Although European unicorns may be as scarce as the mythical origin of their name, the European Commission and Startup Europe are seeking “the next generation of EU unicorns” to compete in the next Startup Europe Comes to Silicon Valley week-long mission in September.
The aim of Startup Europe Comes to Silicon Valley (SEC2SV) is to expose scale-ups – mature start-ups ready for the big time – to the Silicon Valley ecosystem.
Interested companies from all over Europe should apply via the f6s scale-up form, open for one-and-a-half months starting from today (2 March), after which a committee of leading US and European investors will select 15 companies to participate in SEC2SV 2016.
To take part, the start-up must be a European company, have achieved at least 20pc revenue growth year-over-year for the last three years and wish to expand into the US market or already be present there.
Last year, 14 European start-ups from nine countries took part, including German firms Shopgate and Entrade, the UK’s Relaeyes and Versarien, Spain’s Job and Talent, Italy’s Mosaicoon and France’s TVTY.
During SEC2SV, scale-ups will be able to present at European Innovation Day, which will have 60 speakers and 800 attendees, as well as at a dedicated three-day Scale-up Summit.
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