The director of FITD, Petrov: The investments of "X Factor" Accelerator show great movement in the startup ecosystem
Today, the director of the Fund for Innovations and Technology Development visited the “X Factor” Accelerator in Veles, in order to get acquainted with the current activities of the accelerator and the planned investments for the upcoming period.
X Factor, together with Business-Technological Accelerator UKIM DOO Skopje and Seavus Accelerator, is one of the three accelerators in the country and the first outside the capital, supported by FITD through the World Bank, which received financial support in the amount of 2 million euros through the public call for financing technological accelerators with the aim of faster development of innovative ideas, market validation but also building scalable and sustainable business models for Macedonian startups.
X Factor Accelerator this year realized three investments in Macedonian startups with a total amount of 300 thousand euros. The last investment of the Accelerator of 100 thousand euros is in the Macedonian startup “Brummel”, a company that stands behind the first jacket intended for motorcyclists in the world. The company was founded by Nino Karas and Nina Levikj and already has offices in Skopje and New Jersey.
“I am truly proud that X Factor Accelerator continues to be a place that stimulates the development of innovative startups and shows that the Republic of North Macedonia is well on its way to being a startup hub in the region. The three investments of the Accelerator show that the accelerator programs are key for the development of the Macedonian startup ecosystem, but also that the Macedonian startups are seriously working on their investment readiness. These investments show the importance of greater involvement of private investors and business angels in the Macedonian startup ecosystem.” said Kosta Petrov, director of the Fund for Innovations and Technology Development.
Taking into account the new hybrid Investment Fund that will focus on investments in Macedonian startups from 100 thousand to 1.5 million euros, but also the almost doubled assistance to Macedonian startups planned for 2022, the new call for support of accelerators which will fund three new accelerator programs with a focus on investment readiness for startups is in final preparations in FITD. The new model of financing accelerators will include stimulating the inflow of private capital in Macedonian startups through the “euro for euro” model, i.e. for every euro invested by a private investor in the most successful startups from accelerator programs, the Fund will invest an additional one euro. The new call for accelerator support is planned for the first half of 2022.