The European Commissions ENRICH in the USA initiative, started in April 2017, is establishing a Network of European Research and Innovation Centers and Hubs around research universities throughout the United States that acts as a central contact point for European research and innovation actors - clusters, universities, R&D labs/centers, researchers, start-ups, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)... - seeking to grow and reinforce collaboration across the Atlantic. The mission of the Network is to provide standardized research & innovation internationalization support programs i.e. services, activities and events (including pitch, networking and matchmaking events) to European researchers and innovators, to accelerate their exposure, collaboration opportunities, and overall access to partners, clients and investors in the US market, and maximize their chances of success.
NGI Enrichers, also funded by the European Commission, as a complementary fellowship program focusing on European researchers and early stage innovators looking for collaboration opportunities in the USA, a lot around research universities.
These two programs co-managed by the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Temple University, based in Philadelphia, PA, support a global community of ‘Enrichers’ made of startups, corporations, research labs and universities representatives and mentors and investors actively participating.
Moreover, the programs are also meant to support in the middle term US startups and SMEs to become global, scale and enter the European market.
During the Silicon Valley Funding Summit at CES (one day before CES), we invite investors and startup ecosystems stakeholders to speak and judge startups pitching for 120/150 minute sessions.
We select the investors who apply as judges. They introduce themselves and then listen to the pitches, and give their feedback to the entrepreneurs. They will score the pitches and will choose he top 5 presentations. The app facilitates the scoring.
The ones judging must be actively engaged in investing their own funds or making decisions for their firms or organizations, and not be solely advisors. These are:
Angels
Strategic investors
Family offices partners
Venture capital partners
Private equity partners
Investment bankers
Incubators or Accelerators executives
Micro-funds managers
Crypto investors
During the week at CES (and a few weeks after), using this PITCH&MATCH app (and its chat capability), the startups are able to connect with the participating investors and ecosystems stakeholders.
The app also helps the startups to promote their latest news and offers.