Twenty-three startups will receive further support for accelerated development within the second phase of the Raising Starts 2.0 program: Ambrozer, Attention Getter, Arch, BIBO, By Tech, Capsule Game Studio, Collabwriting, Farma Inova, Farmbot, Jigzi, LetzPlay, MatchIT, Meeliana, Natural Factory, ProShot, Safe Waste, SAVEMA, Smartsy, Sport Up, Housing Advisor, The Social Formula, VAH, WizArt, Zlatni start.

Each of the teams will be assigned a professional and business mentor, depending on the startup’s specific needs, with whom they will work over the next 6 months within individual sessions. Additional specialized training in business and startup development awaits them, as well as peer-to-peer networking with other startup founders, investors, and experts from the community. Teams will also receive up to 15,000 CHF (no participation, no equity) for accelerated development of their innovation.

Funding within the program is intended to cover costs in prototyping, business model development, market research, testing of first customers, intellectual property protection, and other costs related to the development of new products or services.

To remind, 45 teams were selected to participate in the first phase of Raising Starts 2.0. During this phase, the participants acquired knowledge of acquiring business skills, market validation of problems and characteristics of innovative products/services, and in the field of intellectual property protection, in close cooperation with the Swiss Federal Institute for Intellectual Property, and the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia.

At the end of Phase 1, teams and companies presented their ideas on the DemoDay to the Selection Committee, which decided which 24 startups with their work and approach showed the greatest potential for commercializing their ideas and conquering the global market, and which will continue to participate in the program under Phase 2.

Congratulations to all startups, for their great ideas, dedication, and pitches, and especially to the selected Phase 2 participants!

Raising Starts is the first pre-seed program in Serbia, which provides startup teams and companies in the earliest stages of developing innovative products and services with both business and financial support.

The program is implemented by the Science and Technology Park Belgrade with the support of the Swiss Government, in partnership with the Science Technology Park Niš and Science Technology Park Čačak, within the project “Technopark Serbia 2 – Encouraging exports through the development of technology parks” by which the Swiss Government supports the further development of innovations and tech entrepreneurship in Serbia.

At the first public call for the Raising Starts program at the end of 2020, out of 183 registered teams, 13 of them received professional and financial support for the accelerated development of innovative ideas. Through several public calls, Raising Starts will support the establishment and development of up to 100 new startup companies in the regions of Belgrade, Niš and Čačak until the end of the Project.