This week BlockStart held its 3rd and final Ideation event, kick-starting its final Acceleration Programme. 10 DLT/blockchain startups have been selected and will now go through a 4-months Prototype stage to further develop their solution

This week, on the 27th and 28th of July, BlockStart organized the project’s 3rd Ideation event, that officially kick-started its final Acceleration Programme. This two-days online event was the bridge between the selection of DLT/blockchain developers and the challenges that SMEs face.

The Ideation Kick-off event brought together more than 120 representatives from the previously selected top 24 DLT/blockchain startups of Open Call #3, the 10 selected end-user SMEs (which have applied to BlockStart’s Open Call #3 for end-user SMEs, first cut-off date), BlockStart’s Advisory Board, expert guests in both blockchain and the target sectors, and the consortium members.

The concept of the event is to get to know existing DLT/blockchain technologies from their developers, match those with real SME needs and draw a roadmap on how to go from potential to real benefits.

The first day was dedicated to the DLT/blockchain developers’ pitches. Each pitch was 7 minutes long, followed by a Q&A from the jury members. During the second day, in the morning, each SME adopter presented to the audience their activities and the challenges they have in hand which may be addressed by blockchain. Then, there was plenty of time for matchmaking sessions, with a series of pre-arranged meetings between DLT/blockchain developers and SME adopters, between the afternoon of the 28th of July until the end of the week. More than 30 matchmaking meetings were held during this event.

At the end of this two-days event, in the afternoon of the 28th of July, upon the jury’s selection, the top 10 most promising and innovative DLT/blockchain startup developers that would go to BlockStart’s Prototype stage (4 months acceleration where they will receive mentorship to achieve product/market fit) were announced.

Congratulations to our top 10 DLT/blockchain startups

After two very long days, and with so many promising and innovative startups to evaluate, the BlockStart jury has decided to invite the following 10 startups to participate in the project’s last Prototype stage:

But what can they expect next?

Our top 10 DLT/blockchain startups must now prepare to enter a 4-months Prototype stage, where they are expected to further develop and adapt their DLT/blockchain-based solution before entering the Pilot stage, a 2-months real life pilot with end-user SMEs in which startups are expected to pilot their product and ensure product/market fit.

After the end of the Prototype stage, each startup is expected to receive €15.000 for successfully reaching the goals of their previously agreed Action Plan for this stage and will have the chance to again pitch their solution, and the developments made, to a jury from BlockStart consortium. At least 5 startups will be selected to move forward to the programme’s Pilot stage and be given the chance to validate and test their solution with potential end-user SMEs.

Stay in touch and follow up

We would like to thank all the teams that had the chance to pitch at BlockStart’s 3rd Ideation Kick-off event, as well as to all SMEs that presented their needs, met with our startups and have shown interest in a long-term collaboration. Our committee of experts had a tough time deliberating over so many qualified projects. Missing the cut at such an initial stage may hurt, but we will do our best to follow-up all our startups the best we can.

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