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Vento, the first non-profit venture builder that helps young people create disruptive companies from scratch is launched

Applications are now open for the first 30 young aspiring entrepreneurs: they will be remunerated to create innovative startups in a 4-month full-time program.

With the support of Exor and in partnership with Talent Garden, OGR Torino and Compagnia di San Paolo, Vento – Venture Originator will help 10 teams bring to market scalable tech companies that respond to challenges launched by leading enterprises, such as Telepass, Reply and UniCredit.

There are 24 October, applications are open to participate in the new venture building program Vento - Venture Originator, which will start on January 31, 2022 in the areas of the Startup Village of OGR Tech and at Talent Garden Fondazione Agnelli, in Turin. 30 young people will be selected and paid for four months to create startups with high growth potential thanks to a new full-time path unseen in Italy: unlike more well-known models within the national innovation ecosystem, such as accelerators and incubators, it will not be necessary to have an idea or a team to participate, because the selection of candidates will be based exclusively on the entrepreneurial potential of each candidate.

After filling out a form online at joinvento.comthe best candidates - Master's degree students, researchers, PhD students and young workers - will first face an individual interview and then participate in an intensive five-day boot-camp to fully demonstrate their entrepreneurial potential.

Once selected, the 30 aspiring entrepreneurs will be divided into 10 teams and involved in a 4-month full-time venture building program, during which they will be paid and supported in developing nnovative and scalable new tech companiesEach team will be assigned a challenge, launched by leading companies such as Telepass, Reply and UniCredit. Their task will be to find a solution that can be developed into a real business with great growth potential.

The program is inspired by the best venture builder models that are rapidly emerging in the United States and Europe: in the last seven years, in fact, the number of organizations dedicated to the creation of enterprises has increased by 625% and has proven to bring very significant benefits not only to founders but also to investors (Source: Disrupting the Venture Landscape - GAN Accelerators).

Vento aims to minimize the risk of failure of business ideas and increase the growth potential of new companies, thanks to a systematic process of selection of participants, creation of teams and careful research of the starting need, identified and validated thanks to the support of Partner Companies.

Unlike existing models, Vento does not require the acquisition of equity in the startups created, nor success fees of any kind: in fact, it was created with the support of Exor, a holding company that has always been committed to building great companies, which through Vento is dedicated to supporting the entrepreneurial projects of young talents as part of its ESG policy.

Compagnia di San Paolo will support the startups formed nel corso del programma, mettendo a disposizione dei team più meritevoli una somma fino a un valore complessivo di 250.000€, per contribuire alla realizzazione di prototipi/proof of concepts, passo necessario per lo sviluppo dei nascenti progetti imprenditoriali.

In addition, during theInvestor Day di inizio giugno, le startup saranno presentate a una platea di business angels, acceleratori e fondi di venture capital italiani ed europei che potranno decidere di investire nelle aziende create, per sostenere ulteriormente il loro sviluppo.

John Elkann, Chairman and CEO of Exor, ha dichiarato: “Dopo alcuni anni di esperienza maturati nella promozione dell’imprenditorialità, Vento compie ora un deciso passo in avanti, puntando sulle capacità dei giovani in ambito tech e sulla collaborazione con le più innovative imprese italiane. Costruire grandi imprese è da sempre l’obiettivo di Exor: sostenendo questa nuova iniziativa non profit vogliamo aiutare i migliori imprenditori del nostro Paese a generare progetti d’impresa che hanno il potenziale per diventare protagonisti del loro mercato".

"Talent Garden has in its DNA the support of startups and entrepreneurship, so we are very pleased to support Vento through our community and our international network" says Davide Dattoli, Co-Founder and CEO of Talent Garden. "A project in which we believe a lot and that further strengthens the partnership with SEI and Exor started with the opening of our Turin campus Talent Garden Fondazione Agnelli. Talent Garden Innovation School alumni will also participate in the call, because today it is important for our country and its growth to make strategic investments in talent and innovation".

Massimo Lapucci, Secretary General of Fondazione CRT and CEO of OGR Torino, states: "The birth of Vento (Venture Originator) represents a very relevant opportunity for the positioning and generation of competitive contexts in the field of venture building. An international approach that fits well with the objectives and mission of Fondazione CRT and OGR Torino, with which through the daily work in OGR Tech - hub of innovation and business acceleration - we aim to make the territory more ambitious and connected through the attraction of investments and talents".

"The Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation acts to create the conditions for Turin to fully express its potential as a forge of innovation capable of aggregating a plurality of complementary players, including startups, companies, institutions, universities, incubators and accelerators." declared Francesco Profumo, President of the Turin-based organization. “Support for Vento falls within this logic. Our goal is to foster the innovation ecosystem in this case with the establishment of successful companies that enhance the skills and attraction of venture capital that support the growth path of these startups".

"Reply is renowned for being able to seize innovation and quickly translate it into products/services relevant to our customers. This requires continuous training, excellence, innovation, speed, entrepreneurial spirit, values that also characterize Vento of which we are proud to be part of" comments Tatiana Rizzante, CEO Reply. "Over the years we have launched numerous initiatives to promote the development of innovative models, both as Reply and together with important partners, like Vento. For us, this project is an opportunity to concretely support our talents' desire to improve and do well".

"Creating ecosystems between companies devoted to transformation and agile and fast startups is the best way to create tomorrow's competitive advantage," emphasizes Gabriele Benedetto, CEO of Telepass. "We believe in digitalization and research to integrate our platform of services with technological solutions that make travel smarter and facilitate, at the same time, the lives of people on the move. To do this, we need minds capable of looking at the needs of the future of mobility with a different perspective, to grasp its full potential, and this is why we are pleased to have joined this initiative with which we renew our support for young entrepreneurs and the most innovative startups".

Jingle Pang, Group Digital & Information Officer of UniCredit, concluded: “UniCredit is delighted to support Vento as digital is key to our service offering to clients. We are always on the lookout for the best-in-class technologies and most relevant innovative ideas in line with our ambition to be a pioneering digital financial institution. We are certain that Vento will help us explore new trends, find new uses for existing technological solutions, and identify new business ideas”.

(Source & Photo: Vento – Venture Originator)

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Luca Coppolella
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