The Digital Tech Fund, set up as a seed fund, was set up in 2016 jointly by the Ministry of Economy and a group of private investors to support the financing and development of innovative innovative technology companies that are in the startup phase. Following the 2,000 files analyzed during the past 12 months, more than 200 have been considered for investment by the Digital Tech Fund. Finally, two foreign companies were selected.
(Featured Image, from left to right: Guy Harles (Investor Committee, Digital Tech Fund), Javier Juncadella (CEO of Nektria), Axel Schmiegelow (CEO of itravel), Alain Rodermann (founding member of Expon Capital), Etienne Schneider (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy) and Mario Grotz (Ministry of Economy) / Image Credit @ Ministry of Economy)
itravel and Nektria will take advantage of the first two investments – 500,000 euros each – of the fund. itravel is the first tour operator whose value chain is entirely digital. Headquartered in Cologne, Germany, the company operates an online tourism platform offering the possibility to compose around 4,600 long-distance journeys adapted to the individual travel sensations sought by the customer. Based in Barcelona, Spain, Nektria has developed a digital logistics platform that optimizes both on-line ordering and reduces product delivery costs.
[Total_Soft_Poll id=”4″]“On one hand, we chose itravel and Nektria the quality of their service and for their competitive position. On the other hand we invested in those startups for the great professionalism and experience of their leaders. The two startups will contribute positively to the emergence of a vibrant ecosystem in Luxembourg”, said Alain Rodermann, founding member of Expon Capital, which manages the Digital Tech Fund.
Digital Tech Fund investit un mio. EUR dans itravel & @Nektria qui poursuivent leur développement depuis le #Luxembourg créant 85 emplois pic.twitter.com/Lj54VejweH
— Etienne Schneider (@EtienneSchneide) 10 juillet 2017
“We will continue our international expansion from Luxembourg where we will establish a new operation center that aims to acquire markets in 10 different countries. In addition to a high-level technological infrastructure to achieve our goal, we need a highly skilled and multilingual workforce. The Grand Duchy fulfills these two criteria perfectly” – Axel Schmiegelow, CEO of itravel.
“Ultra-broadband connections and very short latency between Luxembourg and the primary Internet access centers in Europe have led us to develop Luxembourg and eventually create 10 jobs there. We aim to expand on new markets in Northern Europe and Benelux from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.” – Javier Juncadella, CEO of Nektria
“The choice of the first participations, the quality of the management, their ambition and their capacity to execute their business plan have been decisive criteria. We consider the results of this first year of the Digital Tech Fund really positive. The fund will be able to deploy effectively in the next coming years and contribute significantly to the creation of an innovative and efficient ecosystem in the Grand Duchy”, concluded Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Étienne Schneider.
