PRESS INVITATION: Who will win the Start it @KBC - Bolero Crowdfunding Award 2018?

Belgium’s biggest pitch competition at Leuven’s and& Summit & Festival

 

3 May 2018, 4-11pm | Stadsschouwburg Leuven | Bondgenotenlaan 21, Leuven

 

Dear Journalist,

Demo Day, the climax of the annual Belgian start-up calendar, will take place in a whole new context this year. The pitch competition will namely be one of the headline events at the brand-new and& Summit & Festival in Leuven, culminating in the ceremonial presentation of the Start it @KBC - Bolero Crowdfunding Award 2018.

During Demo Day, 20 promising start-ups from the Start it @KBC accelerator and the Bolero Crowdfunding platform will have the opportunity to win as many hearts and minds as possible. Each start-up will have just 3 minutes to present their ground-breaking idea in an original and convincing way. And an audience of investors, CEOs, captains of industry, established entrepreneurs and other start-ups will decide which pitch is the most worthy.

This year, Demo Day will take place within the unique setting of the and& Summit & Festival. For a period of four days, this festival will transform Leuven into a genuine hotbed of innovation. A meeting point between tech, health and creativity. More than 100 renowned national and international speakers will discuss life in the city of the future while unleashing a spattering of wild and intoxicating ideas. And to say that Demo Day fits this scenario like a glove would be an understatement.

The Leuven Stadsschouwburg, with space for around 600 people, will form the backdrop for the country’s biggest pitch competition on Thursday 3 May.

10 times the incentive
The winner of the previous edition of Demo Day went home with a cash prize of 5,000 euros. This year, participants will be contending for an amount 10 times the size! The audience will essentially have 50,000 euros at its disposal to distribute as it sees fit among those start-ups with the best ideas and the most potential for world domination.

The 20 selected start-ups, in alphabetical order, are: Activ84Health, Attractive2Wear, BuildEye, cPark, Cumul.io, Dagvers, Elimity, Epic Blue, Epihunter, INGA Wellbeing, Inmanta, Mobit, POM, Ritchie, SettleMint, Studio Mimoire, Sweepatic, Trimiday, Turbulent and Urban Harvest.

Watch the video introducing the participating start-ups.

Program

16.00-16.30     Reception
16.30-16.40     Intro by Leuven Mindgate & Start it @KBC
16.40-17.00     Keynote Dixie Dansercoer
17.00-17.50     Pitches
17.50-19.15     Standing buffet
19.15-19.30     Keynote Omar Mohout
19.30-20.20     Pitches
20.20-20.40     Keynote Pieter-Jan Bouten
20.40-21.00     Awards presentation and outro by KBC Bolero
21.00-23.00     Networking event

38 promising start-ups – including those presenting at Demo Day – will also man an expo stand and will be available to answer questions from members of the press.

Practical info
Thursday 3 May 2018, 4-11pm
Stadsschouwburg Leuven, Bondgenotenlaan 21, 3000 Leuven

Demo Day is the ideal occasion to discover up-and-coming Belgian entrepreneurial talent in action. We are therefore delighted to invite you to experience the start-up event of the year from the very first row!

Thank you for confirming your attendance in advance via [email protected].

See you there!

The Bolero Crowdfunding and Start it @KBC Team

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About and& Summit & Festival
And& is a one of a kind Summit & Festival at the intersection of health, tech & creativity. and& is curated for the curious. Expect a well-selected worldwide collage of +100 thinkers, inventors, entrepreneurs & artists of all backgrounds will explore the impact of health, tech & creativity on future city life. Expect 4 days & nights of inspiring talks, avant-garde music acts, a start-up & scale-up forum, a tech expedition & art interventions in public space. The very first edition of and& is on May 2 3 4 5 2018 in various citywide venues in the intimate city of Leuven, Belgium.

And& Summit & Festival is an initiative of Leuven MindGate, 
a masterplan to develop the international positioning of the Leuven region as a premier destination for health, high-tech and creativity. and&’s mission is to apply the entrepreneurial spirit of Leuven MindGate to real world challenges of tomorrow’s cities by creating a citywide stage for Leuven region based & top international innovation.

Partners of the festival are KBC, Start it @KBC, Bolero Crowdfunding, imec, Capricorn, KU Leuven, Deloitte. Discover the full program here.

About Bolero Crowdfunding

KBC was the first bank-insurer and online broker in the world to launch its very own financial crowdfunding initiative. KBC facilitates contact between Belgian businesses and investors in order to boost funding into start-ups and SMEs in Belgium. It has an online securities platform named Bolero, where experienced investors are on the look-out for good opportunities to place their capital. Since the launch of www.bolero-crowdfunding.be, these investors have been able to subscribe to the shares of starter companies and to bonds issued by established SMEs.

Saar Dietvorst

Persverantwoordelijke, Start it @KBC

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About Start it X

Start it X is the largest ecosystem in Belgium dedicated to helping companies innovate and grow. The community houses the following business units: Start it Accelerate, Start it Academy, Start it Expand, Start it Hubs and Start it Ventures.

Start-ups, scale-ups, intrapreneurs in large companies and corporates who want to innovate and accelerate can count on Start it X for a network of experienced mentors, entrepreneurs, extensive expertise and proven methods. 

The community behind Start it X was founded in 2014 by Lode Uytterschaut. Boasting more than 2 000 entrepreneurs and mentors, the ecosystem is active in Belgium (Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp, Hasselt, Leuven, Kortrijk and Liège), the United States (New York), Hungary (Budapest and Gyor) and the Czech Republic (Prague). Start it X is also the organisation behind accelerator Start it @KBC, the largest startup community in Belgium.

Learn more at www.startit-x.com.

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