IPERNOVATION · Vol. 04 — Edition 2026
Barcelona 41.38°N

We build new ventures and unlock EU capital. From zero to shipped.

Venture building, open innovation, and EU funding for corporations, institutions, and founders who want results, not another strategy deck. We work as co-founders embedded in your team — not consultants who hand you a deck and leave.

Book a discovery call → See selected work
I'm looking for Venture building → or EU funding →
800+ Entrepreneurs mentored across Europe, Africa & Latin America Across 3 continents — many went on to raise external capital or secure EU grants.
3.7K+ Companies evaluated for EU programmes & accelerators As a certified EU Expert Evaluator — giving clients a genuine insider view of what the Commission funds.
21 Companies invested via InvestMED (EU-funded) €1.8M routed to Mediterranean SMEs across Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.
3 Ventures co-founded across IT, UG, KE Not advisory — actual equity-based co-founding, from idea to operational company.
In good company
Corporate & Deep Tech Institutions & Ecosystems
Ferrovial Merck CERN Airbus Gellify Greiner Kapsch Endesa Pioneers.io Körber Carbon13 CAF Dev Bank Hubraum
"
His strategic and analytical thinking has consistently driven success for his clients. Francesco is not only a brilliant professional but also a person of great integrity and dedication.
IN
Isabella Notarangelo
Global Government Affairs · Health Policy · MedTech · LinkedIn recommendation

01 / Practice

Three services. One outcome: new businesses that ship and survive.

01
◎ Opportunity Mapping Market gap · User need · Strategic fit
02
□ Business Model Revenue logic · Unit economics · Partners
03
△ MVP Ship fast · Test real · Iterate hard
04
→ Go-to-Market Channel · Positioning · First 100 customers
·01

Venture Building

From 0 to 1. Opportunity mapping, business model, MVP, and go-to-market. I work alongside your team as a co-founder, not a consultant.

Explore → ·02

EU Funding & Non-Dilutive Capital

Keep your equity. Horizon Europe, EIC, national instruments. As a certified EU Expert Evaluator for the European Commission, I write proposals from inside the scoring rubric — the same one I use when judging other applications.

Explore → ·03

Open Innovation Programmes

Accelerators, hackathons, scouting. Designed and delivered for Pioneers.io, Greiner, GIZ and CAF. 800+ founders mentored across three continents.

Explore →

02 / Selected work

Ventures, programmes & funded rounds, shipped.

InvestMED
LUMSA · 2022–24 EU Programme
€1.8M Routed
21 SMEs Funded
Problem Mediterranean SMEs lacked access to EU investment readiness frameworks and capital routing.
Action Designed and ran the InvestMED programme for LUMSA across Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan.
Outcome 21 SMEs funded, €1.8M routed, 4-country reach.
Read case study →
Pioneers.io
Pioneers.io · 2017–19 Open Innovation
3K+ Startups Scouted
20 Corporates Served
Problem European corporates had no structured pipeline to identify and engage relevant startups.
Action Designed and operated the scouting engine, matching startups with Booking.com, FFG Austria, Deutsche Telekom and others.
Outcome 3,000+ startups scouted, 20 corporates served across 2 editions.
Read case study →
Startup Africa Roadtrip
SAR · 2018–22 Co-founder
500+ Founders Trained
43% Women Founders
Problem Early-stage founders in East Africa lacked structured 0-to-1 methodology and execution support.
Action Co-founded and delivered a five-year bootcamp series across the region, culminating in a European tour for the top 4 finalists of each cohort.
Outcome 500+ founders trained, 43% of which were women — across Uganda and Kenya.
Read case study →
CAF Dev Bank
CAF Dev Bank · 2022–2023 Mentorship
80 Founders Mentored
8 Countries
Problem Impact founders across Latin America needed sustained mentorship to turn ideas into investable ventures.
Action Delivered a 30-week curriculum across 2 cohorts for CAF Development Bank and Scholas Occurrentes.
Outcome 80 impact founders mentored across 8 countries, 2 cohorts completed.
Read case study →
11 more across CERN, Ferrovial, Merck, Carbon13, Cyens, GIZ… View all case studies →

03 / How we work

No retainers. No decks. Just outcomes.

·01

Discovery call

30 minutes, free. You tell me what you're building or trying to fund. I tell you honestly whether I can help and what the engagement would look like.

·02

Scoped proposal

Fixed scope, fixed fee. Every engagement starts with a clearly defined deliverable and timeline — no open-ended retainers, no surprise invoices. Typical engagements run 6 weeks to 6 months.

·03

Embedded execution

I work inside your team. Not as an external advisor who shows up with slides. As a co-builder who owns the process alongside you — from strategy through to shipped product or funded proposal.

Let's build the next one.

30 minutes, no pitch deck required. Tell me what you're building, or what you're trying to fund, and I'll tell you honestly if I can help.

Book a discovery call → fra.rubino@ipernovation.eu
Response timeWithin 48 hours
Fit checkFree · No obligation