LONDON and NEW YORK, February 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

WiderPool, global innovation brokers, and Vivigas & Power, one of Italy's leading gas and electricity utilities, have announced a strategic partnership to bring technology-focused innovation to the Italian energy market. The collaboration aims to turbocharge Vivigas' customer engagement capabilities by matching it with suitably curated technology solutions.

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Spanning a history of over 50 years, Vivigas & Power supplies energy to over 316,000 customers with annual revenues of over €500m. Vivigas CEO Andrea Bolla explained that the business is embarking on a journey to be the innovation driver in the Italian energy sector to create real, solid, long-term value for customers. "Excellence in customer service is our organisation's core value. We would like to enhance that and create customer journeys providing an easily tailored product that reflects the young innovative culture of Vivigas itself", Vivigas' vision is to position itself as an innovation driver not just in its sector but throughout the Italian market.  This is a unique opportunity for a growth-stage tech company to work with a market leader in Italy becoming the key driver for their innovation strategy.  

WiderPool was founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneurs Ignacio Macias, founder of Spain's leading technology accelerator Top Seeds Lab, and Adarsh Radia, serial entrepreneur in a number of industries ranging from restaurants to telecommunications to wearable technology. They set about to address the inefficiencies facing key stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem. Technology startups generally face difficulties with business development and spend an inordinate amount of time and resources on securing funding. On the other end of the spectrum, larger more established corporations suffered when it came to innovating their existing business models or acquiring new technology.  WiderPool came about as a new generation of enablers that address this supply/demand imbalance in the world of innovation. They act as a proactive VC investor to technology businesses providing funding as well as connecting them to customer bases (corporations) that are seeking their innovation.  To the corporate, WiderPool acts very much like a corporate venturing or technology curation arm, working hand in hand to deliver new growth opportunities to an established business.  WiderPool is supported by a global network of over 60 advisory board members that are leading industry and technology vertical experts.

The Vivigas/WiderPool Innovation Programme 2017 has just been launched and will accept applications until the end March 2017.  Through its deep network, WiderPool will seek a long list of technology businesses that are viable before beginning the jury process followed by detailed due diligence. WiderPool will provide the right fit with an initial capital development fund of $250,000 and up to $1Milion follow-up funding available to help the right fit scale its product into Vivigas.  It is with this collaborative process that WiderPool will aim to help surpass Vivigas' 15% annual growth rate that it has sustained over the last decade.

For any enquiries whether you are a corporation trying to access innovation or a technology business looking to scale contact Paul Ust at paul@widerpool.com, +1-202-270-1858.

SOURCE WiderPool