are working on the initial stages of their business project. 

From the inauguration, which took place in November 2019, to date, B4i - Bocconi for innovation has welcomed a total of 66 startups, through three acceleration and pre-acceleration programs. In addition, last November the third 'Bocconi for Innovation Startup Call' was launched, which attracted 20% more applications than the previous one, with over 560 founders involved, 13% of which international. The B4i team has chosen the startups that will participate in an acceleration path lasting four months, in addition to receiving an investment of € 30,000 each. 

The startup selection criteria were: innovativeness of the business idea, quality of the team of founders, ability to satisfy the market and relevance to the three areas in which B4i - Bocconi for innovation specializes: Digital Tech, coordinated by Massimo Della Ragione; Sustainability, coordinated by Stefano Pogutz; and Made in Italy, coordinated by Gabriella Lojacono. 

To participate in the Bocconi for Innovation Startup Call, startups must have a team of at least two people in which there is at least one member of the Bocconi community (student, alumnus, staff or faculty member) or a student or alumnus of the University of Milan, Milan Polytechnic or an IIT researcher. 

 B4i - Bocconi for innovation is led by the Dean for Innovation Markus Venzin and Operating Director Nico Valenti Gatto, and relies on important institutional partnerships such as the ones with the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Milan Polytechnic , and the University of Milan, and operational partnerships with Plug and Play, Invitalia and Kilometro Rosso. 

"The increase in the number of applications is the result of the success that B4i - Bocconi for innovation has achieved together with the first and second batch startups, and our growth coincides with the number of investments, hires, publications and awards that the startups already accelerated have eached in the last year and a half ”, explains Markus Venzin, Vice Rector of Innovation at Bocconi University. "We also confirm the strategic objectives of B4i, first of all “Business Meets Tech" with the desire to accelerate an increasing number of startups focused on deep tech, that is, with patents and innovations related to the world of Artificial Intelligence, Materials Science, IoT. In this area our strategy will be to expand our partnership network more and more ". 

Here is the complete list of B4i startups https://www.b4i.unibocconi.it/startup.