StartCup Ticino 2017 is offering cash and coaching

The Startcup Ticino Award has evolved to become an important pillar of support for start-ups in the region of Ticino. Now in its fourth year, the award is introducing new support opportunities designed to foster startups and entrepreneurs in their early phases. This year the award is offering a three-month acceleration program to 20 early-stage start-ups selected from the first round of application.

The program will commence with a kick-off event on 19 July 2017. Selected candidates will pitch their ideas, and will be assigned to a specialized coach to work with during the program from July through October. The program covers multiple topics including fundraising, marketing and communication, product development among others. Each coach will engage their expertise to enable entrepreneurs transform their idea into a concrete project. 

Following the completion of the accelerator program, the CP Startup committee will nominate ten projects to be submitted to the National Jury of the StartCup Ticino. This selection process considers not only the idea itself but also the progress made right from the beginning of the accelerator program. After this selection phase has closed, the competition will proceed following the last year’s process. Five finalists will be nominated to participate in the award ceremony on December 6.

Thanks to the contribution of the Department of finance and economy of the Canton Ticino, through its Economic Development Office, the EFG Private Banking sponsor and the institutional partners (Fondazione AGIRE, CTI, USI, SUPSI), the top five finalists of the StartCup Ticino 2017 will be bestowed with a cash prize of CHF 50'000 StratCup Ticino 2017 winner, CHF 30’000 and CHF 20'000 to the second and third ranked projects, and CHF 10'000 to the fourth and fifth ranked projects respectively. In addition to the money prize, the top five will be automatically admitted to the second phase of the selection for the Swiss Economic Award and to the 3rd Venture Day Ticino.

StartCup Ticino competition is an initiative of the USI-SUPSI Start-Up Promotion Center (CP Start-up) supported by EFG Private Baking and promoted by the Ticino Regional Innovation System aiming at fostering entrepreneurship in the territory.

Registration deadline is 25 June 2017.