We are happy to report that our first round of applications concluded successfully on September 30. We received a broad set of ideas spanning in a number of areas, from a large number of teams across the globe.

Here you may find some charts summarizing the origin of these ideas, regarding the people behind them, their location and skills.

As expected, the biggest number of applications was submitted during the last days of the call.

57% of submissions originated from Greece, while applicants came from 20 countries in total, 15 out of which were European ones. The map below reveals more details.

Of special interest is also the distribution of skills, as reported by the applicants themselves. The following graph provides details on their technical, financial, business and educational background. A rating of 1 denotes the most basic command of said skills, ranging to 5 being the highest, eg. a PhD in education or having sold a company in business.

To us, the challenge starts now. Following our tight schedule, we have already started reviewing the great amount of applications received, while we are willing to share our detailed reviews with all the teams submitted. We are also looking forward to work closely with the best of the teams, to help them further mature their proposals, prepare their business plans and finally shape a more than appealing offering.

And for those of you who for whatever reason could not submit your idea in this round, you can still prepare it for the next submission deadline which is due in a few months' time - it's closer than it seems!

The Openfund stands for bringing significant added value to all of its participants, and we are really excited to see our vision taking shape. What follows is pure hard work to meet all of our targets, stay tuned for more information about our progress and more.

With one more week before the submission deadline, it is time to share our detailed schedule for the next couple of months, for our applicants and partners to book early and get properly prepared.

Specific dates and details follow:
- September 30: Submission deadline for applications
- October 14: Notification of rejection or acceptance for the interview phase
- October 27: Submission deadline for business plans
- November 7: Interview date
- November 8: Notification of acceptance for the final presentation phase
- November 21: Start-up day, presentations
- December 1: Incubation starts

In greater detail, successful applicants of the first phase will be invited to submit a lightweight business plan, and also prepare for an interview. A detailed template for the business plan will be provided, to secure the minimum amount of information required and ease the process. The interviews consist of a brief presentation, followed by an extended Q&A session with the Openfund executives. Applicants who succeed in this phase will eventually be invited to pitch their ideas to a wider audience, including Openfund executives, investors, advisors and other selected participants. At the end of this day, up to 5 applications will be invited to participate in the Openfund.

It is clear, we expect the following weeks to be pretty hectic, and we look forward to delivering significant added value through these processes to all of the participants.

True to our commitment of setting up a more than capable Board of Advisors on all things start-up, we are announcing today the updated list, featuring a set of experts that we consider exceptional.
You’ll find among them people with rock solid experience and world class expertise on topics ranging from technology and business development to finance, marketing and legal issues, among others, all waiting to help out great start-ups take shape and prosper.
The list remains far from final, actually more advisors are to be added in a continuous basis, but still we do believe that -together with the Executive Board- it already provides a sound and sufficient basis to back what is considered our core offering: Advice. The full list follows right after the jump:

If our website cuts a long story short, today we are happy to share with you the whole story, containing the full specifications of the Openfund. The document embedded below shapes out, among others, the current market conditions, our vision and the promise we target at, next to a detailed description of the structure and processes set up to make this happen. And while the document remains by itself in perpetual beta and is not designed to convey any legal powers or responsibilities, we do believe that it contributes a crystal clear picture of what brings us here, where we stand and where we want the Openfund to be in the foreseeable future. The journey has just started, the board is now set up, and we are excited to invite you all join us on this ambitious endeavor.

Openfund - The Business Plan