Twenty projects join the Boldbrain Startup Challenge

Boldbrain Startup Challenge is the accelerator in Ticino for early-stage innovative start-ups, organised by the Agire Foundation with the support of the CP Start-up USI.  The challenge offers 20 start-ups a three-month coaching program that helps them develop their entrepreneurial skills and enhance their business ideas.  

The 2020 edition attracted a total of 148 applications, of which 62 were examined by an evaluation committee formed by experts hailing from the business world, academia, and the entrepreneurial context. Subsequently, the committee selected 20 most outstanding applications taking into account various criteria, including the value of the ideas and their scalability, the possible economic impact in the region, the level of innovation, the business model and the quality of the team.

The selected projects represent the main innovative sectors such as ICT, consumer products and services and the renewable and cleantech energy sector. Several ideas arose from the COVID-19 crisis. This variety confirms Boldbrain's positioning as a horizontal accelerator that does not focus on a single business sector but on innovation and project scalability. Among the selected business ideas, ten are currently incubated at the CP Start-up USI and, compared to previous years, there has been an increase in the number of projects that come with a registered company.

The 20 start-ups selected for Boldrain Startup Challenge 2020 are:

4Devices (medtech) – Aargau

Excede (fintech/insurance tech) – Zurich

F-Helix (electronic and mechanical engineering) – Ticino  

Finar Module Tech (electronic and mechanical engineering) – Ticino

Lighthouse  (medtech) – Ticino

NATIVE (sport/leisure/tourism/lifestyle) – Ticino

Proxying (consulting and services) – Ticino

QM_Project (life sciences, IT diagnostics, data) – Italy

Secondo (consumer products and services) – Ticino

Smart Power Center (energy, cleantech) – Russia  

SwicketLive (ICT, software & data engineering) – Ticino

TeachRemote (social entrepreurship, education) – Zurich

Trading Stratagem (fintech, insurance tech) – Ticino

TurboGas-5.0 (electronic and mechanical engineering) – Ticino

UNIVERSUS-OS (ICT, software & data engineering) – Italy  

VMall (consumer products and services) – Ticino

voltWALL (energy, cleantech) – Ticino   

WeSaidYes (sport/leisure/tourism/lifestyle) – Ticino

WYTH  (design, art, architecture, gaming) – Ticino   

YSI (consumer products and services) – Italy

On 4th September, the teams kicked-off the three-month acceleration program, which offers coaching by experts and support to develop entrepreneurial skills through workshops. Besides sessions on the topics of value proposition, financial and intellectual property issues, and on communication,  participants will also acquire insights on legal aspects of entrepreneurship, as of this year.

(DL)