Startup Lighthouse is committed to developing cross border connections within and beyond Europe. The project lights the way for startups within Europe by organising 9 Deep Dive Weeks in 4 ecosystems, meeting over 1,600 different ecosystem players in specific themes and culminating with a Lighthouse Award each year. Startup Lighthouse is a Startup Europe initiative.
Qualified matchmaking with corporates and investors actively looking for tech or partners. It’s faster than an accelerator and with no bullshit classrooms. Scaling Managers are assigned to help identify and schedule key meetings, follow up and overall provide startups with a tailored experience. Run by company builders, accelerators and investors. Successful participants were considered for higher value activities: such as Europass (access to top conferences and invite-only opportunities), Scouting Missions to New York, Silicon Valley and Israel - as well as winning the Lighthouse Top 10 Awards in front of our most distinguished investors!
As you read these words, Startup Lighthouse is reaching its end.Two years (2018-19) of connecting startup ecosystems. Two years organising nine Deep Dive Weeks for 120 startups on the forefront of mobility, IoT, travel, healthcare, smart cities, fintech, blockchain, analytics, gaming and edutech. Two intense but rewarding years of bringing ecosystem players together across Europe to support these highly promising companies to scale further and faster.
The fundamental question behind our work has always been the following: how can we create meaningful and longlasting business connections to startups who attend a one week programme in a new ecosystem? It is a question that business developers, accelerator managers, VCs, startup event organisers and many others have faced for years. Our particular approach focused on identifying opportunities for collaboration: with local companies, public organisations and other startups. Instead of focusing overwhelmingly on finding investors and funding, this approach intends to give startups the chance to prove themselves through their work, not through their pitch deck. This puts us in the world of open innovation: stimulating cooperation between different types of organisation in the development of new products or services. This is a concept that is increasingly popular but, as with accelerators 10 years ago, there are few proven successful methods of implementation.
