Overview

Established by the European Commission in January 2014, SEP is dedicated to transforming European startups into scaleups able to break the early-stage barriers to growth and development by linking them with global corporations in a pan-European entrepreneurial ecosystem. SEP’s goal is to accelerate early-stage companies to become global players and real job creators. By participating in the SEP program, global companies can help this process via business partnerships and strategic and venture corporate investments, providing them with access to the best technologies and talents through procurement of services or products, corporate acquisition or “acqui-hiring”. Under the umbrella of the EU Startup Europe initiative, SEP is the first open platform dedicated to support the growth and sustainability of European startups able to compete and raise funds internationally. It is one of the six actions for web entrepreneurs defined in the Commission Communication, “Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan” (European Commission, January 2012), and conceived to realize recommendations included in the Startup Manifesto. Promoted by the European Commission, SEP is led by Mind the Bridge Foundation, a non-profit foundation based in Italy and United States, with the support of Nesta (the UK’s innovation foundation), and The Factory campus for startups and mature tech companies in Berlin. Partners include Telefónica, Orange, BBVA (Founding), and Telecom Italia, Unipol Group and Microsoft (SEP Corporate Member), with the institutional support of the European Investment Fund/European Investment Bank Group, Cambridge University, IE Business School and Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society. Startup Europe Partnership (SEP) is a Startup Europe initiative.