Over the past 22 months, Malta Enterprise approved 58 start-up projects, more than two start-up projects every month. The projects supported by Malta Enterprise during the first 10 months of this year alone are set to create 430 new quality jobs with a combined investment of €12 million.
This was announced by Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Sustainable Development Miriam Dalli whilst delivering the inaugural speech at the first-ever Start-Up Festival being held at the Kordin Business Incubation Centre (KBIC).
The festival, organised by Malta Enterprise, is being held over three days with the participation of more than 200 local and foreign participants, registered to attend. The aim of the festival is to bring together established start-ups, those who are seeking to start their own venture and various government entities.
“We are proud to see start-ups successfully setting shop in Malta and we are proud to attract innovative companies to our islands. We are currently hosting a number of exciting companies who are active in various fields including manufacturing, artificial intelligence, pharma and life sciences, technology, digital games, aviation, drones and more,” Minister Miriam Dalli said.
The minister also announced that Draw and Code, a prominent mixed reality Liverpool-based studio, will be opening an R&D and product development studio based in Malta.
“This is the kind of work that Malta Enterprise is spearheading with our other government partners,” the minister said.
Assistance for start-ups comes in various forms: grants of up to €200,000 or up to €800,000 in a repayable advance for truly innovative companies and the recently launched new round of soft loans that can assist with 75% of costs for projects of up to €1 million, amongst others. Moreover, thanks to the latest function added over the last few days to the startinmalta.com portal, start-ups can now list themselves on the website and provide details about fund-raising.
“Startinmalta.com has now the potential of becoming a consolidated space where established new investors can assess opportunities in Malta’s upcoming start-ups,” Minister Miriam Dalli added.
