For most startups, validating an innovative solution in a real business environment marks the beginning of a new set of challenges. How do you transform a successful pilot into long-term commercial opportunities? How do you approach investors? How do you build strategic partnerships? And how do you prepare your company to scale? These are exactly the questions the Open Horizons Follow-On Programme was designed to address.
Validation is only the beginning
Following a highly competitive selection process, Open Horizons matched promising women-led startups with leading corporate partners to co-develop solutions addressing real market needs.
After completing the Inception Phase, selected startups of Cohort #1 entered the Pilot Phase, where they worked side by side with corporates to validate their technologies, refine their solutions and demonstrate their potential in real operational settings.
For many founders, this represented much more than technical validation. It was an opportunity to better understand customer needs, test business assumptions and demonstrate the value (and efficacy) of their innovation beyond the laboratory.
What comes next?
The Follow-On Programme was created to help answer exactly that. Led by InnovX, with the support of Migros and the Open Horizons consortium, this phase focuses on helping startups transform validated innovations into future business opportunities.
Through dedicated mentoring, practical workshops and expert guidance, founders explored topics including commercialisation strategies, licensing models, corporate-startup collaboration, investment readiness and long-term business development.
Rather than focusing solely on funding, the programme encouraged startups to think strategically about sustainable growth, market positioning and future partnerships. Because successful innovation is about building a company capable of bringing that technology to market.
Creating the right connections
One of the most valuable elements of the Follow-On Programme was the opportunity to connect startups with experienced investors, innovation experts and business leaders.
Through a dedicated matchmaking session, Migros leveraged its extensive innovation network to facilitate meaningful conversations between founders and potential partners, helping startups explore future collaborations, commercial opportunities and investment pathways.
These sessions were designed to create conversations around long-term growth, helping founders identify the right partners for the next stage of their journey and opening doors to future collaborations that extend well beyond the duration of the project.
Getting inspired by founders stories
Growing a startup isn’t only about technology or investment, it’s also about learning from people who have already been there. As part of the Follow-On Programme, Open Horizons also hosted a dedicated Founder Spotlight Session, bringing together experienced entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem builders to openly discuss the realities of scaling deep-tech startups.
Rather than focusing on success stories alone, the conversation explored the challenges that often receive less attention: attracting the right investors, navigating uncertainty, building trusted support networks, adapting to unexpected obstacles and maintaining resilience throughout the entrepreneurial journey.
The discussion reinforced one simple but powerful message: Behind every successful startup is a community of people willing to share their experience.
Over the coming weeks, Open Horizons will continue sharing the most valuable lessons, founder stories and practical insights that emerged from these conversations through the Founder Insights series. Moreover, the upcoming Open Horizons Founder Talks will dive deeper into the journeys of the winning startups of the Open Horizons programme.