House of Startups Accommodates 100+ Startups in First Year

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the House of Startups (HoST), the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce has reflected on some of its main achievements over this past year.

Launched on 1 June 2018, the HoST has since achieved its first aim of creating a federating venue for an innovation ecosystem. Indeed, the HoST, with its four incubators and more than 100 startups, has become a focal point for innovation in the Grand Duchy. Turning towards a new phase, it now aims to offer several concrete initiatives for Luxembourg’s innovation ecosystem.

Today, the HoST is home to four key players in innovation: the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT), the Luxembourg-City Incubator (LCI), the International Climate Finance Accelerator (ICFA Luxembourg) and the Hub@Luxembourg. Each one of these entities has managed to become a unique pole of attraction. The LHoFT is now considered a key player in FinTech and is running at full capacity. The LCI, created by the Chamber of Commerce with the support of the Ville de Luxembourg, features a list of startups from sectors as diverse as urbantech, commerce, tourism, logistics and construction. Similarly, ICFA Luxembourg and Hub@Luxembourg are supporting the implementation of ten new climate funds.

Carlo Thelen, Director General of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, confirmed: "The House has become a central meeting point for innovation, hosting an average of 30 events and some 1,000 visitors per month, including many official foreign delegations". He added: "As part of the process, the Chamber of Commerce has launched an incubator club (INCLU), whose vision is to identify and implement solutions for the improvement of the startup ecosystem in Luxembourg."

In addition to its role as a federating player, the HoST aims to provide services and support to startups, including building bridges with businesses throughout the country. In recent months, a significant number of services have been developed. These are aimed in part at startups, such as the fundraising shop, an intermediary for advice and assistance for startups in their search for public or private funding. In terms of coaching, the HoST has set up the Luxembourg Acceleration Bootcamp (LAB), the objective of which is to provide startups with assistance in financing and European expansion.

Established companies looking to further innovate can also benefit from the HoST's Luxembourg Open Innovation Club (LOIC). Supported by the principal local innovation hubs (Luxinnovation, Technoport, LHoFT, LCI, lux future lab, Paul Wurth Incub, Neobuild and Hub@Luxembourg), the LOIC proposes member activities on subjects related to innovation. The number of LOIC members has almost doubled in the last twelve months.

Most recently, the HoST created EU-TRIBE, a project which aims to connect key innovation players from Luxembourg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Lorraine and Wallonia. The idea of EU-TRIBE is to federate an innovation market of critical size between the two big poles of attraction for startups, Paris and Berlin, which constitutes a technological megalopolis of some 1,500 startups and many competence centres, to attract not only startups, but also financiers and potential customers.