The ScaleIT team has selected the 15 top-performing innovative companies that will have access to the third edition of the exclusive event/platform conceived to bring together the best scaleups in Italy and — for the first time — south-eastern Europe with international investors interested in high-potential companies that have proven the validity of their models. This one-of-a-kind event, which will be held on 17 and 18 October in Milan, is aimed at meeting the increasingly clear needs, on the one hand, of innovative companies in south-eastern Europe for access to significant resources to support their growth and, on the other, of international investors to invest in these areas, which offer a wealth of opportunities. ScaleIT 2017 will be held with the support of big names in the technological and innovation ecosystem such as Assicurazioni Generali, in the role of main sponsor for the third year, in addition to Nasdaq, Accenture, Silverpeak, Amazon Web Services, Salesforce, Badenoch & Clark and Docomo Digital as corporate sponsors, and DLA Piper, GrowITup, ABC Accelerator and the U.S. Consulate General Milan as partners. The Advisory Board — chaired by Lorenzo Franchini, ScaleIT Founding Partner, and including journalist and entrepreneur Emil Abirascid, angel investor Pietro De Nardis and venture capitalist Mauro Pretolani — analysed the performances of the over 600 scaleups in ScaleIT’s proprietary database. After having identified and interviewed the most promising in terms of their business models and performances, the Board selected the following companies: COMPANY HEADQUARTERS Artemest (Italy) CharityStars (Italy) Codasip (Czech Republic) Cogisen (Italy) Entando (USA/ Italy) Hellohungry (Bulgaria) Martha’s Cottage (Italy) Mosaicon (Italy) ONO 3D (USA/Italy) Soundreef (UK/Italy) StreetLib (Italy) Supermercato24 (Italy) The Digital Box S.p.A (Italy) V-Count (Turkey) WIB Machine (Italy) These are thus the scaleups that will have the chance to meet with the international investors who take part in the event and to present their growth plans, with the aim of securing series A, B and C funding of a minimum of €3 million and a maximum of €30 million. The important investors that have already confirmed their presence at the event in October include major VC funds such as: 83 North, Acton Capital, Amadeus Capital, Balderton, Columbia Lake Partners, Draper Esprit, Early Bird Venture Capital, EC1 Venture Capital, Highland Europe, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Idinvest, Iris Capital, Nauta Capital, Next World Capital, Omnes Capital, Partech Ventures, and Redline Capital. Lorenzo Franchini, ScaleIT Founding Partner, commented: “This year the market has continued to confirm that in Italy, and in south-eastern Europe in general, there are very interesting companies that may represent excellent investment opportunities for the international investors that build the global market of innovative companies day after day. At ScaleIT, we work all year to keep up a constant dialogue and a pro-active exchange of information with them. We know what they are looking for and that they can find it in Italy, and in south-eastern Europe more generally. We have built relationships of trust with more than 300 investors from Europe — led by the UK, Germany and France — the USA, Asia and Israel. We have achieved this result because up to now we have succeeded in presenting quality companies to them, just as we will continue to do with the companies we have selected this year. Our ultimate goal is to contribute to the development of an infrastructure of innovative companies essential to building the future of Italy and beyond. We believe that this October event will serve as a further, concrete step in this direction, made possible by the presence of the important investors who have already confirmed their attendance.” Founded in 2015, ScaleIT is growing rapidly, with an increasingly international scope, on the strength of the results of previous editions and the renewed efforts of its organisers: eight of the eleven scaleups selected by ScaleIT 2015 raised a total of €45 million in the following year, accounting for approximately one-fourth of the investments made in innovative Italian companies, a market that in 2016 was worth €182 million (source: Hi-Tech Startups Observatory of the Milan Polytechnic School of Management). The international funds that participated in the 2016 edition of ScaleIT have invested a total of €2.2 billion over the past twelve months, a figure that confirms the audience’s potential. Additional information about the organisers and the programme for the 2017 edition is available from scaleit.biz.
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