2011 Civica European Venture Contest picks 3 final winners


15 December 2011 - Press Release

The Belgian company IDES Technologies (in the Information and Communication Technologies – ICT stream), the Swedish company Othocone (in the Cleantech stream), and the British company Radius Diagnostic (in the Life Sciences stream) triumphed in Madrid at the Final event of the 2011 Civica European Venture Contest (CEVC). They won the prestigious Civica European Venture Contest Awards, each with cash prize of €30,000, offered by the Spanish bank Banca Civica.

The Final Jury was chaired by Mrs Diana Saraceni of 360° Capital Partners and involved some of Europe’s most active venture capital funds. “This was the largest and best venture contest ever organised in Europe”, commented Diana Saraceni. “The innovation and investment potential of the Finalists drawn from 807 applicants was truly outstanding”, she continued.

The Contest staged 10 qualifying events across Europe where over 450 innovative companies were pre-selected to present their investment projects from a pool of 807 applications. The 10 qualifying events took place in Porto (PT), Reims (FR), Leuven (BE), Aarhus (DK), Luxembourg (LU), Pamplona (ES), Harwell (UK), Mons (BE), Copenhagen (DK), and Turin (IT).

From the qualifying events the Top 150 was selected by the investors and experts taking part in these events, reviewing and benchmarking the presentations on 7 different consistent criteria. Finally, the Top150 companies were reviewed online by the Final Jury and online and live by the 100 investors who took part in the European Venture Summit in Düsseldorf on 28 & 29 November 2011. Based on these results the Top 25 companies were invited to compete at the CEVC Final in Madrid (14 December 2010).

The Contest is powered by Europe Unlimited in association with Banca Civica and sponsored by madridEmprende and madrimasd.

William Stevens, Founder and CEO of Europe Unlimited highlighted: “The increasing number and above quality of companies competing every year in the Contest demonstrates the significant potential which entrepreneurship still holds across Europe to impact more on faster growth and better jobs. We hope that many companies will raise investment so that they can bring their excellent innovations to the market.”

Mrs. Laura Urquizu, director Seed Capital and Emerging Companies at Banca Civica concluded. “We thank and congratulate all the Finalists and wish them every success in raising investment, despite a very challenging venture capital market in Europe and internationally. We are sure that the recognition of being a Civica European Venture Contest Finalist will be an encouragement to potential investors to take a closer look at these excellent innovators.”

Winners & Runners Up – 2011 Eurecan European Venture Contest Finalists
  ICT Life Sciences Cleantech
1. Winner IDES Technologies [BE] Radius Diagnostics [GB] Orthocone [SE]
2. Runner Up Phasor Solutions [GB] Promethera Biosciences [BE] Borit [BE]
3. Runner Up Wazzup [NL] Okapi Sciences [BE] Greasoline [DE]
4. Runner Up Optilab [SI] ImmunNovative Developments [ES] Skeleton Technologies [EE]
5. Runner Up Internauto Gestion [ES] Medical Device Work [BE] Aquiloz [NO ]

About Europe Unlimited
Europe Unlimited powers a vibrant event and online innovation network across Europe, bringing together entrepreneurs and investors and working with partners and sponsors to benchmark and bring forward the most promising innovations in information and communications technology, clean technology and healthcare.

Download the full CEVC 2011 Final Press Pack
View the Event Pictures
View the Video Elevator Pitches from all Finalists