“Magic Wand” is here, the very first italian Fintech Call, created in collaboration with Fintech District and managed by Digital Magics, a business incubator listed on the Italian Stock Market by AIM Italia.
“Magic Wand” is the first accelerating programme dedicated to the FinTech and the InsurTech sectors with the aim of creating an Italian centre of excellence for the most important market operators.
The call is meant for early-stage startups which are developing innovative and original business ideas for the financial and insurance market, through products and services based on banking, payments, investments, loans and crowdfunding, platforms, infrastructures and technological tools.
You have until December 8th to apply at the address http://magicwand.digitalmagics.com/
Milan, October 30th, 2017 – Digital Magics, a business incubator listed on AIM Italia by Borsa Italiana (symbol: DM), launches “Magic Wand”: the first acceleration program in Italy dedicated to the early stage startup of FinTech and InsurTech that are developing innovative and original business ideas for the financial and insurance market, with banking and payment services, investments, loans and crowdfunding, platforms, infrastructures and technology tools.
The 10 partners of the program, who will actively participate in the selection, mentorship and development of selected projects, are: BNL BNP Paribas Group, Credito Valtellinese, Ersel Investimenti, Innovation Center of Intesa Sanpaolo, Innogest, Poste Italiane, SellaLab, SisalPay , Royal Mutual Assets Company and UBI Banca.
The goal is to create an Italian center of excellence: a real system alliance of the most important operators of the market, to accelerate Italian FinTech and InsurTech startups that are working on scalable models able to compete internationally and to innovate the industry of finance and insurance.
Only in Italy the numbers are enormous: over 4.100 billion euros are all the financial assets held by Italian families in 2016, household and corporate credit is around 1.400 billion in 2016 and premiums written by the insurance industry in the “damages” and “Life” sector amounts are up to about 130 billion in 2017 (Sources: Bank of Italy and Ania).
Among the ideas submitted by 8 December at http://magicwand.digitalmagics.com will be selected 10 projects that will receive a first grant of 5.000 Euros and the acceleration of 6 months will begin in January 2018 in the Milan office of Digital Magics incubator.
Startups will be followed by a Program Manager who will support startup and partners in the project development and by the Digital Magics Team Mentors, with periodic meetings to track their growth, develop and improve the business model up to “go to market “.
Dozens of experts in marketing and growth hacking, lawyer, financials, platform and interface developers, successful startup and large corporates CEOs, managers and creatives will be the available advisors for the 10 teams of the program during the many training moments , courses, workshops and masterclasses.
After the first two months of acceleration there will be a second selection that, based on the achieved results, will elect the 6 best startups that will conclude the 6 months of the acceleration program. Finalist startups will receive a second grant of 15,000 Euros and will be the protagonists of an exclusive event that will involve the most important Italian and international investors and will have the opportunity to be part of the Digital Magics incubator, starting a high valuable course.
Digital Magics, Neva Finventures (Intesa Sanpaolo Group), Innogest and SellaVentures (Banca Sella Group) also decided to reserve the possibility of investing in the Magic Wand finalist startups that, at the end of the acceleration program, will have achieved the set goals and the KPIs.
Innovation Center will offer the 6 finalists access to their Fintech competence center, the opportunity to participate to international up-market platforms and partnerships with the most important research centers in the world, as well as to produce proof of concept on identified products or services.
SellaLab will provide participants with access to Platfr.io API platform, offer preferential terms for the package of products and services for startup, Up2Start, and the Gestpay e-commerce platform, as well as evaluate any type of partnership with the banking group.
“Magic Wand is the first of a series of acceleration programs, the result of a development strategy that rewards startups that deserve a privileged growth path. This is essentially a preferential lane, created in partnership with the project-holding companies, reserved for those who, through 6 months of work and above all the constant commitment required, will be able to reach the initially set goals and the KPIs that will measure their progress, “says Layla Pavone, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Magics for Industry Innovation.
The FinTech and InsurTech startup program was born from the idea of Michele Novelli, Senior Advisor of Digital Magics and industry expert, who said: “Financial and insurance services are huge markets, linked to every activity we do and in the near future we will see companies such as Google or Facebook entering these areas. A systemic approach that fosters the encounter of those who can manage innovative technologies and creativity with those who know the rules and the needs of the customer can also give birth to champions able to compete at all levels. ”
This Release is online (in Italian) at www.digitalmagics.com in the Investors / Press Releases section.
You can read more about the winners of Magic Wand here