Within the second edition of regional startup accelerator Uplift Albania, on February 18-19 an open workshop will bring together representatives from startups, scaleups, or large innovative companies looking for access to finance startup and innovation advisors.

Hosted by SOVVA, ICTSmedia and SlovakAid, this interactive workshop will be led by 7 experts from CIVITTA and SOVVA sharing with 25 participants the insights of some of the most successful companies in Central Europe aiming to help these startups address key challenges regarding financing their business.

How should I fund my business? What are investors looking for? Is my business interesting for angel investors or venture capitalists? How to be successful when applying for public funding for innovation What are the most common mistakes companies make when fundraising? These are some of the questions that will be answered during the first day of workshop on February 18.

On the second day, whole attention will move towards startups, companies, universities, research organizations and support organizations. During this workshop various EU funding options will be presented, focusing primarily on Horizon Europe which has a budget of 95 billion euros in support of research and innovation 2021-2027. The main focus is to help Albanian researchers and innovators to get involved in these funding projects.

Terezia Jacova, Matel Liptak, Michal Laco, Eva Simekova, Jaroslav Leitmann, Daniel Straka and Peter Beno are the experts to share their insights and several years of experience with participants.

๐‘๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ž๐ž (๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐›๐จ๐ญ๐ก ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ– & ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ— ๐…๐ž๐›๐ซ๐ฎ๐š๐ซ๐ฒ) ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š๐ฏ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐š ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž.
๐‘๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐š๐๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DcEegtMtToOMSeuKgQobUg

Agenda February 18

  • 14:00 – 14:15 Introduction to fundraising Michal Laco, Associate Partner at CIVITTA; Eva Simekova, Associate Partner at CIVITTA
  • 14:15 – 14:45 Selecting the right fundraising strategy Michal Laco, Associate Partner at CIVITTA
  • 14:45 – 15:15 How to avoid most common mistakes that startups do during fundraising Terezia Jacova, Investment manager, Neulogy Ventures
  • 15:15 – 15:45 What did we learn from the fundraising experience? The story of Airtester, the alumnus of Challenger Accelerator (Uplift Slovakia) that raised 750 000 EUR in 2020. Matej Liptak, Founder at Airtester
  • 15:45 – 16:15 How to prepare the right investment materials for different types of investors? Jaroslav Leitman, Project Manager at CIVITTA
  • 16:15 – 17:00 Discussion: Key takeaways and lessons learned

Agenda February 19

  • 9:00 – 10:00 Presentation of Horizon Europe Daniel Straka, Executive director at SOVVA
  • 10:10 – 11:00 Rules of participation and financing of projects Peter Beลˆo, Horizon Europe Expert
  • 11:10 – 12:00 How to prepare a competitive project – tips and tricks Daniel Straka, Peter Beลˆo

Who are our experts?

Terezia Jacova is an Investment Manager at Neulogy Ventures. She joined the venture capital management fund in 2014 and is involved in all phases of early-stage companiesโ€™ development and portfolio management.

Matej Liptak is the CEO and Co-Founder of Airlogy Labs. Airlogy Labs is technology company providing a unique analysis kit for detecting bacteria, yeasts and molds from the air and surfaces. His startup raised 750 thousand euros during 2020.

Michal Laco is an Associate Partner and Senior Consultant at CIVITTA Slovakia. He advises technology startups on business models, go-to-market strategy, and investment fundraising.

Eva Simekova is the CEO and Associate Partner at Civitta Slovakia with more than 14 years of experience in financing of innovation projects and SMEs. She has been a business startup consultant for several companies, overseeing the clarification of legal, business, and organizational structures in line with shareholders intentions.

Jaroslav Leitmann is a Project Manager and Senior Consultant at CIVITTA. He advises startups and scaleups on growth opportunities and access to finance.

Daniel Straka is the executive director of SOVVA since 2017 with more than 13 years of experience in promoting research and innovation at the national and European level.

Peter Beno has 15 years of experience in the preparation of project proposals and the implementation of the projects. He has worked as an NCP for Legal and Financial Issues and Security and teacher of business management at University of Economics.