Space for Imagination is the name of Djungle Studio’s accelerator that started operating in September 2024 and that has the characteristic of accelerating early stage start-ups that have the opportunity to work side by side with the startup builder (we wrote about it here ).
Alessandro Nasi, founder of Djungle Studio (pictured), has called on Alessandro Annovi to take over as CEO of Space for Imagination, assisted by Hoang Huynh and Gianluca Manitto, as well as the Investment Committee, which plays a key role in giving start-ups precise input on business models and growth plans that they will have to implement thanks to the programme’s support and is composed of Emanuele Fontani, who coordinates it, and Fulvio Vanacore, Salvatore Loreto, Flavio Gregori, Massimo Tamagnone, Sandro Cappiello,Giulietta Testa and Carlo Furgiuele.
The project was born with the first Launcher Program dedicated to start-ups that want to solve the most critical aspects of their business model and become investor ready, and with a goal of raising at least EUR 500,000 in investments during the nine-month programme with a series of intermediate checkpoints that decide the length of stay in the programme, which is divided into three batches of five start-ups each year.
“The differentiating element, in addition to the contiguity with the startup studio and its resources and connections, is the fact that the programme is built on startups with a practical and customised approach based on the sector, real needs and degree of maturity of each startup,” Nasi and Annovi tell Startupbusiness. “The programme adopts the same proven methodology as the startup builder, which puts participants in close contact with other founders, entrepreneurs and investors. Space for Imagination is also an ideal platform for corporations wishing to operate in the field of open innovation, which have the opportunity to sponsor the programme and have different levels of involvement: from branding on open innovation, to training for the team, to visibility on start-ups in the sector, to the ad hoc construction of the programme”.
The programme applies a no-equity logic and is sustained both through the participation of sponsors at various levels and on the fees following the capital raised by the start-ups. In addition, partnerships have been set up with companies that have specific skills in the fields of, for example, technology and marketing in order to provide start-ups with comprehensive support in every aspect. The areas that are given the most attention, but not exclusively, concern software and digital in general, and in particular technologies supporting activities with BtoC models, human resources management, and in the entertainment sector. “At the moment we are focusing on early stage start-ups (who can apply here, ed.) based in Italy and we have designed the programme to be only partially resident with at least one day to be spent at Djungle’s headquarters in Turin, which we believe is important in order to get the most out of the interaction with the start-up studio ecosystem.
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