The Montpellier Business and Innovation Centre welcomes a new round of innovative companies. Here is a focus on selection criteria and a presentation of the new arrivals.
Both the project and the team
There are six main selection criteria. Candidates must:- Have an innovative project and ambitious goals.
- Benefit from a competitive advantage that is hard to copy.
- Target international markets with high potential.
- Have a scalable business model capable of adapting volume as demand increases without driving up costs, an essential aspect of a strong business model.
- Unite a team of people with complementary profiles and at least one person dedicated to the project full-time.
- Have a desire to set up a company for the long-term in the Montpellier Métropole area.
Human qualities
As the Montpellier BIC Cap Alpha and Cap Omega incubators are places filled with life, where young company creators spend a good amount of their time, the overall daily ambiance must foster development of their projects. Friendliness and sharing are both key values. Human qualities are of the utmost importance.A ceremony and reception are organized for each “graduating class.” The new arrivals present themselves. They discover the entrepreneur’s ten commandments offered by Montpellier BIC, a guide of good practices based on the assistance team’s experience: be ambitious, but realistic; keep track of your finances every week; remain open and humble, and more. The ceremonies also feature company leaders who already graduated from BIC, offering their testimonials based on their own experience at the Montpellier BIC incubators.“We also expect our incubated company founders to be active in the community, share their experience, and inspire other entrepreneurs on the topics they know best,” highlights Isabelle Prévot, director of Montpellier BIC.
Pierre-Édouard Robert, founder of MagicPallet, was also at the ceremony.“An entrepreneur must be in it for the long-term,” as Célia Belline reminded them during the last ceremony held on February 11, 2021. CEO of CILcare, which she founded in 2014 with two other managers from Sanofi, she adds: “Montpellier BIC gave us access to investors, banks, and Crealia. It helped build our credibility.”
Innovation is fostered at Montpellier BIC by an environment that is both professional and benevolent. We wish all the greatest success to the new startups!“BIC is an ecosystem that immediately enables you to meet all the other entrepreneurs, with whom you can readily share ideas.” One of BIC’s available programs also helped him significantly: Montpellier Capital Risque (translated as “Montpellier venture capital”). “That program enabled me to prepare and launch my fund-raising project.”