The 20 startups selected for Fit 4 Start #12, Luxembourg's flagship accelerator programme, have been unveiled today. The jury members of this new edition had to choose from a total of 214 applications coming from 42 countries. The pitching sessions were held online between 13 September and 4 October. For this 12th edition, an additional category, focused on HPC and data analytics, has been added to the 3 traditional verticals (ICT, HealthTech and Space), for which 3 startups have been selected, among the 20.
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Fit 4 Start Acceleration Programme
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Fit 4 Start Acceleration Programme
The 20 startups selected in the 4 categories will benefit from the specialised coaching as well as €50,000 of funding from the Ministry of the Economy each, with the possibility of receiving an additional €100,000 if they graduate successfully from the programme and manage to raise some private capital. On top of that, the 3 startups selected in the new track will benefit from a special programme, including access to computing and data analytics capacities of the national supercomputer MeluXina.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the main represented technology and a direct access to MeluXina
In line with previous editions, one third of the applications came from Luxembourg, the rest being equally divided between EU and non-EU startups.
This 12th call-for-applications also showed a clear trend for AI related solutions. Indeed, 30% of the applications used this technology, following by Internet of Things (11%) and Machine learning (11%).
"The new track attracted 20 applications, which means that there is a real interest for this kind of offer from startups. It links directly Fit 4 Start to MeluXina, which is a highly strategic initiative of the Government meant, among others, to build a competitive ecosystem for ambitious startups” noted Stefan Berend, Head of Start-up Acceleration at Luxinnovation.
Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot added: "The Fit 4 Start acceleration programme is a powerful facilitator providing entrepreneurs with attractive pre-seed funding. In addition, the new HPC and data analytics track offers a unique opportunity to benefit from the real added value that we can offer in Luxembourg in terms of technology and expertise in the field of supercomputing and I hope that this will lead to the development of innovative solutions.”
The programme will kick off in early January. It will last 6 months, with coaching sessions taking place both physically and online depending on the sanitary situation.
Initiated in 2015 by the Ministry of the Economy, Fit 4 Start is managed by Luxinnovation in collaboration with Technoport, the Luxembourg City Incubator and the Luxembourg Space Agency.
Selected start-ups:
ICT:
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Space:
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HealthTech:
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HPC:
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See detailed description under "More".
Press release by the Ministry of the Economy and Luxinnovation