BNL Start Partners teamed up with Bay Zoltán Nonprofit Ltd. for Applied Research, INPUT Program, Hivetures and University of Miskolc for a massive event on 28-29th November. Start ME UP! was a two-day long conference and idea competition with a goal to address university students and people in the North Hungarian Region with an innovative mindset to boost the entrepreneur thinking and startup ecosystem.

With coaching from professionals, over 10 presentations and conversations between businessmen, venture capitals and business angels, participants had the chance to get motivated and later develop their own ideas or find innovative solutions to the challenges of local companies. The teams had to brainstorm on their (chosen) idea with the help of a mentor, put a business model together and pitch it on point to a panel. The best idea won the prize of Hiventures and BNL Start Partners, a chance of an investment and incubation worth HUF 14 million. This year team ‘MineSchool’ owned the competition. Their idea is to introduce the popular game, Minecraft as an educational tool in schools.

Start ME Up! also included a Demo Day session for BNL Start incubees. Tomas Antal, CEO for Instacash had the opportunity for introduction, while Dániel Sarkadi, CEO for VernHelps  talked about the preparation for second round financing.

Start ME Up! was a big hit, so the plan is to make it annual. Until then, make sure you check this snippet on it here.