V4 Startup Force: Connecting Startups Across the Visegrad Region

Client

International Visegrad Fund (IVF)

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Client overview:

The V4 Startup Force launched in 2018 with the support of the International Visegrad Fund as the Visegrad region’s first startup scholarship programme. It is jointly organised by Civitta Hungary and three Visegrad partners: Campus (Slovakia), DEX Innovation Centre (Czech Republic), and Startup Hub Poland (Poland). Its goal is to connect the most promising B2B startups from the V4 region with cross-border business relationships and corporate partners.

Challenge:

The startup ecosystems of the Visegrad region had been operating in isolation from one another, and the fragmented nature of regional markets made it harder for startups to acquire new customers and achieve large-scale growth locally. V4 startups lacked a structured way to build cross-border business relationships or engage meaningfully with corporate partners, leaving much of the region’s innovation potential untapped.

The International Visegrad Fund (IVF)goal is to strengthen the innovation, R&D, and entrepreneurial ecosystem both within and beyond the V4 countries by building new business and cluster networks for SMEs, startups, and research institutions, supporting joint responses to economic challenges, and fostering policy cooperation, the sharing of best practices, and the regional and cross-sectoral adoption of new technologies.

Our approach:

Civitta Hungary (formerly Design Terminal), coordinates and delivers the programme together with its Visegrad partners. The two-phase model begins with a 5-day Bootcamp, where the most promising teams are selected through workshops and mentoring from a pool of up to 20 startups per country. The four teams that make it through (one per country) then take part in a three-week Business Sprint, during which they attend individually organised B2B business meetings with corporate and SME partners in all four V4 countries.

The organising partners put together these business meetings by matching startups’ needs with their own corporate networks, and each meeting is preceded by personalised coaching. The programme is primarily B2B-focused, welcoming startups with proven market traction and a scalable business model.

Results & impact:

800+ applications since 2018
128 startups have taken part in the programme
350+ business meetings between startups and corporate/SME partners

“A surprisingly great and enjoyable three-week journey.” –

David Suslik

OnSinch

“It was an excellent opportunity to get to know ourselves and our company even better. On top of that, the networking, workshops, and potential business collaborations added great value to the overall V4 experience.” –

Matej Liptak

Airlogy Labs

“A great mix of knowledge-sharing and experience.” –

Mateusz Kierepka

MateBioMinds Healthcare

“We’re very pleased, as we received excellent feedback. We’ve kicked off several negotiations across the V4 countries, and we’ve already launched a pilot project in southern Slovakia.” –

Lia Menyhárt

Merova

Key takeaways:

Individually organised B2B meetings create real business value because they connect startups directly with concrete market feedback and potential partners — unlike mass networking events. Regional ecosystem development only works when the organising partners from the four countries engage in genuine, equal-footing collaboration, rather than simply coordinating logistics.