Over the course of the 2nd Pilot Round of InnoRate, which started in January and ran until December 2021, we organised several matchmaking and investment-readiness events, engaging numerous representatives from the project Consortium, Platform end-users and other relevant stakeholders. These events also offered an opportunity to introduce the ITRS methodologies and tools to new audiences and to incentivise the stakeholders from the 5 use cases piloted on the InnoRate Platform.
Notwithstanding the prolonged COVID-19 emergency, we successfully managed to hold the following (online) events:
- InnoRate Matchmaking and Investment Forum – the Forum sessions were distributed over 3 months (September – November) in 2021 and were attended by 61 companies and 54 among investors and guests from 17 countries. Here is an overview of the results:
- 3 presentations of the InnoRate Technology Rating System in the frame of Tech Tour Photonics 2021
- The Online Pitching Academy supported 61 companies to prepare their pitch and raise investment readiness with the support of 54 expert coaches and investors on the 19-21 October 2021
- 9 pitching sessions with 60 companies presenting in front of 40 investors and guests
- 177 requests for one-on-one meetings
- 11 external e-pitching sessions, organised in collaboration with other initiatives (non-InnoRate events) involving both deep-tech companies and investors:
- 6 pitching sessions within the Tech Tour Alpine 2021, a hybrid programme with live event and online pitching sessions covering 49 companies from multiple tech sectors from the Alpine areas of France and Switzerland in September – November 2021 with 129 participants from 8 countries
- 5 pitching sessions in the frame of Tech Tour Energy Transition, an online event with multiple tech sectors covered over October – December 2021 with presenting 30 companies in front of 24 investors operating in alternative energy, alternative carbon and energy efficiency and digitalisations from 13 countries.
- 7 investment readiness webinars, were deployed with the goal to improving the investment readiness of companies, as well as presenting the InnoRate platform. Overall the webinars attracted 265 participants . Here is the list of webinars organised in 2021
- Building relations with early stage investors
- Investors strategies and options
- Innovation and IP Commercialization and Licensing
- Business Modelling and Planning
- Financials and life saver tips for start-ups and SMEs
- The DO’s & DON’T’s of designing a start-up financial strategy
- What are investors looking for? (Paving the way to next steps: looking for funding and accessing early-stage financing)
- 4 investment readiness workshops were organised and run with a view to better preparing innovative projects, start-ups and SMEs before they address prospective private investors. Overall, these workshops attracted 123 participants and revolved around the following topics:
- European Data incubator’s experiment stage
- InnoRate & XR4All
- How to get ready for your investment pitch: Masterclass & Digital Pitching Exercise
- Negotiation Skills for Entrepreneurs: Masterclass & Digital Workshop
If you are curious about our past webinars, you can browse through InnoRate’s events recordings here.