Press Release
24 companies are the big winners of the European Venture Contest Final 2018 in Düsseldorf
They won a prestigious competition among 2400+ companies from 27 countries in Europe.
The NRW Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy and City of Düsseldorf hosted one of the most prestigious international forums in the world of innovation and technology. The 12th edition of the European Venture Contest Final 2018 – the Europe's leading network and investment event for high-growth technological start-ups, venture capital investors and technological corporations – took place on 10-11 December 2018 at Düsseldorf Congress Sport & Event GmbH – CCD Stadthalle.
EVC Final selection process
The 125 presenting companies were invited as the top-rated companies of the Tech Tour European Venture Contest, selected over a series of 20 regional or sector–focused qualifying events which compose the Final Contest. These 125 companies were reviewed online and onsite by investors and the investor jury on 6 criteria. The Top 24 winners got the highest review ratings following online screening and onsite pitches.
The presenting companies cover 24 tech sessions over 4 tracks including Cleantech (Bioeconomy, Photonics, Industry 4.0, Energy, Materials and Manufacturing, Smart Cities and Mobility, Fintech), Digital Tech (Online Platforms & Software, Software, Deep Tech, Digital Technologies, Wearables), and Healthtech (Diagnostics, Medical Devices, Therapeutics, Digital Health, Digital Health & Digital Imaging, Medical Devices, and Implantable Medical Devices) and Foodtech (Bioeconomy, Food and Nutrition, Food Technology).
The Forum is popular amongst the companies as they provide an efficient local access point to the European Venture programme while focusing on matching innovative companies with active investors. For its 12 years of existence, the European Venture Contest Final in Düsseldorf reached the amount of EUR 505 million total funding.
EVC Final in numbers:
- Annual event, this is its 12th edition;
- Over 25 semi-finals per year before the Final event in Düsseldorf;
- Careful selection of entrepreneurs from 27 European countries;
- Over EUR 505 million is the total funding;
- Over EUR 3.1 million is average funding round.
Success stories from last year edition of the Contest only:
- Last year participant ITHERA MEDICAL from Germany, raised a Series C round of EUR 7.1 million, after the Fluxunit meet them at the event. More about it HERE.
- SYNOSTE, a start-up from Finland participated in the EVC Final 2017, raised EUR 5.1 million to launch its smart skeletal deformation correction technology. More about their success story HERE.
- ASPIVIX from Switzerland, another last year EVC Final participant, raised their first money (Serie-A) of CHF 1.8 million with a private investor met at our event. Read their success story HERE.
About Tech Tour
Founded in 1998, Tech Tour is a unique cross-border platform for growing and emerging innovative tech companies on their way to investment and funding – from the idea to the success story. The platform supports innovative companies and their projects through online community space and in person at 25 networking events that we organise each year. Tech Tour is well known in the venture capital market with its 20-years of experience across Europe and the Middle East, and planning to enlarge our scope of work to China. For more information please visit: https://www.techtour.com/ About City of Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital of North Rhine-Westfalia, Germany's most populous federal state and lies right in the heart of the European Market. 150 million people live within a radius of 500 km, representing 35% of the European Union's total population. These and about 500.000 companies, located in Düsseldorf's catchment area, represent a huge market potential for international start-ups entering the German market. There are currently over 250 start-ups located in Düsseldorf - among them leading start-ups like Trivago, Auxmoney, Springlane, Just Spices or Eurosimtech. These are an important factor for the innovative strength of the economy in and around the state capital. As part of Düsseldorf’s start-up initiative, a long-term strategy and several projects were defined by the entire start-up community, all with one definitive goal: improving the basic conditions for start-ups and scale-ups in Düsseldorf. For more information please visit: https://www.duesseldorf.de/
About NRW Economy, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy
The aim of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, is to create optimal general conditions for business in the state and strengthen North Rhine-Westphalia as an innovative, forward-looking and attractive industrial location. The ministry aims to strike an open-minded balance between global orientation and regional identity. The spectrum of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy ranges from location- and structural policy (including the ERDF managing authority) to the manufacturing and service sector, small- and medium sized businesses, and the principles of the economic policy. Furthermore, the Ministry is responsible for innovation, digitalisation and economic development, energy, climate protection, development of the region as well as business law. For more information please visit: https://www.wirtschaft.nrw/
Contact persons: Annalisa Gardella | Team Leader | annalisa@techtour.com |
Natalia Natcheva | PR & Media Relations | natalia@techtour.com
