Lenta and GenerationS sum up the results of the first international projects selection
GenerationS corporate accelerator has completed its projects scouting for Lenta - the largest hypermarket chain in Russia. The first selection focus was on international projects capable of offering competitive, mature solutions for the retail industry in the key areas.
More than 270 international applications were submitted in a month period, where 65% are start-ups from Europe, 18% from Israel, 10% from Asia, and 7% from the USA. Also, applications were received from various projects in Australia and South America. Among the leading countries in terms of the number of applications are Israel, UK, Germany, USA, and Spain.
45% of projects have already launched mass production, and 31% have launched their first sales (pilot production).
Among the main areas of startups that took part in the selection were solutions in the field of automation and improving the efficiency of operations, marketing, logistics and supply chains, and new services for customers.
As part of the scouting, a separate pitch-session was also held with Israeli startups, which helped them to gain better understanding of Lenta and its activities as well as the main criteria for the projects in order to be selected.
The next stage of the competition is the Demo Day, which is scheduled in the mid-December. Startup teams will present their solutions to Lenta's top managers. The most promising projects selected will get an opportunity to launch a paid pilots with the company in early 2021.
Startups that have successfully passed the Demo Day will receive the necessary business expertise and methodological support for a successful pilot, access to the essential infrastructure and pilot sites, and consultations on the localization of products and technologies in the Russian market. In case of a successful pilot, the startup will be able to sign a long-term cooperation with Lenta and other companies of the Severgroup Investment Group.
Ekaterina Petrova, managing director of GenerationS Corporate Accelerator:
"For GenerationS, the opportunity to work more closely with the international startup market is a crucial stage in the development of expertise. The innovation ecosystem abroad differs significantly from the Russian. This fact allowed us to take an even broader look at what innovative solutions are now particularly in demand and relevant in retail worldwide. In a month, we collected a pool of strong projects that met all the basic requirements of Lenta and offered ground-breaking solutions. The search's geography was very extensive since we went beyond the applied priority countries and were also able to attract our infrastructure partners from other regions. For GenerationS, this is the second experience of searching for technologies in the retail sector, and the first one, which is focused ultimately on international projects. We are confident that the selected startups that will present their solutions at the Demo Day will gain unique experience of working with one of the best retailers in Russia and will be able to build a solid foundation for further development in the Russian market."
Vladimir Sorokin, general director of Lenta:
"Participation in a corporate accelerator with a focus on finding international startup projects is a new experience for our company. We are already highlighting some projects that meet Lenta's needs and are ready to pilot them. We believe that among the announced solutions, we will be able to find technologies that will make it possible for us to automate current processes, introduce new services, and ultimately create a unique shopping experience."
About GenerationS
GenerationS represents a platform for corporate innovations development; it is the largest corporate accelerator across Russia and CIS. Established by RVC in 2013. GenerationS implements comprehensive corporation development programs including in-house programs for intrapreneurship development, acceleration programs for scouting and external project acceleration, and international programs for staff training in innovations development and management methods based on international leading corporations.
The accelerator infrastructure today includes about 16 thousand startups from more than 30 countries and about 400 corporate and ecosystem partners. In 2017 GenerationS was acknowledged as one of the largest Russian accelerator according to the RBC magazine. In 2018 it also became the best corporate accelerator in Europe according to the Corporate Startup Summit. GenerationS is also in the top- 5 best state-owned accelerators in the world according to the UBI Global. Winner of 2020 ITU Innovation Challenge in the category “Ecosystem best practice”. In 2020 GenerationS became a member of the INSME Association, the international network for small and medium-sized businesses under the auspices of the OECD.
