RITA launches selection of startups in Europe

Lafayette Plug and Play, based in Paris, is the leading European innovation platform for the retail industry with a startup network in all key locations around the world, which fives the alliance greater innovation potential when working with startups. For RITA partners, startups will be scouted from Spain, France, Germany, and Silicon Valley. Initial scouting will be conducted by LPnP from its own pool. However, to participate in the second stage of the RITA selection, Russian startups can also apply at www.rita.vc.

Startups at a minimum stage of a finished product or MVP will be able to participate in the second selection of technological solutions. The teams’ solutions should be aimed at improving customer relationships, accelerating remote online sales support, increasing the efficiency of business processes in offline trade during the delivery and assembly of orders, during transportation of goods. In addition, solutions in the field of advertising and marketing technologies, home mobile entertainment, financial technologies, and automatic interior design can participate in the selection as well.

According to the results of the second selection, 15 startups will present their solution to all partners of the alliance. The 15 startups may also have the opportunity to launch a pilot with partners of the RITA technology alliance, and implement their project for millions of customers and in thousands of outlets. The deal flow session finals of RITA will be held in the format of an online pitch session.

Based on the results of the first selection of startups in Russia and other countries, which ended in April 2020, 395 applications were received from 17 countries. The number of teams wishing to take part in the program 4 times exceeded the program plan. Right now, partners, together with startups, are working out project solutions for launching about 30 pilots with various business units of the companies. GoTech Innovation was the scouting operator in Russia and the CIS.

RITA is a fundamentally new approach to innovation, in which the efforts of the four largest companies are joined together for effective scouting around the world. On this site, partners freely exchange their experience, solutions evaluation, and implementation results.

Lafayette Plug and Play is the first innovation platform fully dedicated to the transformation of the retail industry. Since its creation in 2016 through a partnership between the Galeries Lafayette group and the Californian accelerator Plug and Play Tech Center, 15 other leading names in the retail industry have joined in order to boost their digital and cultural transformation. Lafayette Plug and Play, which occupies a 1,000 sq. metre innovation workspace in the heart of Paris, connects retail corporations with the best-suited startups and scaleups so they can accelerate their digital transformation and optimise their results.