Apr 14, 2021
Building Cross-Border Connections and Accelerating Startup Growth
Advantage Austria, a department of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, is the largest provider and official promoter of services in the area of foreign trade.
Their offices are the gateway to Austria for international companies looking for world-class supplies, and the organisation supports Austrian businesses in their efforts to expand internationally.
Advantage Austria London runs the ‘Startup Catapult’ programme, a bootcamp that provides tools and building blocks for the conception of successful internationalisation strategies above and beyond the DACH region. Startup Catapult also lays the foundation for access to international risk capital and new networks.
Metta has supported the Startup Catapult over the last three years.
As programme delivery partner, we worked with the Head of Innovation and Startup Programmes with programme curriculum design and delivery. We connected our network of mentors, investors and industry experts to the Austrian startups on each programme. We closely collaborated with the founders, helping them to build relationships with UK-based investors and potential customers.
The Metta team also joined Startup Catapult programmes as speakers, mentors and workshop leads. We shared insight into UK Business Culture and delivered workshops on themes like ‘Business in Times of Crisis’. As mentors, we used our own experience as entrepreneurs to support the growth and overall health of the Austrian startups.
“Advantage Austria has collaborated with Metta over three of our annual Startup Catapult programmes. As our programme delivery partner, the Metta team brought their huge network and extensive experience in designing and running startup support programmes. As speakers, mentors and workshop leads, Gabi and Wil’s insight and direction made a real difference and the startups we worked with reflected this in their excellent feedback. We look forward to working with the Metta team again in the future!”
— Renate Schnutt, Head of Innovation and Startup Programmes, Advantage Austria
“London is by far the largest, most lucrative and advanced startup ecosystem in Europe. Success components are the proximity to venture capital reserves of one of the world’s largest financial centres, the sector specialisation of the incubators and accelerators, the density of the university environment and the attraction of ‘human talent’. But London is also one of the economic and cultural centres of the ‘Anglosphere‘, where rules are different and actors operate under high competitive pressure. Mind-sets, behavioural patterns and decision-making in the investor community differ significantly from what entrepreneurs have ‘learned’ in their home markets and require the redesign of business models, business plans and marketing strategies. In our attempt to introduce Austrian startups to the vast know-how and networks of the London ecosystem and thereby help build up capabilities for expansion and internationalisation we need well connected partners with experience, insight and dedication. The Metta team delivered all that to our utmost satisfaction.”
— Christian Kesberg, Austrian Trade Commissioner for the UK
If you’d like to talk to the Metta team about how innovation could help your business, or just have a chat about startups, technology or anything in-between, you can book an Office Hours call.
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👋 Say hi:
Gabi Matic — gabi@metta.partners | linkedin.com/in/gabrielamatic
Wil Benton — wil@metta.partners | linkedin.com/in/fatkidonfire
Ksenia Kurileva — ksenia@metta.partners | linkedin.com/in/kseniakurileva
