Accelerator Programme

2017

MIH2017/003

Guidelines

Introduction to the call

The MITA Innovation Hub (MIH) is offering a pre-seed investment and pro bono services of €22,000 to up to

FIVE startups with the best business idea based on digital technologies.

The call covers a proof-of-concept using known or cutting edge digital technologies. We will privilege ideas

that leverage areas of strength of the Maltese economy such as Financial Services, Health & Leisure, Tourism,

Maritime and Gaming as a testbed or launchpad to global markets, and preferably use emerging technologies

or disruptive models such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and BlockChain (Preferred Thematic

Areas).

Startups selected to join our YouStartIT accelerator programme will get an opportunity to research, develop

and create their own marketable Intellectual Property which they can use to kick-start their business and scale

up.

Startups must propose what they believe is a desirable, feasible and viable solution to the problems affecting

their target market. The value of the ideas proposed must be validated by market research and customer

feedback aimed to test a hypothesis that their chosen customers will use such a proposed solution.

Prospective applicants will be offered the opportunity to follow a pre-acceleration programme to help them

validate desirability, feasibility and viability of their proposed business idea and related business model.

The Startups eventually selected to receive the investment will experience transformation of their idea into a

tangible prototype for testing in a market scenario. While doing so they will enjoy the benefits of ongoing

interaction with experts and/or mentors relevant to the chosen thematic area, including any multinational

technology partner interested in providing technical support of relevance to the project.

Eligibility criteria

1. The call is designed for tech Startups at an early stage of growth or in business for less than five (5) years.

Startups that have not yet formalised into a business undertaking are expected to do so if selected for

funding. Startups that are already formalised as a business undertaking must not exceed a headcount of

nine (9). To be eligible for funding each Startup applying for this call must ensure its composition and

status is in line with the definition of a startup as articulated in the Letter of Award.

2. Each Startup must avail itself of a team composed of a minimum of three named members with

complementary technical, design and business skills of relevance to the project and the chosen thematic

area. One team member will be assigned the role of a Project Coordinator having the responsibilities

highlighted in Appendix A of the Letter of Award.

3. All the Startup members must have an entrepreneurial vision, be ready to learn and experiment using

rapid prototyping approaches, and be ready to pitch their business idea at a public event as part of the

selection process, and to business investors after having completed the accelerator programme.

4. Employees of MITA are to first seek permission from their Head of Department if they wish to apply for

this call.

If selected for funding, the Startup will be required to:

• Sign a Letter of Award and comply with all related terms and conditions, published together with this

call.

• Sign the Declaration of State Aid, even if not yet incorporated; in such a case each member of the

Startup will jointly sign the declaration.

• Present an employment history form issued by the Employment & Training Corporation (only if the

startup is already registered as a business undertaking).

• Submit written evidence for any contracted human resources (e.g. copy of Letter of Engagement or

Contract).

Programme description

The programme is split into two phases: (A) Pre-acceleration and (B) Acceleration.

(A) Pre-acceleration

This is a non-mandatory phase prior to being shortlisted for the Acceleration Programme. This phase is

designed to guide prospective Startups define the problem they wish to resolve through their business idea,

validate the customer segment being targeted, describe the actual solution and its business model, and then

prepare and get coached for pitching (Figure 1).

Startups can gain access to Design Thinking material and exercises to help them in this phase (building blocks 1

to 3 in Figure 1). This is available by clicking on the Hypertext links embedded in the application form. To find

out how to access the application form refer to the section titled How to Apply later in this document.

Applicants should ideally begin filling out the application form early if they want to request feedback or

guidance about any issues from the MIH. Shortlisted Startups may wish to avail themselves of coaching and

other support activities in preparation of their final pitch.

Figure 1 below illustrates an ideal model of the activities that should take place if a Startup wants to make full

use of the Design Thinking material. Inexperienced Startups that opt not to follow the pre-acceleration

programme may find themselves at a disadvantage with respect to those that do. Coaching in preparation for

the final pitch is done as one cohort.

Figure 1: Pre-acceleration

A short mandatory pre-acceleration phase is planned for the shortlisted startups during the two weeks

preceding the final pitch to be selected. Details about this phase are available on the MIH website.

(B) Acceleration

This is the phase dedicated to more in-depth validation, customer engagement, rapid prototyping and testing,

Alpha and Beta launches, business plan formulation and registration of the Startup into a business undertaking

(Figure 2). Only the selected Startups are admitted to be part of the Acceleration programme.

Figure 2: Acceleration

Acceleration is a mandatory programme which all Startups selected at pitching are contracted to follow as one

cohort after signing a Letter of Award and related terms and conditions. These include all their obligations and

responsibilities which they are expected to follow throughout the course of the project.

In parallel with the acceleration programme the Startup is expected to follow the Social Impact Programme

which is a framework designed to ensure all Startups being accelerated (i) return some value, talent and

knowledge to the local startup ecosystem (ii) learn to be enterprising and (iii) participate actively in our

programme. Details about how the Social Impact Programme works, and especially its impact on the final

instalment of their grant, can be found in Appendix C of the Letter of Award.

By the end of Acceleration, the Startup must demonstrate that it is a credible team that:

• has gained a proven / documented experience with customers in their chosen market, that should

ideally include prospects for further investment

• has completed alpha version testing on their new or enhanced prototype, and gained customer

feedback which informs their Business Plan further to a beta version launch

• is able to deliver a fairly polished product, indicate potential market size and further customer

demand, formulate a growth strategy and raise further funding

If the Startup chooses an area which requires the provision of public data not already made available as open

data, or subject matter expertise in specific sectors of the Maltese public administration, MITA will use its best

endeavours and reputation to support or broker relationships with the relevant government owner of such

data or expertise.

Programme timeline • Networking Event/Meetup Tue 5th Dec 2017 *†

• Non-mandatory pre-acceleration & Design Thinking Fri 17th Nov to 27th Jan 2018

• Applications close Sun 28th Jan 2018 (23:59 hours CET)

• Communication of shortlisted startups Fri 9th Feb 2018*

• Mandatory pre-acceleration/coaching Fri 16th to Thu 22nd Feb 2018 *†±

• Pitch ideas to panel of judges Sat 24th Feb 2018 †

• Start of acceleration & project kick-off Mon 26th Feb 2018

• Product launch Tue 5th Jun 2018*

• Submission of Business Plan & Final Report* Thu 5th Jul 2018*

• Demo day - pitch to investors Sat 7th Jul 2018 *

* Timelines subject to change.

† Details about the venue will be communicated through our website.

± Details about mandatory pre-acceleration are available on the MIH website.

Award Each selected Startup will be awarded a cash grant of up to €15,000 as a pre-seed fund for each project,

together with €7,000 in pro bono services as defined in the Letter of Award. The latter value excludes the pro

bono services provided by our supporting partners listed on the MIH landing page.

How to apply To apply Startups should first register on the F6S portal and then fill out the application form. To access the

F6S portal, click on the green F6S button on the MIH website. Please ensure you read the F6S Terms &

Conditions and the MIH Rules of Engagement on the MIH website. After completing the application you should

submit it by 28th January 2018 at 23:59 hours CET. Follow the online instructions, especially the links to Design

Thinking material embedded in the application form. Ensure to include any supporting material such as figures,

references, tables, videos, wireframes, mock-ups and links to prototypes. When using links please ensure that

these are available at all times until the selection process is concluded.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available on the MIH website.

Judging criteria All the applications will be shortlisted to ten of the best ideas, and the pitches judged in line with the judging

criteria and the Preferred Thematic Areas governing the call. Judging of the final pitches will be carried out by

MITA with the assistance of subject matter experts and/or external evaluators. Feedback on the applications

submitted will be provided only to the shortlisted Startups. Further details can be found in Annex 1.

The call does not contemplate any right of appeal regarding grading and selection of the proposal. Hence, the

decision of the judging panel is final.

Pitching your proposal In addition to submitting a written application, each team will be expected to pitch their proposed idea and

concept to the panel of judges. The pitch should not last more than five minutes followed by a five-minute

question-and-answer session. The judges will use the pitch to confirm or review the scores attained by each

application. Teams should therefore view this as an opportunity to convince the panel about the value and

strength of their business idea. Remote pitches by applicants from overseas are allowed in exceptional

circumstances. In such cases, any arrangements to enable this must be agreed with the MIH management

team. MITA declines any responsibility for the quality of the hardware, transmission media, software or other

infrastructure needed to permit timely and successful delivery of the pitch.

What the MIH will provide to the selected startups • Access to a co-working space available on a 24x7 basis both during pre-acceleration and acceleration

• In-house mentorship and review of progress from project kickoff to organisation of launch and

demonstration of the project outcomes

• The involvement of external mentors, subject matter experts, external providers of pro bono services

or perks (technology partners); this includes legal support and assistance for incorporation into a

business undertaking, the drafting of deeds of partnership, memoranda of articles and association,

shareholders’ agreements, the formulation of business plans, etc.

• The involvement or participation of the Startup in MIH organised activities such as investor demo

days, meetups, workshops, seminars, focus groups, test sessions, public fora, interviews and press

launches; some of these may be mandatory for all members of the Startups selected for Acceleration.

• Leveraging MITA’s media presence, reputation and endorsement

State aid The MIH Call for Startups operates under the de minimis State Aid regime, which sets out that a single

undertaking cannot receive more than €200,000 in aid over any three fiscal years through schemes operating

under this regime. Applicants should therefore ensure they are eligible for the requested grant under State

Aid rules before submitting an application. Refer to the State Aid Declaration in Annex 2 published with this

call.

The total value of state aid provided through this call is €22,000 per Startup.

Annex 1 - Judging criteria All applications will be judged in line with the judging criteria and the Preferred Thematic Areas governing the call. This will

be carried out by MITA with the assistance of one or more external evaluators. The following four sets of criteria will be

applied to each submitted proposal.

A. Team credibility – the composition of the startup, the potential for good team dynamics, complementary and

multi-disciplinarity of skills and/or resources available to the team; their ability to deliver a fairly polished product

that will constitute the basis of its declared business goals.

B. Product/market fit – the clarity and insightfulness with which the team has researched, defined and validated the

problem that they intend to resolve (cite any references to surveys, interviews, case studies and any other

relevant secondary sources); the appeal of the proposed solution to the identified customers, and the value to be

delivered; what pains will be solved, and what gains will be achieved by the customer.

C. Feasibility – the attainability of the solution that will address the defined problem using the available resources

within the stipulated timeframe; the team should be able to provide a pre-view of the anticipated features,

functionalities and any relevant data usage; innovativeness and human-centred design of the proposed solution

will be a key criterion; a wireframe or design snippets of the proposed main features should be provided;

D. Business viability – the degree of financial alignment between the proposed product and the declared business

goals; testability of the product in the Maltese market and ideally its vision to take it beyond; the inputs and

effort needed to realise the product weighed against the benefits and future financial returns.

The proposals will be ranked according to the score achieved for each judging criterion. The proposal with the highest

score will be selected for funding. Proposals that fail to attain one or more of the threshold scores (see below) will not be

selected for funding.

For each award criteria a score from 0 to 5 will be assigned:

0 - the proposal does not meet the relevant criterion or cannot be judged due to missing or incomplete information.

1 - Very poor: The criterion is inadequately addressed, or includes serious weaknesses

2 - Not satisfactory: Although the proposal broadly addresses the criterion, there still are significant weaknesses.

3 - Good: The proposal addresses the criterion well, although improvements would be needed.

4 - Very Good: The proposal meets the criterion very well, but certain improvements are still possible.

5 - Excellent: The proposal successfully meets all relevant aspects of the criterion in question. Any shortcomings are

minor.

The respective thresholds for the award criteria are:

Criterion Threshold

A 3 B 3 C 3 D 3

Based on the scores of the individual award criteria, a total score will be calculated for each proposal. Each Startup

submitting an entry shall be given a report showing the outcome of the evaluation.

Annex 2-State Aid Declaration

Prior to providing you the assistance being offered by this call, we need to ensure that we comply with state

aid rules1. The assistance is being given under the European Commission’s State Aid regulations. This allows a

company to receive up to €200,000 of de minimis state aid over a rolling three-year period.

To confirm that you are able to receive this assistance you must therefore declare the full amount of De

Minimis aid you have already received over the last three fiscal years.

This maximum threshold would include all state aid granted under this scheme and any other State aid

measure granted under the de minimis rule. Any de minimis aid received in excess of the established threshold

will have to be recovered, with interest, from the undertaking receiving the aid.

The following is not a comprehensive list of the possible forms of State aid. However, it should give an

indication of the most common forms of aid which you could have been given over the past three years:

• Grants from public bodies

• Loans or loan guarantees at favourable rates

• Tax benefits

• Waiving or deferral of fees or interest normally due

• Marketing and advertising assistance

• Consultancy, training and other support provided either free or at a reduced rate

• Aid for investment in environmental projects or research and development assistance

• Purchase, rent or lease of immovable property at less than market rate.

Potentially any assistance from a public body may constitute State aid. Should you have any doubts whether

any public assistance you may have received is de minimis aid, please clarify this with the agency or

department that provided such assistance.

In the event that you are a shareholder in one or more separate companies which have received a form of

State Aid, it is in your interest to check directly with the State Aid Monitoring Board to ensure correctness in

your declaration.

Declaration

I declare that a comprehensive amount of de minimis aid received to date during the current fiscal year and

the previous two fiscal years is as follows:

Fiscal Year 2017 Fiscal Year 2018 Fiscal Year 2019 TOTAL

€ € € €

1

A breakdown of the source, type and amount of all de minimis aid received as well as that applied for from any

State aid grantor, is presented below.

If no de minimis aid was received please mark as Nil.

Business Undertaking (Full Legal Name) VAT Registration Number

Name and Surname (BLOCK CAPITALS) Position in Establishment

Signature Date

Business Undertaking (Full Legal Name) VAT Registration Number

Name and Surname (BLOCK CAPITALS) Position in Establishment

Signature Date

Detailed information concerning applicable State aid under the de minimis rule.

(Note: Information should include both State aid received as well as applications for de minimis State aid still

pending approval by potential grantors)

Date Source/Grantor Type of State Aid Amount in €

E.g: 2/01/2017 Central Government Soft Loan Scheme 10,000

SmartCity Malta

SCM01 Unit 506

Ricasoli SCM1001

+356 2599 2509

innovationhub.mita@gov.mt

mitainnovationhub.gov.mt