SCALE UP

The time is now. Today Mind the Bridge, in partnership with the European Commission and Startup Europe, announces the opening of the call for the next generation of EU Unicorns to be selected for the third annual SEC2SV (Startup Europe Comes to Silicon Valley), co-organized with EIT Digital, a weeklong mission that brings together the most promising EU scaleups, corporates, investors, and policy makers in September 2017 in Silicon Valley.

The aim of SEC2SV is to welcome the next class of leading European scaleups, i.e. mature startups ready to take off and exploit the opportunities offered by Silicon Valley and the US market. Interested companies from all over Europe should apply via the f6s scaleup form by June 9th 2017, after which a committee of leading US and European investors will select only 15 companies admitted to participate in SEC2SV 2017. 

Interested scaleups must meet the following minimum eligibility requirements: 

• be a European Union-based company 
• have an average annualized growth in employees or turnover greater than 20% per annum over a three-year period (with more than 10 employees at the beginning of the 3 year period) 
• desire to expand to the U.S. market or already have a presence there.
• be innovative  

The selection will be curated with the support of several Silicon Valley-based partner organizations.

In 2015 and 2016, 28 European companies representing 23 countries were selected to participate in the SEC2SV mission. Cumulatively, these businesses generated more than $100 million in revenue and had over 2,000 employees. Among them were German high-growth companies Shopgate and Entrade, the UK’s Realeyes and Versarien, Spain’s Job and Talent and Kanteron, Mosaicoon and Shopfully from Italy, France’s TVTY, Belgian Awingu among many more.

“SEC2SV brought together amazing scaleups and gave a unique glimpse into the near future. I was honored to be part of this group and I can’t wait to see the next!” commented Andrea Anderheggen, founder and CEO of Shopgate (after an exit with Sofort to Klarna) who participated in the 2015 cohort.

“A Varied program. Meeting at senior level. And very applicable. Great experience!” commented Walter Van Uytven, Founder/Ceo Awingu who participated in the 2016 cohort.

During SEC2SV 2017, scaleups will have the opportunity to present at European Innovation Day (the opening conference, with 60+ speakers and 800+ attendees) and participate in a tailored program involving mentoring, networking, and meetings with key stakeholders – a dedicated 3-day Scaleup Summit that will involve in-depth roundtables with 30+ Silicon Valley experts on the topics of growth, talent, legal, funding, M&A, policy, and communications. The SEC2SV participants will also be invited to exclusive receptions (EU consulates in San Francisco), and meetings at Silicon Valley institutions (Apple, Airbnb, Andreessen and Horowitz, Facebook, GE Digital, Google Ventures Microsoft, Silicon Valley Bank, K&L Gates, to mention some names from prior editions). 

In 2015 and 2016, key SEC2SV participants included Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, European for Budget and Human Resources, Günther H. Oettinger, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elżbieta Bieńkowska, EU commissioner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Partner Tim Draper,  US Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship Julie Hanna, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Chairman Larry Sonsini, UK Chief Technology Officer Liam Maxwell, Betsy Masiello, Head of public Policy, Uber, Henry Chesbrough, the Father of Open Innovation among others. 

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