New Startup Luxembourg Platform Launched

Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, and the CEO of Luxinnovation, Sasha Baillie, officially launched the new Startup Luxembourg platform during the "Towards the next level" event at Luxexpo the Box in Luxembourg-Kirchberg on Monday.

Launched in 2019, Startup Luxembourg is the brand for the ecosystem focusing on young innovative companies in Luxembourg. Through its web platform and social networks, it aims, to promote this ecosystem internationally and to facilitate networking and business opportunities.

Supported by the Ministry of the Economy and managed by Luxinnovation, the public initiative Startup Luxembourg serves all players in the ecosystem (startups, incubators, research institutes, public organisations, etc.). Startup Luxembourg is also the brand under which Luxembourg is represented at international events dedicated to young innovative companies.

Economy Minister Franz Fayot commented: "The Luxembourg startup ecosystem has grown considerably in recent years, both in terms of the number of start-ups and in terms of programmes and support measures".

"Our ecosystem has reached a certain level of maturity and it is now the right time to focus our efforts on promoting it beyond our borders", added Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation.

The Startup Luxembourg brand now has 17,000 followers on its three social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) and has already represented Luxembourg several times at international trade fairs such as Viva Technology in Paris and the Web Summit in Lisbon.

The main objective of the new www.startupluxembourg.com platform is to highlight the ecosystem and its players, as well as to bring together all the latest news about startups in Luxembourg. At the international level, it serves as a lever to highlight all the advantages that the country can offer to young innovative companies. It also enables direct contact with incubators, startups and institutional players.

At the national level, the platform also aims to facilitate networking and business opportunities. Based on a very advanced design and user experience, the site aims to best reflect the specificities of the Luxembourg ecosystem. 

The "Towards the next level" event was also the occasion to present the startups selected for the 11th edition of Fit 4 Start, Luxembourg’s flagship accelerator programme, and to award the graduates of the previous edition.

Launched by the Ministry of the Economy and managed by Luxinnovation in collaboration with Technoport, Luxembourg City Incubator and Luxembourg Space Agency LSA), the Fit 4 Start programme helps young innovative companies to launch from Luxembourg, transforming innovative ideas and project leaders' strong will to succeed into companies with a strong growth potential. Initially open only to startups in the ICT sector, Fit 4 Start now also targets companies active in health and space technologies.

The fifteen startups selected at the beginning of June for the 11th edition pitched their solutions in person or online. These startups will benefit from six months of specialised support, as well as individual funding of €50,000 from the Ministry of the Economy, with the possibility of receiving an additional €100,000 if they successfully complete the programme and manage to raise private capital.

A round table discussion with former participants looked back on the main developments that have contributed to the success of Fit 4 Start. In ten editions over a period of five years, the programme has seen more than 1,800 startups apply and 78 follow the different coaching sessions.

The event ended with the graduation of the sixteen successful applicants from the 10th edition.