A new National Innovation Fund initiative
To develop an innovative entrepreneurial hub for the economic recovery of the sports sector, which was hard hit by the Covid-19 emergency, focusing on the development of digital technologies and start-ups with strong strategic growth potential. This is the ambitious goal of WeSportUp, the first accelerator of innovative start-ups and SMEs that focuses on sport and health.
WeSportUp was launched with an initial endowment of 1.2 million euros, fully underwritten by CDP Venture Capital Sgr through the Accelerators Fund. It is part of CDP Venture Capital Sgr - Fondo Nazionale Innovazione's overall strategy to create a network of 20 physical accelerators in Italy, focused on sectors with high technological specialisation.
The programme will be based in Rome and managed by Sport and Health together with StartupBootcamp. It will involve about 30 innovative start-ups and SMEs in 3 years and will help provide financial support, together with third-party investors, to the most deserving enterprises.
The innovation areas in which WeSportUp will operate are athletes' performance, well-being and nutrition, fan engagement, sports club management, technologies for stadiums and sports infrastructure, e-sport and sustainability.
This is a strong recovery symbol for the entire sports-related ecosystem, a key sector for Italy with 12 million members in federations, 120,000 sports clubs and associations, almost 40,000 active companies, 330,000 employees and a turnover of about 17 billion euros.
This initiative marks a further step in the Group's support for businesses and confirms Cassa Depositi e Prestiti's support for the country's economy.