Qonto, as a fast-growing European scaleup, wants to help the Italian entrepreneurial ecosystem to grow and compete. Not only through its expertise but also through its strong partner network, connecting startups, investors, scaleup founders and industry experts and helping to create a community of entrepreneurs driven by technology and united by common goals.

PowerUp! is the fintech company's initiative designed to support and boost Italian start-ups, the innovation ecosystem and local entrepreneurship. Among the companies that will apply to the open call, the Qonto team will select six startups that will have the opportunity to present their project at the Pitch Night del 20 ottobre a Milano, in front of a panel of stakeholder stakeholders from the innovation sector. The evening at the end of October is the final stage of the travelling roadshow throughout Italy, which is about to start: la prima tappa sarà Torino, il 7 luglio al Talent Garden Fondazione Agnelli, e a seguire Firenze, Bari e Roma rispettivamente il 14 luglio, il 15 settembre e il 22 settembre.

Italian early stage startups can apply in 2 categories:

• pre-Seed stage, which have raised investments between € 50,000 and 250,000
• post-Seed stage, which have raised investments of between € 250,000 and 1 million

Participating startups must have generated turnover in the last year and have a financially sustainable growth plan, as well as own innovative projects/services in terms of product, technology, process, business model. Eligible projects must have measurable objectives, be internationally scalable and have the ambition to grow exponentially within a short period of time.

Some criteria that will be followed by the jury in evaluating the projects submitted will be:

1. Completeness and competence of the proposing team in relation to the scope of the business;
2. Evaluation of the market potential of the proposed solution and the level of scalability, i.e. the replicability of the business model at an international level;
3. Assessment of the startup's proposed internationalisation objectives and strategy;
4. Milestones and KPIs achieved by the startup.

PowerUp!, in addition to prizes offered by the partners, will offer an exclusive mentoring con Alexandre Prot, co-founder and CEO of Qonto..

Mariano Spalletti, Qonto's Country Manager for Italy, describes the initiative as follows: "We are proud to have launched PowerUp!, an initiative that aims to support those who have chosen to start an innovative entrepreneurial project in Italy. We want to make a direct and concrete contribution to the development of the Italian startup ecosystem, mettendo a disposizione esperienza maturata sul campo, nostra e di altri imprenditori italiani di successo, ma anche coinvolgendo nell’iniziativa importanti investitori. PowerUp! nasce con l’intenzione di creare un networking sinergico tra startup, investitori, founder di scaleup ed esperti del settore, per supportare le iniziative imprenditoriali innovative in Italia“.

To participate in the PowerUp! call startups have until 30 settembre 2022 for apply on the website and to apply on the F6S portal.