Some 150 people attended the inaugural party of EnLabs (Entrepreneurship Laboratories) yesterday evening. The new 40-desk incubator based in Rome, is open to all entrepreneurs with early stage and start-up aspirations.
The initiative was founded by Luigi Capello, a serial entrepreneur turned business angel who, through investment opportunities, was able to experience and try firsthand the effectiveness of such structures in the U.S., particularly in Silicon Valley.
The incubator’s labs encompass around 400 square meters (4,400 square foot) of space in the center of Rome, a five minute walk from Rome’s Termini railway and subway stations. The objective is to collect under one roof like-minded entrepreneurs with well thought out start-up projects and to help them turn their ideas into growth businesses both locally and internationally.
“We want to create a fertile eco-system for good seed ideas to grow faster and stronger into competitive companies”, says Luigi Capello. “Italy needs a place like this, where smart people with a project or simply an excellent idea, can go to find a solid platform from where to turn dreams into results. Having a number of bright and motivated minds, investors, professionals, and academic or media representatives all under one roof creates excellent opportunities for networking and building off of each other’s experience and energy. The result is turbo-boost accelerated growth of ideas and projects.”
The incubator will house regular events on mentoring, business strategy, development or even culture, and will organize meetings with investors, business angels and venture capitalists alike. It will also act as a point of contact with industry associations and, through its offices in Silicon Valley, a springboard for young companies that wish to start operations in the US or elsewhere.
Partners include LUISS Univeristy, Italian Angels for Growth, Annapurna Ventures, Opinno in San Francisco and Microsoft.