There is a new series of events enlivening the start-up ecosystem; they are international events, entirely and exclusively in English, events that take up equally international formats and contexts and are also held in smaller cities, confirming the fact that business innovation can be born and develop even outside large urban centres. Of course, when one grows and needs to interface continuously with investors, with partners, with the market, it is advisable not to snub the large centres where most of these resources are concentrated, but it is significant how territories are working to identify the elements that characterise them and leverage on them to present themselves in the context of the ecosystem. One of these events, making its debut, took place in early September in the city of Bolzano at the Noi Park spaces and under the Slush’D brand, which identifies events that draw on the well-known winter event in Helsinki and bring its spirit to various cities around the world. Slush’D Bolzano was the first event of its kind to be organised in Italy, and was attended by over 60 speakers, national and international investors who, according to a note issued by the organisers, represented a total of over EUR 2.6 billion in assets.
A first edition with more than decent numbers, an attendance of around 850 people, a startup competition that awarded the startup Sly
Over 60 speakers took turns on stage during the day. Investors present representing more than EUR 2.6 billion in assets
Cristian Frigo, co-founder and CEO of Bolzano Slush’D tells Startupbusiness: “We are very happy with the results of this first edition, even the numbers went beyond expectations, not to mention the quality of the content and the start-ups that participated, and we are already working on the development of the second edition next year.
Sly, the Italian-Canadian start-up that won the competition, securing access to the limelight at Slush in Helsinki, develops a sophisticated technology consisting of a sensor, shaped like a pine cone, placed in a forest or area at risk, capable of identifying the early stage of a fire selectively, and reporting it to the relevant authorities.
Second place in the startup competition went to Cloov, an end-to-end technology solution to implement a circular strategy through unsold inventory and take-back programmes. Cloov won EUR 2,500 in financial services from Sigma Squared. The other finalists were Guestnet, a platform that revolutionised guest management, making processes efficient and maximising revenue in the hotel and non-hotel world. Flowy, specialising in real-time passenger travel data management, and CAEMate, which devised innovative solutions for proactively monitoring and maintaining infrastructures through simulations on digital twins.
“The extraordinary participation in the first Italian edition of Slush’D is first of all an excellent sign of vitality for the business world, which has shown itself capable of getting involved and ready to think about what will happen in the coming months. – adds Frigo in a note – Secondly, it was a bet that was won: I would like to thank all the people who collaborated for the success of the event, the volunteers who helped us, the speakers, and the sponsors who believed in this initiative’.
The day was full of insights and visions of the future, led by the more than 60 speakers who took the stage in the various panels. An event that brought together the experience of entrepreneurs, investors and institutions not only from Italy but also from the DACH area. An innovative outlook on the challenges of tomorrow that could also be experienced at first hand in the expo area, which saw the presence of 61 start-ups among the best on the Italian and international scene: Igloo, Kuba Labs, Mountain Maps, Mano Tapo, Sly, New Speakers, Brentech, Snap Kitchen, Edivite, Hypesound, Trusty, Agreen biosolutions, Source, Lexemo, Roboalpin, CAEmate, Arxax, Bikeflip, NTP, Alganize, Agrobit, Latitudo 40, Notarify, MyCia, Guestnet, Flowy, ToSwim, Bitebase, Alpinvision, Cloov, CON4Us, Al kosmo, Albicchiere, Argo, Sindrel, Rehub, Goodify, La Orange, Farmit, Foreverland, To-Be srl, Romars, Geocare, Valuemize, Innoitaly, Clava sports, Parastruct, Hiop, Avacam, FlyingBasket, Loki, Hercle, Rellai, Hygge dog, Truebees, B2 labtech, Plantvoice, Titan4, Nebula, Ring33, 3dnextech.
Among the speakers present Paolo Privitera, executive vice president corporate development of Events.com announced a merger agreement with Concord Acquisition Corp II. The new public company will retain the name Events.com and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The merger indicates an enterprise value of $399 million, assuming a share value of $434 million at closing, based on an estimated 43.4 million shares outstanding, and $35 million in net cash.
Bolzano Slush’D involved experts and innovators from all over the world. On the Summit Stage, Privitera opened with a lecture on entrepreneurial strategies. Afterwards, Gianluca Dettori of Primo Venture and Laurens Groenendijk of Dutch Founders Fund discussed building global ecosystems. At the ‘Fresh Voices, Bold Moves’ panel, young investors such as Edgar Vicente of Enzo Ventures and Lucrezia Lucotti of 360 Capital offered insights into the future of venture capital. In the afternoon, Silvia Corani, CEO of Ncore, Victor Ranieri, Coo of Casavo and Andrea D’Amico, Coo of WeRoad analysed the impact of Italian start-ups on the international scene.
Inside the Climber Stage, however, Fabio Mondini of Growth Capital explored the frontiers of innovation by showing the latest figures on venture capital investments in Italy, Europe and the DACH regionThese data are the result of the work of Growth Capital’s analysis team, which, in partnership with Italian Tech Alliance, updates and publishes them on a quarterly basis, and have been supplemented by a forecast analysis that highlights how we are heading towards a time when investment growth will once again take centre stage, a time that will therefore potentially bring new financial oxygen for innovative entrepreneurs. Mondini also emphasised the importance of looking closely at three sectors in particular: artificial intelligence and machine learning, cleantech and defence technologies. It is crucial to bear in mind that venture capital is also a cyclical sector, and this has been very evident in recent years, especially with the surge during the covid-19 period and the subsequent contraction in recent quarters, but it is equally fair to consider that the next phase will be one of growth.
Mondini’s speech was followed by a discussion on the foodtech with Sara Guaglio of FUL Foods and Roberto Profera of Cortilia. There was also interest in the panel on sustainability and climatetech, with participants such as Weronika Czaplewska of Envirly and Nick De La Forge of Planet A Ventures.
Bolzano Slush’D also offered two masterclasses: “From zero to €200 million in revenues without a personal assistant”, by Claudio Erba, a journey through the challenges and successes that led Docebo, the company founded by Erba, to become an industry leader with a market capitalisation of $1.6 billion. ‘Simplifying investments with legal technology and standardisation’ was instead the topic of the masterclass by Antonio Legrottaglie, partner at Dentons, who covered topics such as the integration of legal technology in venture capital operations, the benefits of standardising contracts and legal documents, and how these practices can streamline and simplify the investment workflow.
Supporting the success of the first edition of Bolzano Slush’D is a network of sponsors who have chosen to invest in the innovation event. Gold and sustaining partners of the initiative: LDV20 powered by Sparkasse Bolzano, PWC, Inest ecosystem, Google and Google Cloud, Würth, Okta, Dentons, Redstone, Konzept Partners, EY. Networking partners are Qonto, Fruitservice, UnipolSai Assicurazioni, Generali, Loacker, WhatAVenture. More than 35 ecosystem supporters, including 2100 VC, Plug Play, Italian Tech Alliance, Growth Capital VC, Italians in VC, Loyal VC, Zest Group, Baby VC, Bocconi for Innovation, Trentino Sviluppo, Azienda di Soggiorno e Turismo Bolzano, Four Points by Sheraton Bolzano, Early Bird, Wylab, Eden Ventures, MiVC, Novaterra. The first edition of Bolzano Slush’D is sponsored by the Free University of Bozen/Bolzano, the University of Trento, the University of Milan and ICE, Agency for the promotion abroad and internationalisation of Italian companies.
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