The To The Peak start-up competition is now underway

A formal investment commitment of at least 460,000 euros. This is the total amount of funding that will go to the winners of the To The Peak start-up competition, the international event dedicated to start-ups, investors and businesses, scheduled to take place in Bolzano from 9 to 11 September. Selected from over 230 applications received from more than ten countries — including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Moldova, Finland, Estonia and Peru — the competing start-ups come from Italia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as from overseas. Around sixty start-ups will also be present with their own stands, offering founders, start-up enthusiasts, investors and entrepreneurs opportunities for discussion and professional development.

“The response to the call confirms the vibrancy and quality of the start-up ecosystem, both in Italia and beyond its borders,” emphasises Stefano Ceravolo, co-founder and Head of Start-up Relations at To The Peak. “We have received applications from organisations active in a wide range of fields, from artificial intelligence to climate tech, from healthcare to advanced manufacturing: a diversity that reflects the ability of start-ups to develop solutions to some of the most significant challenges of our time. The 21 companies selected for the semi-finals represent this diversity and are now preparing to present their ideas in Bolzano to investors, corporate representatives and international partners.” Twenty-one teams will compete for at least €460,000, comprising €360,000 provided by 360 Capital and €100,000 allocated by the Tyrolean business angel network (TBA Network) and BlueLime, the first Italian start-up event to make capital directly available to founders. The competition will also be recorded live by Ascensore Media, a programme dedicated to start-ups conceived and hosted by Marcello Ascani, in which founders present their projects to a panel of investors and experts. The recording in Bolzano will mark the first international episode of the programme.

A large proportion of start-ups operate in the technology sector, offering solutions ranging from industrial automation to advanced sensor technology, and from cyber security to intelligent business information management. Alongside this, the health and biotechnology sector is emerging, with projects focused on early diagnosis, treatment pathways, paediatrics and medical technologies. There are also companies working in climate tech and sustainability, with solutions designed to reduce consumption and emissions, recover critical raw materials, reuse energy and heat, and develop more efficient industrial processes. Among the projects in the competition are platforms that analyse data from buildings, contracts and business systems; technologies that monitor electronic components and production chains; systems for generating robotic trajectories from three-dimensional data; and sensors capable of simultaneously analysing both the geometry and materials of surfaces. On the sustainability front, the competition also features processes for converting CO₂ into green methanol, infrastructure that recovers heat generated by servers, and robotic solutions for the treatment of electronic waste.