Malta based start-ups came together for a week full of activities and action. Start-Up Week gave local start-ups the opportunity to practise their pitch, learn about the various forms of start-up financing, as well as attempt to start a high growth business in less than 54 hours.
“Start-up Week was an excellent opportunity for local start-ups and entrepreneurs to learn, build relationships and meet motivated thinkers. With such great energy, ideas and persistence, it was truly a Silicon Valley-style week,” said Simon Azzopardi, organiser of Start-Up Week.
During the week, start-ups looked at local and global problems and used technology to try and solve them.
“Start-Ups came up with ideas and products that solve real problems, such as traffic congestion, lack of funds when a start-up has an idea, inefficient taxi management and expensive mobile app development. They also looked at technology to help make our lives easier, using drones and concepts such as crowd purchasing,” said Mr Azzopardi.
“Over the weekend, seven teams developed their own ideas into market-ready businesses, all in less than 54 hours. Teams were given support in terms of tools and mentors to develop their idea and learn the ropes of thinking lean and building a viable and scalable business
“During the week, we also launched the Start-Up Island brand to represent the local start-up community and help promote Malta as a start-up jurisdiction overseas,” said Mr Azzopardi.
Several high profile individuals were also present to show their support including Andy McCartney from Microsoft Ventures, Luka Sučić from hub:raum and Rumen Iliev from LAUNCHhub.
The main sponsors of the event was Microsoft Innovation Centre, which not only hosted the event, but also used Microsoft’s network and resources to ensure that some of the biggest names in this space got involved.
“Microsoft Innovation Centre is all about supporting the start-up community. We offer local start-ups the space and tools to reduce the pain of starting up a technology business, and also assist local start-ups with integrating into our other centres across the globe,” said Edward Portelli, Microsoft Innovation Centre manager. Microsoft also offered the BizPark program to all participants in the weekend start-up competition.
The event was sponsored by Microsoft, KPMG, Altaro, MITA, SAP, BusinessFirst, and SkyParks. For more information visit www.startupisland.org.