Hub@Luxembourg: Connecting Startups & Corporate Partners


With a presence in cities in France, Italy, the UK and Switzerland, Village by CA launched a new Village in Luxembourg last June called the Hub@Luxembourg. Amélie Madinier, its newly appointed CEO, told us a bit more about the network “Village by CA” and the Hub@Luxembourg’s goal!
by: Marion Finzi
photo: Anna Katina
featured: Amélie Madinier

Can you explain to our readers what the Village by CA is, as well as the advantages of its network?

Village by CA is a business accelerator connecting startups and corporate partners. In France, each Village relies on a regional Crédit Agricole bank.

In Luxembourg, the situation is a bit different as there is no regional bank. Therefore, the Hub acts as a “partner” to the Villages by CA’s network and has been incorporated by the five Crédit Agricole’s entities present in Luxembourg, namely CACEIS, CAMCA Assurances S.A., Amundi, CALI Europe and Crédit Agricole Indosuez.

The Villages by CA’s role is to connect startups and corporates. In Luxembourg, we pursue the same goal: to be a place where corporates and startups can casually meet, discuss, exchange and realize that they can help each other by working together.

Innovation is key.

As in a real village, our Village has a square, “the Place du Village,” where unforeseen discussions happen around coffee. Proximity has always been an important part of Crédit Agricole’s DNA. A cup of coffee is a good catalyst for connecting people!

At the Hub@Luxembourg, we source startups and partners. I am mainly focused on sourcing startups from the French Villages by CA. In addition, I’ll look for foreign startups through events and conferences that the Hub will host and attend.

The Village by CA’s network hosted more than 2,000 events in 2018. These events are a real chance for us to find all kind of startups. The more startups we get, the stronger our network will be!

“Innovation can come from anywhere, therefore we cannot focus on one specific field.”

What kind of startups are you looking for?

Basically, any startups from any field are welcome. Innovation can come from anywhere, therefore we cannot focus on one specific field, or ___tech. That being said, there are a few verticals we want to focus on, such as logistics, cybersecurity, IA, machine learning and smart cities. We are less interested, even though we don’t reject it totally, in fintech and regtech.

Our way of thinking is a real asset for a country like Luxembourg, which has a desire to diversify its economy.

We want to open innovation in the widest possible sense and help overcome any challenges associated with innovation.

You are an “internationalization” platform. Can you define that for us?

As a partner of the French network “Village by CA,” our aim is to support French startups and other European startups from our network in their international expansion.

We will therefore look out for startups already established in a market, with a mature project and real international ambition.

What kind of partners are you looking for?

All corporate partners with a desire to promote innovation are welcome.

We can already count on two partners in Luxembourg: the law firm Wildgen and Elgon Ainos, an IT firm.

We also want to work hand-in-hand with other local actors from the ecosystem, such as the HoST of course, and bigger players. We have the same end goal: promote Luxembourg beyond its borders and bolster the growth of innovative technologies!

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