We’ve been flirting with expanding to more Western territories for a while now and Italy was one of the countries that caught our attention already last year. 2020 and pandemic hasn’t stopped us from our plans of going South, but it has added a different angle to what normally would have been just launching an accelerator program. We are going South with JUMP for Italy – a series of online events to help foster the creation of new startups in an after-crisis environment and help the economy the way we understand it, the startup way.

JUMP for Italy consists of three phases: Idea Garage events, Online Hackathon, and 6 weeks Online Pre-accelerator program to help startups shape their ideas, gather a team, and turn ideas into proper businesses. 

Although the events are all online, we have decided to create a sense of community by matching each event to a city and a Community Partner. This way we thought of, while disrupting physical barriers, having local ecosystems engaged by creating local references. First Idea Garage event is already on May 11, whereas the Online Hackathon will be held as part of Milan Digital Week on May 26-28.

Here’s how you can join in

We have opened applications to the Idea Garages. There are 2 ways to participate at this event – if you have an idea, you can sign up to pitch it and receive feedback, if you are willing to join a team, but don’t have an idea of your own, you are invited to join as a listener. Around 10 ideas per event will be selected to pitch in front of an audience and mentors. Each person or team will receive individual feedback on their idea, as well as get a 45min break-out session with mentors and potential team-mates. Best teams from Idea Garages will be invited to participate in the next phases of the program, i.e., Online Hackathon and Pre-accelerator program.

If you want to become a mentor or otherwise support this effort – please reach out to us. 

JUMP for Italy is the first big project in the home country of our Partner and Entrepreneur in Residence Andrea Orlando. Andrea has lived in several countries and worked across numerous industries. After graduating (MBA) at INSEAD in 2016 Andrea left the corporate world to focus on venture investments. Since 2015, he invested/developed 3 startups (2 as co-founder) and worked for Accelerators and Incubators across Europe and sees SWG and JUMP Italy program as a good way to return home with a positive impact. 

“It is important right now to give visibility to entrepreneurs, developers and startup enthusiasts who may feel neglected due to the big crisis that is hitting Italy or simply haven’t had the chance to receive feedback yet. I spent most of my professional life abroad, being in touch with several ecosystems absorbing from them. It is a great opportunity for me to lead this initiative and to give back to the community, especially the italian one where I grew up as a person and as a young professional. Startup Wise Guys is the perfect vehicle to channel enthusiasm, knowledge and experience into the italian online space at the moment.”

Andrea Orlando

In this program, he will be joined by our El Patron Cristobal Alonso and Venture Partner in Italy – Egita Polanska. 

JUMP Italy program is free of charge for participants. It is supported by Bird & Bird, Copernico, talent4gig, Target Global, as well as many community partners: Tree, BizPlace,  CSI – incubatore Napoli Est.

Program is starting on May 11 with the first Idea Garage and will finish in July, after the best teams will graduate from Online Pre-accelerator. We hope that through this support system new startup ventures will be born in Italy and become investable businesses by the end of 2020. Follow our social media for updates and read more on the JUMP for Italy website.