Following a successful 1st edition completed earlier this year, KPMG Romania, together with Spherik Accelerator, are launching the open call for the next generation of tech startups.

Developed by KPMG Romania, in partnership with Spherik Accelerator, KPMG Startup Grow Pad is looking for startups that need assistance to find the right resources and finance they need to develop and grow. 

The focus shall be on startups on which KPMG is interested to help in the go-to-market strategy for joint client approach or products/solutions to can be added to KPMG’s own services portfolio. 

The program is aimed at startups focusing on B2B area, in the industries in which KPMG has expertise and clients. The main goal of KPMG Startup Grow Pad is to facilitate the development of local startups and help them become competitive at a regional level.

Technologies and solutions of interest are: Process Automation, Robotic Assistance, Augmented Analytics, Social Media Marketing for Services Firms, Cybersecurity, Intelligent Apps and (Data) Analytics. 

While the focus industries (although not exclusively) are IT and Telecom, Fintech, Real Estate, B2B Professional Services, Retail and Consumer Markets, Legal, Compliance and Regulatory. 

Startups that are interested can apply by 13th of October, on Spherik’s application webpage.

What does the program offer?

During the collaboration period, startups will meet with the team from KPMG Romania and Spherik, to work on improving various aspects of their business, related to product, business model and the overall marketing strategy.

Participants will access experienced mentors, who can help them plan the next steps to grow their business, as well as assistance in identifying potential clients. In addition to that, they will receive the help they need to find and obtain financing. At the beginning of the project, a set of objectives will be agreed upon, and the aim is that, by the end of the program, startups will have gained important knowledge and access to potential investors, which will put them in a better position to succeed.

What happened during the previous edition of KPMG Startup Grow Pad?

Four startups were selected to join the program after the first call: Nifty Learning, iFactor, Jobful and Box2M, followed by SYT.app, sometime along the line.

During a six-month collaboration period, the 5 startups in the program have worked with KPMG and Spherik teams in order to improve the areas they had difficulties with, or needed a new approach.

Who were the startups in the 1st edition?

Jobful has developed the first gamified recruitment platform in Romania. A few months after the KPMG Startup Grow Pad Demo Night, they have received the 1st round of funding and were accepted to SAP.iO accelerator, in Berlin. 

Nifty Learning was born as a startup competition idea and became in a short time a fast growing Training Administration Software company. The startup brings operational intelligence to corporate training departments and through smart automations can handle admin tasks and provide real-time insights to learning coordinators so they can focus on strategic work. 

During the KPMG Startup Growpad program they paved their way to getting real user feedback incredibly fast and had the chance to test out some assumptions about their product and its way of working. Earlier this year they were one of the 2 Romanian startups selected into Techstars Berlin program.

iFactor is an innovative online financing solution for SMEs. The aim of the startup is to bring together small and medium-sized companies interested in financing their long-term but unpaid bills, with investors and banks looking to diversify their portfolio of low-risk investment assets.

Cosmin Curticapean, founder of iFactor, about their experience: “comparing to other big corporations, the KPMG team showed an ‘exotic’ approach towards startups and the pain points they have in their way to scale.”; being part of this program was a great opportunity for the team.

Box2M is a startup that has designed an IoT ecosystem. As a business model, BOX2M addresses corporations and public administration, and offers solutions for the verticals of energy, telecommunications, utilities and critical infrastructures, working with infrastructure operators, service providers and system integrators.

See You There App is a mobile app that aims to build strong interactions between people in the same company that share the same interests, passions and values. Using the app, the employees are encouraged to find or organize real life events inside the company that correspond to their specific interests. This creates an ongoing community-building process across teams and departments, strengthening the corporate culture from the bottom up. 

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