IMPACT Growth announces the 14 startups selected for funding and acceleration in its second and final round

• More than 2000 startups from 60 countries have participated in the second call for startups by the IMPACT Growth accelerator, funded by the European Commission and offering a total of 3,6M€ in equity-free funding
• Each of the selected startups will receive up to €250,000 in equity-free funding, alongside acceleration and mentoring services
• This represents the last and final acceleration round of IMPACT Growth, which will have successfully accelerated a total of 28 international startups along the course of its 2 year duration
• During 4YFN 2018 at Mobile World Congress, IMPACT Growth showcased 6 of the startups accelerated in its first acceleration round.

March 7, 2018

IMPACT Growth, the startup acceleration programme led by FundingBox and ISDI and backed by leading accelerators, venture capital entities and global brands, has announced the names of 14 startups selected within its second and last open call in a Jury Day that took place on March 1^st at ISDI’s headquarters in Madrid.

Renowned entrepreneur Brian Wong – founder and CEO at Kiip and author of the The Cheat Code – was a featured guest speaker, inspiring the startups to “shortcut their way to success.”

A jury formed of experts such as Peter Torstensen and Søren Lottrup from Accelerace; Nacho de Pinedo and Jorge Villabona from ISDI; Lars Brøndum Petersen and Tomasz Mazuryk from FundingBox; Joaquín Revuelta and Jordi Vidal from Kibo Ventures, Carlos Bosch from Danone; Simona Torre from DOCOMO Digital; Carolina García and Francisco Javier Luque Cañones from Ferrovial Servicios; and Merete Norby from MADE had the challenging task of selecting the best 14 out of a total of 39 startups from 12 countries invited as semi-finalists. This jury was enriched by the participation of distinguished external experts, including Pedro Jareño from Microsoft, Michał Wrzołek from MCI and tech entrepreneur and investor Eduardo Fernández .

The 14 selected startups come from 7 countries and are:

• Absolute Zero (Copenhagen, Denmark): an interactive 360º live streaming enabled through self-aware VR cameras and augmented reality.
• ArtuData (London, UK): a platform that uses AI to find, attract and retain high value clients.
• Chatnfly (Barcelona, Spain): 100% automated travel chatbot for end users and corporates.
• Digitanimal (Madrid, Spain): a solution for the location and care of animals that increases livestock farms profits, ensuring animal welfare and traceability using blockchain.
• e-bot7 (Munich, Germany): artificial intelligence for improved customer service.
• Freesense ApS (Copenhagen, Denmark): a wireless sensor particle designed for bioreactors.
• Fueloyal (Sofia, Bulgaria): a smart IoT platform for fleet efficiency.
• Pycno (Valencia, Spain): professional and easy-to-use sensors addressed to agriculture and farms.
• Sensei (Castelo Branco, Portugal): an AI powered real-time video recognition solution for retail providing accurate in store analytics and insights.
• Sensohive ApS (Odense, Denmark): an intelligent wireless industrial monitoring of concrete production.
• Sentio Simulations (Copenhagen, Denmark): fast and accurate simulation solutions to manufacturing enterprises with zero manual content creation.
• Skyx (Ramat Hasharon, Israel): autonomous and modular swarm of agriculture spraying robots.
• Urban Clouds (Malaga, Spain): a solution that offers spatial mapping of air quality.
• WiTraC (Valencia, Spain): a wireless real time location system for Industry 4.0 based on IoT and smart sensors.

These startups will receive, in the first stage, a minimum funding of €100,000 equity-free. In addition to this initial funding, two of the selected startups will each receive a further €150,000 equity-free. Also, the best startups selected by IMPACT Growth will be able to access private financing of €1.5 million led by Kibo Ventures and Accelerace.

In addition to the funding, the 14 selected startups will benefit from support by the FIWARE Foundation for the integration of this technology into the development of their projects. The startups will participate in a training programme featuring international experts and entrepreneurs in Madrid and Porto and will access an international network of over 100 esteemed mentors, founders and investors.

The acceleration process, directed by ISDI and Accelerace, will be officially launched in April, offering a week full of exclusive networking and training activities ran by experts and innovation ecosystem leaders. This week will be the only part of the process whereby entrepreneurs are required to be onsite. The rest of the acceleration process, including a crowdfunding phase led by Invesdor, will take place remotely, relying on a wide network of international mentors and participation at international events and missions.

Ongoing and success of the first IMPACT Growth round 

The 14 startups selected in the first IMPACT Growth open call launched at 4YFN 2017 (February 2017), have already finalized the three-month intensive acceleration phase. These startups are now ready to enter their internationalization process offered by IMPACT.

Three of the most outstanding startups of the first batch of IMPACT Growth – Yerbabuena VR, Farm Dog and Clarity – were chosen to travel to Silicon Valley along with members of the IMPACT team in February. Later this month, four top startups, selected among the 14 first open call winners, will embark on the second IMPACT Growth Digital Mission, which will take place in London

Six of the accelerated startups were showcased last week at 4YFN Barcelona 2018, the flagship event of 4YFN, the business platform for the growing community of technology startups at the global level supported by Mobile World Capital Barcelona. Five other successful startups from previous IMPACT programmes were also present at 4YFN 2018.

Next calls for startups to enter the IMPACT Accelerator

The next calls for startups to enter the IMPACT Accelerator will open in April and May, inviting applications from startups disrupting the sectors of Connected Car and Robotics.