Telekom Romania is announcing the winners of WeAccelerate programme, through which the company is supporting 10 Romanian start-ups through benefits for business acceleration, worth 100,000 euros in total. „After almost 6 intense months, with adrenalin for all the 121 start-ups that joined the programme, we reached the moment that everybody was waiting for: announcing the winners. We are glad to see the entrepreneurs’ interest for WeAccelerate, and the large number of start-ups that accepted our challenge comes as a confirmation of the fact that Romanian entrepreneurs need such programmes and we are on the right path as far as supporting Romania business ecosystem is concerned. It wasn’t easy to chose the 10 winners, as many of the participants had interesting, solid projects that deserve to be supported. The 10 finalists are those who were closest to our selection criteria. In 2019 we will continue to support Romanian entrepreneurs in their efforts for business digitalization.” said Ovidiu Ghiman, Chief Commercial Office, Business Segment, Telekom Romania.
A total number of 121 start-ups, from various business areas, joined the competition, and the 10 winner start-ups were designated following a throrough selection process.
The winning start-ups are: Sensix.Io (solution for measuring environmental parameters), Nifty Learning (software), Fabrica de experimente (online commerce), Emedi (online commerce e-learning), Appseed (software), Thinkout (software), Genetx (life science), Casa de idei (internet & e-commerce), The Beer Institute (retail), Gateway VR (virtual reality).
Each of the 10 selectated start-ups will benefit from investments worth 10,000 euros, allotted as follows: financial support worth 6,000 euros, six months of subsidized rent at WeLoveDigital hub in Bucharest, 60 hours of mentorship and advice in online promotion, as well as online promotional campaigns.
Telekom Romania started the WeAccelerate programme, organized in partnership with WeLoveDigital hub, in May 2018. The programme has gone through three stages so far: the registration of the projects in the competition, the preselection stage after which 25 semi-finalists were designated and the final selection. Between 1-14 November the 25 semi-finalists presented their projects in front of a jury formed of the 6 mentors of the programme.
The winners will move to the incubation stage, which will unfold bewteen February-August 2019. During this stage the winning start-ups will work at the WeLoveDigital hub and will have meetings during which they will discuss their business objectives and challenges, with the six mentors. These meetings have the purpose to help the start-ups to develop their business and build a long term strategy. The mentors will also use their experience gained as entrepreneurs in their own businesses and will facilitate the connection of the start-ups with potential suppliers and business partners.
Telekom Romania launched the WeAccelerate programme to mark the commercial milestone of 100,000 customers for Freedom subscriptions, reached in May 2018, six months from launching the offer for entrepreneurs.
Freedom brough for the first time to the business segment, ulimited 4G internet, unlimited voice and messages, from 5 euros per month and eliminated the minimum contractual period and the termination fee.
The winner list and more information about the evolution of the programme are available on the website www.weaccelerate.ro .
