Applications open for Fit 4 Start acceleration program with €150,000 equity-free funding available

Data-driven and HealthTech ventures from across the world are invited to apply for the Fit 4 Start acceleration program in Luxembourg, with six-month coaching and mentoring and up to €150,000 equity-free funding available to the qualifying startups.

Applications close at noon (CET), on September 19, 2022.

This will be the 13th edition of Fit 4 Start which is run by Luxembourg's national innovation agency, Luxinnovation, with funding from the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg. The program focuses on pre-seed tech startups with innovative solutions and high potential. This year, the program will have a special focus on training the startups around sustainability to help them initiate more sustainable action-taking from day one.

The startups invited to join the acceleration program are:

• data-driven or HealthTech solutions 
• at the pre-seed stage
• no older than 5 years
• with a team of 2+ people (18+ years old) with at least one person working on the project full-time
• at the MVP stage (MVP or later recommended for international applicants)

Getting your foot in the door to Europe

The program will not only provide the qualifying startups with equity-free financing, intense 6-month mentoring, and a place to work, but for international startups, it's also a chance to use Luxembourg as a testbed for their products before launching them to other European markets.

“Luxembourg might be a small market, but we offer an international setting and access to experts with knowledge about how to enter and penetrate other European countries. During our acceleration program, we help startups to build their market strategy from Luxembourg, which can be used to expand to other markets – to France, Belgium, Germany, and beyond – in a really tailored way,” explains Sven Baltes, Advisor - Startup Acceleration at Luxinnovation.  

After two years in online mode, the 13th edition of Fit 4 Start will return to a physical format, with in-person coaching for selected ventures and a competitive pitching session set to take place at the Arch Summit. For the first time, the founders will pitch their startups to not only the Fit 4 Start jury of investors, serial entrepreneurs, and experts from the industry, but also to the 4,000+ Summit visitors, thus broadening their network and visibility.

Tens of startup success stories, and counting

Since the first Fit 4 Start edition in 2015, the program has received over 2,300 applications from 90+ countries. Over the 7 years, 130 startups have gone through the program, with 75% of the companies graduating.

“Fit 4 Start is a unique accelerator. During the programme we were constantly pushed out of our comfort zone to better understand the customer perspective, which eventually led us to a sharp pivot. Under the guidance of the expert coaches, we then materialised the full business case. Looking back, it is a blast how much progress we made in just the 6 months,” explains Jan Van Baelen, CEO of The Lunar Grid and the alumni of Fit 4 Start Edition #12. 

Some of the best-known startups that have participated in the Fit 4 Start program include startups Salonkee, which has raised €7.2 million since graduating, and Rafinex that's currently expanding to international markets, as well as ANote Music, one of the fastest growing music investment platforms in the world.

If you want to participate in the acceleration program, apply here (for data-driven/digital ventures) or here (for HealthTech).