Techstars Smart Mobility Accelerator is a start-up acceleration programme that aims to attract the best entrepreneurial projects to Turin, from all over the world, focused on future mobility systems.
Goal:
High-Impact Innovation Department
In 2019, three prestigious institutions in our area – Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione CRT and the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center – decided to join forces to create the first Techstars acceleration programme in Italy, the Techstars Smart Mobility Accelerator.
Committing themselves for three years and investing over 9 million euros, the three partners intend to leverage the Techstars global network of over 200 acceleration programmes, which has generated a portfolio of 2000+ companies with a market capitalisation of more than 25 billion euros, to bring the best startups operating internationally in the mobility sector, focusing in particular on smart city and sustainability issues.
The acceleration programme will last 13 weeks, during which the startups will receive an investment of 120,000 dollars and be supported with their strategic decisions and the validation of market assumptions. This support will be provided by coaching “on the ground” from Techstars personnel and by external mentors selected internationally among entrepreneurs, managers, investors and domain experts. Completing the offer is access to the Techstars global network, which the startups can benefit from for life (“Techstars for Life”) to get advice, build partnerships and seek investments for growth.
During the first programme, which took place in 2020, Turin hosted 11 early-stage startups from Italy, United States, Ukraine, Norway, Germany and the United Kingdom. In approaching the market, the founders were supported by a dedicated Techstars team, 118 mentors, representatives of leading companies in the relevant sectors and a panel of top VC investors.
For Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, which considers startup companies to be “multipliers” in the pursuit of its own local development strategies focused on the SDGs, this initiative is an excellent opportunity to consolidate is role as an ecosystem developer for Turin in the technological innovation sector. The integration of Techstars startups with the local industrial fabric is therefore an important element of a broader action aimed at cultivating an innovation ecosystem in Turin that can bring together multiple complementary actors, including founders, investors, large companies, universities and incubators.
In the medium term, by hybridising patient capital and managerial skills, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo is laying a path aimed at enhancing and systematising the results achieved by the Techstars acceleration programme locally, involving institutional stakeholders and actors from its own group (Fondazione LINKS, LIFTT, I3P, 2i3T). Guiding this effort is the FCSP’s desire to strengthen Turin’s strategic positioning as an international hub for innovation capable of exerting centripetal force to attract excellent human capital.
