Estra: the Italian startups winners of the “E-qube Startup & idea Challenge” Award
Rifò, Blue Eco Line, Ener2crowd, are the three winning startups of the third edition of “E-qube Startup & idea Challenge”, the call for startups, promoted by Estra, in collaboration with the startup accelerator Nana Bianca and StartupItalia, publisher and organizer of StartupItalia Open Summit.
The 174 proposals, relating to the digital & energy sector, were evaluated by a commission of experts up to the three winning projects which, in addition to a total investment grant of 60,000 euros, have access to an acceleration program lasting 16 weeks, conducted by Estra and Nana Bianca.
72% of the projects, developed by innovative startups, not yet constituted by Italy in particular Lombardy (26%), Tuscany (16%), Lazio (15%) and Emilia Romagna (10%). The other candidacies arrived from the rest of Europe.
“We are proud to be able to contribute to the development of a business culture centered on the values of technological innovation and entrepreneurship, principles at the basis of Estra’s philosophy – stated the General of Estra Paolo Abati – It is with this spirit that we have given life to this ambitious program in collaboration with Nana Bianca and StartupItalia. The E-qube Startup & idea Challenge Award once again testifies to our Group’s attention to the network of digital innovators whose development we promote with a view to open innovation, thus becoming participants in change. “
“The industrial revolution we are experiencing is that of digital transformation, where the themes of energy and eco-sustainability must be central.” Alessandro Sordi says, Director of Nana Bianca. “For this reason we are very proud of the multi-year collaboration with Estra which, alongside promising young startups on extremely concrete issues, activates an innovation process with mutual benefits. The acceleration team of Nana Bianca and the Innovation team of Estra will follow an Open Innovation path alongside young entrepreneurs aimed at identifying models and services of common interest. “
“The selected companies – declares Salvatore Amato, President of StartupItalia – emerge in the Italian panorama for innovation in concrete solutions in the ESG field. They also represent a virtuous example of resilience as over the last few months they have all achieved very significant results and further developments “
These are the winning projects of the second edition of e-qube:
REFÒ
Rifò (https://rifo-lab.com/), is based in Prato. He presented an innovative solution to manage in a sustainable and virtuous way the phenomenon of overproduction and overconsumption in the clothing sector through the recovery of fabric scraps that are retransformed into new clothes.
Contribution 30,000 euros
ECO BLUE LINE
Blue Eco Line (https://blueecoline.com/) is based in Florence. He presented an innovative solution to reduce marine plastic pollution through a floating barrier positioned on one side of the river which has the task of intercepting the waste present in the watercourse.
Contribution 20,000 euros
ENER2CROWD
Ener2crowd (https://www.ener2crowd.com/it/home) is based in Milan. Active in promoting sustainable investments, it presented the first Italian energy Lending Crowdfunding platform.
Contribution 10,000 euros