OpenMaker is thrilled to become
StartUp Europe Ambassador!
Startup Europe Ambassadors represent a group of key influencers in the European startup ecosystems who are actively supporting the European Commission (EC) activities. The aim is to democratise the access to the Startup Europe Initiative, by making it open to EC partners and offering them the power of improving the initiative. This means you can:
- Contact us and enquire key information about Start-Up Europe activities in the countries in which we are based (Italy, Slovakia, Spain and United Kingdom)
- Provide feedback and innovative insight that we will channel to the European Commission’s Startup Europe team with the objective of improving the activities of this initiative.
What is Startup Europe?
Startup Europe is an initiative of the European Commission, which falls under its priority of the ‘Digital Single Market’. The 4 main objectives of Startup Europe are to:
- Connect people such as startups, investors, accelerators, female entrepreneurs, corporate networks, universitiesand #EUTechWriters through a wide array of networks. The Startup Europe Map, a map which connects all startup players in the European ecosystems, is part of this.
- Connect local startup ecosystems by supporting regional initiatives such as Startup Europe Week or Startup Europe Regions Network.
- Help startups soft-land in other markets such as Silicon Valley (for example SEC2SV: Startup Europe Comes to Silicon Valley initiative), India (for example the Startup Europe India Summit), Africa (Startup Europe Comes to Africa initiative, coming soon) and The United Arab Emirates (coming soon).
- Celebrate entrepreneurs’ success (Techallstars, Europioneeers and StartUp Europe Awards).
... Still curious?
Launched in 2011, Startup Europe has become a top reference in the European startup field.Their mission is to build a Startup Continent by increasing the connectedness among all players of the European startup ecosystems. The initiative is primarily focused on two main pillars that create a visible, interconnected, dedicated space where startups can obtain advice, look for partners and grow locally and internationally:
1. Access to funding opportunities for startup ecosystem builders who design projects to improve startups’ capabilities to scale up, raise capital or enter new markets;
2. Support of cross-border stakeholder networks and grassroots initiatives.
715 Startups have been directly supported raising over € 200M in capital from the market; 900 pitching sessions with investors, over 500 cross-border meetings and networking events, 350 matchmaking sessions between startups, investors and corporates have been organised. Startup Europe Week organised 411 events during the first week of February 2017 across the 28 Member States, and Startup Europe Awards followed the Eurovision model to get national champions in 18 Member States; 110 activities to internationalise startups and more than 180 startups participated in the activities in India, Africa and Silicon Valley. Furthermore, the one-stop-shop for Startups (www.startupeuropeclub.eu) provides information and support notably for startups to grow internationally.