Tuesday, April 22, 2014.-b [OPENAXEL, the first open acceleration platform in Europe will select the TOP60 ]bEuropean startups granting the winners with, among other prizes, mentoring services from top executives from global corporations and a trip to Silicon Valley.

With the financial support of the European Commission, a consortium composed of, among others, three of the major accelerators of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (Wayra, Accelerace and AppCampus) will nurture an Open Acceleration ecosystem in order to encourage collaboration between European accelerators. "After analyzing that most operate locally and do not have a European vision, we want to find out who are the most innovative in terms of the services they offer" say its representatives.

This new platform provides a unique opportunity for startups and SMEs in the ICT sector, as it will help them grow internationally offering new acceleration services, European-level visibility and access to new investors and to best mentors.

In addition to the Web platform, OPENAXEL will seek out the best entrepreneurial talent in Europe through two startup competitions (one in 2014 and one in 2015) to select the 60 most promising startups in Europe (30 yearly). The 30 selected startups will receive acceleration services and 9 winners out of them will receive additional support, including world class coaching and mentoring from top level executives from global corporations, offers from world class technological partners and a trip to Silicon Valley in California, where they will come into contact with international investors and successful entrepreneurs.

"Europe has seen a boost in digital entrepreneurship in recent years and OPENAXEL is born with the guarantee that it will bring together the best, and get from them the best possible performance combining talent with a world class advice" say its representatives.

OPENAXEL is one of the projects funded by the EU under the Startup Europe initiative to support ICT companies in accelerating their business growth through internationalization and cross-border financing. The project is carried out by a consortium composed of 8 partners (leading accelerators, institutional entities, and specialized innovation consulting firms) with huge international exposure and coming from 6 European countries:

- Wayra
- AppCampus
- Accelerace
- DigitalEurope
- Econet
- Opinno
- IVSZ
- FundingBox

For more information about OPENAXEL please visit http://www.openaxel.com.

Note to mentors and investors

If you are interested in joining the OPENAXEL support network, please write an email to info@openaxel.com for further information.