Techstars

Techstars Central LLC, founded in 2006 and based in Boulder, Colorado, operates as a startup accelerator and venture capital firm focused on supporting early-stage technology-oriented companies. It specializes in a mentorship-driven accelerator program, selecting ten startups each summer to participate in a three-month incubation period, offering funding of $120,000 in exchange for equity. Techstars invests primarily in sectors such as fintech, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, and IoT, while avoiding investments in medical devices, healthcare technology, and local service-oriented businesses. In addition to its primary accelerator, Techstars has various specialized programs, including those focused on music, retail, mobility, and social impact, with global reach extending to regions such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The firm prefers taking minority stakes, typically between six and ten percent, without seeking board representation or investor rights. Techstars has built a robust network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and corporate partners to foster innovation and growth within its portfolio, which includes over 1,000 companies with a significant collective market capitalization.

Ethan Austin

MD of the Techstars Western Union Accelerator

Max Kelly

Managing Director of Techstars London

Lesa Mitchell

Managing Director

Vijay Tirathrai

Managing Director

Mark Tortorella

Advisor

Nathanial Zola

MD

Past deals in Italy

BEAWaRe

Pre Seed Round in 2023
BEAWaRe is an app that assists municipalities and wastes companies in lowering the cost of collection logistics. It optimizes waste collection logistics with its IoT sensor network and TARIP management and data analysis software.

Wibo

Pre Seed Round in 2023
Wibo is the app that broadcasts interactive Live Quiz Shows presented by a host. Wibo combines the winning formulas of the TV quiz show, like a charismatic host, with the interactivity of a mobile game. Wibo was built to satisfy our entertainment consumer needs. Traditional entertainment platforms, such as television, do not meet the needs of the millennials and Gen Z target, of which we are part of. For example, television establishes a one-way relationship between the broadcaster and the viewer, who is engaged in a passive way. In the twenty-first century, entertainment must be shared and above all interactive. Wibo wants to become the new interactive platform of entertainment in the world.

UTwin

Pre Seed Round in 2022
Strategic BIM is a PropTech startup that provides digital twin, IoT, and Building Information Modeling (BIM) solutions and services. The company helps clients to use BIM in a strategic way to improve their performance and reduce building management costs.

Cubbit

Series A in 2021
Cubbit is a hi-tech startup founded in 2016 on a worldwide mission to shape the cloud as it should always have been. Green. Encrypted. Forever-free for the users. Based in Italy, Bologna, and Israel, Tel Aviv, Cubbit counts Techstars and Barclays among its global-class partners. Thanks to its disruptive green technology that makes it the first cloud provider without proprietary data-center to maintain, Cubbit has achieved international recognition and got financed by the European Commission.

F3nice

Pre Seed Round in 2021
F3nice is an Italian innovative start-up specializing in additive manufacturing, with a strong emphasis on sustainability and circular economy principles. The company focuses on the development and design of both single and complex components, leveraging its expertise in material science and process engineering. F3nice manufactures metal powder for additive manufacturing feedstock, utilizing recycled metal scrap, including high-alloyed steels and nickel- and titanium-based alloys. This approach not only helps 3D printing clients reduce their carbon footprint but also simplifies their assembly processes, contributing to overall business sustainability.

Latitudo40

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Latitudo 40 operates a geo-information platform that converts satellite imagery into actionable geospatial information to aid decision-making. The platform integrates tools to automatically search, process, and analyze images from Earth observation satellites, leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to simplify business processes. This enables clients to monitor environmental health, identify potential risks, and develop sustainable urban plans. By providing comprehensive features within a single platform, Latitudo 40 enhances the accessibility and utility of satellite data for various applications.

Deliverart

Seed Round in 2021
Deliverart is an all-in-one cloud software that consolidates all the home delivery orders a restaurant receives (from phone, website, app, food delivery platforms) in a single interface. Alongside with that, it also provides smart tools to maximize the efficiency of a restaurant’s autonomous home deliveries, while increasing the productivity and the coordination between production and logistics. The software, developed by an Italian team and launched in 2019, is born with integrations-by-design, in order to create a helpful environment where restaurants can fully take advantage of digital technologies. Deliverart is a modular solution that can be personalized with add-ons and features, creating a tailor made software for the restaurants’ needs. It can easily interact with other management softwares, food delivery platforms and services to provide a plug-and-play customizable solution.

ALBA Robot

Pre Seed Round in 2020
ALBA Robot is a modular and configurable platform to integrate ADAS systems and robotic technologies into wheelchairs. Alba aims to change the way Passengers with Reduced Mobility (PRM) move and enhance their independence in the everyday life. By using the best technologies from Voice Assistants, Automotive, Robotics, and IoT.

ALBA Robot

Pre Seed Round in 2020
ALBA Robot is a modular and configurable platform to integrate ADAS systems and robotic technologies into wheelchairs. Alba aims to change the way Passengers with Reduced Mobility (PRM) move and enhance their independence in the everyday life. By using the best technologies from Voice Assistants, Automotive, Robotics, and IoT.

TUC S.r.l.

Pre Seed Round in 2020
TUC Technology develops a structural digital interface designed to be implemented in a vehicle's chassis. TUC Technology 's product has a physical fixing point and a hub and switches system to exchange and elaborate data among all the devices connected, allowing users to rationalize and increase the entire electronic system of vehicles. TUC Technology was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Turin, Italy.

WeGlad

Pre Seed Round in 2020
WeGlad develops an application for safe and personalized mobility, starting from people with disabilities. The company allows users to report obstacles in real time and find routes without architectural barriers. WeGlad aims to ease up people’s lives through a bottom up paradigm, which studies difficult mobility complications, generating a tool that creates an accessible outdoor environment, and clear information about the indoor facilities. WeGlad was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Turin, Italy.

Caria

Pre Seed Round in 2019
Caria is a digital therapeutics company focused on supporting women during perimenopause, menopause, and beyond. It offers a platform that combines behavioral science with symptom tracking and personalized health insights, allowing women to effectively manage the challenges associated with these life stages. Through data-driven care and a supportive community, Caria provides resources that empower women to navigate the effects of menopause with confidence. The company aims to address age-related conditions and improve the overall well-being of its users by leveraging cognitive behavioral therapy and other therapeutic approaches.

Cubbit

Seed Round in 2019
Cubbit is a hi-tech startup founded in 2016 on a worldwide mission to shape the cloud as it should always have been. Green. Encrypted. Forever-free for the users. Based in Italy, Bologna, and Israel, Tel Aviv, Cubbit counts Techstars and Barclays among its global-class partners. Thanks to its disruptive green technology that makes it the first cloud provider without proprietary data-center to maintain, Cubbit has achieved international recognition and got financed by the European Commission.

Fresco

Pre Seed Round in 2018
FRESCO is revolutionizing the cooking oil market in order to allow anybody to make any dish tastier and healthier, transforming a commodity, like olive oil, into a premium and emotional product. For this reason they developed the first solution to make the best condiment ever, the fresh olive oil. Fresco experience is easy and exciting: all you need is EVA, the first mini-oil mill, and his frozen olives Pulps. Thanks to their multi-skilled team and outstanding partners, they concluded the prototyping phase and they raised €1,0M. In May 2018 they have entered the B2B market with a pre-order campaign and they have already sold 50 subscription plans.

Cubbit

Pre Seed Round in 2018
Cubbit is a hi-tech startup founded in 2016 on a worldwide mission to shape the cloud as it should always have been. Green. Encrypted. Forever-free for the users. Based in Italy, Bologna, and Israel, Tel Aviv, Cubbit counts Techstars and Barclays among its global-class partners. Thanks to its disruptive green technology that makes it the first cloud provider without proprietary data-center to maintain, Cubbit has achieved international recognition and got financed by the European Commission.

Soundcharts

Seed Round in 2018
SOUNDCHARTS S.A.S. develops an online platform that aggregates online music consumption data and enables users to track social networks, charts, playlists, and airplay data. It offers real-time notifications; and daily reports that include airplays stats, progress on all social networks, and positions in the charts and on playlists. The company’s platform monitors radios from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, and Italy. It serves the music industry. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in Paris, France.

OffGridBox

Funding Round in 2017
OffGridBox is a modular and compact unit that provides renewable energy and clean water in remote areas and developing countries. Their OffGridBox™, an all-in-one system, fits entirely inside a 6x6x6 feet shipping container and is equipped with all the hardware needed to produce electricity and clean water. This innovative technology is a solution for more than 2 billion people worldwide that need energy and clean water on a daily basis. One unit potentially managed by a local women co-op in a Rwandese village can impact up to 300 families (circa 1500 people) providing Tier 1 electricity and sterilized water. They deployed 38 units in 9 Countries (Italy, South Africa, Rwanda, Nigeria, Philippines, Madagascar, US and Colombia) for different segments: humanitarian, household retail, service to industry. These units have operated more than 400,000 working hours.

OffGridBox

Seed Round in 2017
OffGridBox is a modular and compact unit that provides renewable energy and clean water in remote areas and developing countries. Their OffGridBox™, an all-in-one system, fits entirely inside a 6x6x6 feet shipping container and is equipped with all the hardware needed to produce electricity and clean water. This innovative technology is a solution for more than 2 billion people worldwide that need energy and clean water on a daily basis. One unit potentially managed by a local women co-op in a Rwandese village can impact up to 300 families (circa 1500 people) providing Tier 1 electricity and sterilized water. They deployed 38 units in 9 Countries (Italy, South Africa, Rwanda, Nigeria, Philippines, Madagascar, US and Colombia) for different segments: humanitarian, household retail, service to industry. These units have operated more than 400,000 working hours.

OffGridBox

Pre Seed Round in 2017
OffGridBox is a modular and compact unit that provides renewable energy and clean water in remote areas and developing countries. Their OffGridBox™, an all-in-one system, fits entirely inside a 6x6x6 feet shipping container and is equipped with all the hardware needed to produce electricity and clean water. This innovative technology is a solution for more than 2 billion people worldwide that need energy and clean water on a daily basis. One unit potentially managed by a local women co-op in a Rwandese village can impact up to 300 families (circa 1500 people) providing Tier 1 electricity and sterilized water. They deployed 38 units in 9 Countries (Italy, South Africa, Rwanda, Nigeria, Philippines, Madagascar, US and Colombia) for different segments: humanitarian, household retail, service to industry. These units have operated more than 400,000 working hours.

GoalShouter

Seed Round in 2016
GoalShouter Srl provides an iPhone and Android-based mobile communication tool for the soccer community. Its application enables users to report everything that happens on the field; create a professional-quality live coverage with graphic content, statistical reports, and more; and share the content on Facebook, Twitter, and their Websites. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Milan, Italy.

Origin

Pre Seed Round in 2015
Origin is a privately held, clinical-stage biotechnology company founded in June 2010, focused on developing and commercializing innovative medical technologies that deliver plasma-stream therapeutic molecules directly at the point of care. The company's technology is grounded in Nobel Prize-winning research and aims to exceed current standards in efficacy, side effects, and cost-effectiveness. Origin operates within the emerging field of plasma medicine, which integrates plasma physics with life sciences and clinical medicine for therapeutic applications. This field is actively researched at prominent academic institutions across the globe, including in the United States, Russia, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy.

Solenica

Seed Round in 2015
Solenica, based in Rome, Italy, designs a solar-powered robot named "Lucy" that enhances natural illumination in residential spaces. This innovative device features photovoltaic cells and a mirror that tracks the sun, reflecting sunlight into areas of the home that typically lack direct light. By redirecting sunlight, Lucy aims to improve the quality of indoor lighting and is intended to be integrated within smart home systems, thereby redefining conventional approaches to natural lighting.