MIND THE BRIDGE FOUNDATION

Their core work

Mind the Bridge is an Italian foundation that bridges the gap between European startups and large corporations, facilitating matchmaking, investment, and acquisition opportunities. They operate at the intersection of entrepreneurship policy and ecosystem building, running the Startup Europe Partnership (SEP) initiative — a platform that maps accelerators, investors, and corporate innovation programs across the EU. Their core work involves creating structured pathways for startups to scale through corporate procurement, investment, and cross-border partnerships.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early work (2015-2016) centered on promoting web and mobile entrepreneurship across Europe, with emphasis on ecosystem awareness and the Startup Europe Initiative manifesto. By 2018, their focus matured significantly toward structured corporate-startup engagement — mapping best practices, building investor-corporate matching tools, and creating scalable procurement and acquisition pipelines through SEP 2.0 (their largest project at EUR 604K). The shift signals a move from evangelizing entrepreneurship to operationalizing corporate open innovation.

Moving from awareness-building toward structured, data-driven platforms that connect corporates with startups for procurement and investment at European scale.

How they like to work

Mind the Bridge predominantly leads projects — they coordinated 2 of their 3 H2020 projects, including the largest one (SEP 2.0). With 17 unique consortium partners across 6 countries, they operate as a network hub connecting diverse actors across the European startup landscape. Their coordinator-heavy profile and ecosystem focus suggest they are comfortable managing multi-country partnerships and orchestrating platform-level activities rather than delivering narrow technical work packages.

They have collaborated with 17 unique partners across 6 countries, reflecting a broad European network suited to their pan-EU ecosystem mandate. Their partnerships likely span national startup associations, corporate innovation bodies, and policy organizations rather than deep technical research labs.

What sets them apart

Mind the Bridge occupies a rare niche as a foundation that operates at the seam between EU innovation policy and practical corporate-startup deal flow. Unlike typical accelerators or incubators, they focus on systemic matchmaking infrastructure — mapping who does what across Europe and creating the rails for procurement and investment transactions. For consortium builders, they bring credibility in the Startup Europe ecosystem and direct connections to corporates seeking technology partners.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SEP 2.0
  Their largest project (EUR 604K, coordinator role) representing the scaled-up version of their flagship Startup Europe Partnership platform.
• WELCOME
  Pan-European web entrepreneurship initiative that established their position in the Startup Europe ecosystem early on.