Match Startup Program
IoT, AI/ML batch, powered by the Swedish Government
The Challenge
The Embassy of Sweden in Hungary was looking for a solution to help Swedish corporates discover relevant fresh tech innovations from the CEE region, to accelerate the rate of business matchmaking between them.
The Solution
After identifying the common vertical interest of the various corporates who decided to join the program, we created a one-day business matchmaking event, set up the application and selection process and invited the most relevant startups from all around the CEE region to apply.
Outcome
A one-day business acceleration program focused specifically on matching founders of selected startups within a specific vertical with CEOs and innovation decision makers of the participating corporates, face to face, including mentorship to all participants.
Swedish corporations involved
The goal of the whole program was to smartly connect founders of selected startups with the regional CEOs of the participating corporates, in a limited timeframe - The Match-Meetings.
Based on the interest of the corporations, we set up a 2-step selection process, on the agreed criteria: Startup development stage - Industry Focus - Region/Country of activity and also took full responsibility for the quality and quantity of applicants.
In January 2019, the Embassy of Sweden in Hungary contacted us for a consultancy right after we’d delivered them the Hungarian Startup Ecosystem Map. We developed a plan where 4 well recognized multinational corporations from Sweden (Ericsson, ABB, AQ Anton and Sigma Technology), all having operations in Hungary, took part in a one-day business acceleration program focused on matchmaking, represented on CEO level.
How we found the startups
Taking advantage of our vast network of startups, credibility and experience in running the world’s largest startup ecosystem competition, we created the selection process, designed and executed the event itself. We did not only advertise the program in our communication channels reaching dozens of thousands of startups in the CEE region, but also contacted and invited relevant startups from our large database.
Logistics of the event
Welcome Dinner
Representatives of the selected startups and the CEOs of the participating corporates were invited for an informal dinner at the residency of the Swedish Ambassador in Budapest, on the day before the event.
MATCH Startup Program event
The day was started up with a keynote from Peter Arvai, co-founder and CEO of Prezi, to show the perspective of a well established and already successful startup from the region, Peter also sharing his personal experience representing both the Swedish and Hungarian business cultures. Then participating startups had mentoring sessions with external experts, right before going for “speed-dating” like meetings with the CEOs of the corporates.
Some pictures of the event
