InReady web tool is created under the project “Designing the Service to Improve the Investor Readiness of Start-ups” (InReady) funded by EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 824208).

In order to design InReady web tool that responds to the needs of the companies on improving their “pitching” skills, the project partners: Lithuanian Innovation Centre, Praxi Network, Agency for the Promotion of European Research utilized their organizations’ extensive experience on SME coaching regarding access to finance. All project partners are working closely with start-ups and SMEs in their countries.

Lithuanian Innovation Centre (LIC) is an active actor in Lithuanian innovation ecosystem, working closely with start-ups in the country. Lithuania experiences the booming of new fintech start-ups; thus, the successful attraction of investment is of crucial importance. LIC is able to provide a wide range of added-value services to start-ups and SMEs, through its active participation in Enterprise Europe Network and through its position as Key Account Management Service provider for Horizon 2020 SME Instrument.

Praxi Network (PRAXI) is active in technology transfer and international cooperation addressing mainly SMEs and research organisations. PRAXI has extensive experience in coaching SMEs and start-ups, since it is the coordinator of Enterprise Europe Network Hellas and host of the national representation for the ‘Innovation in the SMEs and Access to Risk Finance H2020 Programme Committee.

Agency for the Promotion of European Research (APRE) focuses focuses on supporting the industrial and scientific Italian community along the path to Europe and beyond. APRE is at the heart of a network of more than 130 members from the academia to private sector, including: Public and Private Research centres, Universities, Scientific Parks, Public Administrations, Trade associations, Finance, Chambers of Commerce, Technological Districts, enterprises, and thus providing a complete range of services. APRE has access to more than 65.000 users registered in its database, 10.000 of which are SMEs.

The one of the main challenges for the start-ups is the lack of funding for their business ideas. This situation forces them to seek funding from private sources and especially venture capital (VC) funds. To assist the start-ups to improve their skills on presenting their business ideas to Investor and attract funding for their company, project partners designed a new service to facilitate investment readiness utilizing a new webtool for checking the company’s readiness and proposing an action plan for improvements.