Date
2018 - 2020
Lighthouse sets a standard on developing cross border connections within and beyond Europe through matchmaking, 1-on-1 mentoring, workshops and many other activities to selected startups. The project lights the way for startups within Europe by organising 8 Deep Dive Weeks in 4 ecosystems (Berlin, Dublin, Lisbon and the Baltics) – meeting over 1600 different ecosystem players in specific themes such as fintech, refugee tech, e-gov, IoT, etc. – and culminating with a Top 10 Lighthouse Award in London each year. Furthermore, the best of the best of the selected startups will receive the chance to participate in 8 of the biggest European tech events as well as 1 week scouting missions to Silicon Valley, New York and Israel to accelerate their positioning as global players.
Main project activities:
1. Deep Dive Weeks
- 2 Berlin Deep Dive weeks (IoT + Refugee Tech), 30 startups participating;
- 2 Baltics Deep Dive weeks (Fintech + E-government), 30 startups participating;
- 2 Ireland Deep Dive weeks (MedTech & Life Sciences + TravelTech), 30 startups participating;
- 2 Portugal Deep Dive weeks (Analytics + Mobile), 30 startups participating.
2. Beyond Deep Dive Weeks
- Top 10 Startup Lighthouse Awards event in London each year organized as a project demo-day that aims to bring together top investors, entrepreneurs and executives from all over Europe;
- Europass – an opportunity for selected “high-value” startups from Deep Dive Weeks to attend top European tech events to meet with investors, mentors, partners and other startups;
- “Among investors” activities (Among investors Lisbon and Among investors London) to enlarge the investor network of the project to maximize the capital leveraged for the selected startups.
3. Beyond EU
- Scouting mission to Silicon Valley (1 week, up to 10 startups);
- Scouting mission to New York (1 week, up to 10 startups);
- Scouting mission to Tel Aviv (1 week, up to 10 startups);
- Soft-landing programmes (3 months soft-landing programmes for 3 best startups to support their scaling);
- Eastern Europe Market Discovery (two 1 week market discovery missions to Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltics, 10 participants each).
Expected impact of the Startup Lighthouse:
Selected startups:
- obtain 2000+ investment, partnership or customers leads;
- obtain 500 international customers leads;
- develop 100+ adapted products/services to new markets;
- raise collective turnover by 50%;
- create 500+ new jobs;
- raise €50M+ in total investment.
Project partners:
- Startup Division (ex-Open Coffee Club Vilnius) (LT) – Spearheads of Baltic startup ecosystem, pioneers of acceleration in the Baltic region. Operates the largest mentors fleet in the region of 200+ international mentors, has ties with 100+ regional angels and 80+ VC funds. It has brought well over 1000 startups to raising capital and scaling.
- F6S (UK) – The largest social network for Startups in World, that has over 1,800,000 profiles for the Startup & SME community and more than 680,000 Startups, and supports the majority of the EU Startup and SME ecosystem through deal flow and applications.
- ViLabs (EL) – An SME that acts both as a private research and innovation laboratory and as an innovation Hub for startups. ViLabs has an extensive network of collaborators including 50 organisations and companies around Europe and more than 15 individual scientists and senior consultants (business experts, IT professionals and investors).
- etventure Startup Hub (eSH) (ex-European Innovation Hub) (DE) – Company is a part of the worldwide FIWARE community with 16 Accelerators and 1000 later-stage startups, co-founder of iHub network with 24 incubators and innovation hubs in Europe with 1,300 early-stage startups. eSH has a strong network with 5000 startups worldwide working with partners in more than 40 countries globally.
- DCU Ryan Academy (IE) – Operates as a partnership between the Ryan Family (Ryanair) and Dublin City University – Ireland’s University of Enterprise. The Academy exists to support national economic and social policy through the design, delivery and coordination of programmes to develop the entrepreneurial capabilities of companies and individuals. Academy aims to bridge the gap between academia and entrepreneurial practice. DCU is internationally recognised as one of the world’s top young Universities – and Ireland’s only ‘Top 50 under 50’ university.
- FastTrack (PT) – A venture capital company which helps forge unique startups into successful companies. Applying a proven business approach, FastTrack empowers disruptive startups with seed investment, execution expertise and market experience. FastTrack invests in early stage technology companies led by outstanding entrepreneurs who are looking for a seed investment up to $1M.
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