The value of working with Spinverse
Many companies ask Spinverse for help to apply for EU funding to boost their development and growth. Not everyone who applies for funding receives it, but working with Spinverse can yield other benefits.
Gapps is the leading Google Cloud partner in Finland. The company was founded in 2010 with an idea to help Finnish companies to be competitive in a toughening and ever-changing business environment. They create and implement intelligent solutions for Google Cloud technologies, which allow companies to streamline and grow their business and create more meaningful work environments.
“We were applying for the Horizon 2020 program, and one of our board members suggested we contact Spinverse for consulting and advice,” says Vesa Sironen, Chairperson of Gapps. “Getting to talk with the actual project manager that we were going to work with was the thing that ultimately sold Spinverse for us; it was obvious that the experience and knowledge Veronica Santini had would greatly help us in preparing the application.”
Gapps got a solid package which they used to apply for the grant, and were able to use that same application as the base for the next round of applications which they also did with Spinverse.
“It was great that there was a person who managed the project from Spinverse’s side, since we were doing it all for the first time,” Sironen says. “The application process taught us how to approach these kinds of procedures. The future is bright!”
Since its foundation, the company has grown quickly and now employs over forty professionals who have helped over 900 Finnish companies to reap the benefits of Google Cloud and modern ways of working.
A good plan should be followed
Merus Power specialises in power quality and energy storage, particularly in enabling renewable energy grid connections. They realised how important energy storage was becoming as the world shifts to renewable energy and wanted funding to develop new products and expand to new markets.
“Anu Ilmonen and the Spinverse staff challenged our business plan, which was a good thing,” says Kari Tuomala, MD of Merus Power. “We systematically produced new material and a new plan for the Horizon 2020 application.”
Merus didn’t receive funding, but they now had such a good business plan they decided to implement what they could anyway.
“We followed the plan we had developed and still met our goals for the next two years, even without funding,” Tuomala says. “We had a goal of one new major client, but we actually got three. Reference cases are extremely important in our business. Energy storage solutions are growing quickly, and thanks to following this plan we developed with Spinverse, we are very well positioned for the future.”
“The EIC Accelerator program is an extremely competitive scheme and it challenges companies to take a long hard look at all aspects of their product and business model,” says Veronica Santini, Senior Manager at Spinverse. “They must spot the potential weaknesses and come up with solid mitigation strategies and a strong plan for their future. The SMEs we work with rarely have the time to conduct this in-depth (re-)evaluation of every angle of their business, because they are fighting in highly competitive fields from healthtech to AI.”
Spinverse’s philosophy is to use the time to prepare a funding proposal as a concentrated period where clients are offered the context, tools and dedicated support to fully assess – and sometimes re-assess – their business and its potential.
“A good proposal is inevitably the result of this period of intense ‘soul searching’, and funding is the coronation of this work,” says Santini. “However, a true sign we have succeeded in delivering value for our clients is when they can look back at the time we spent poring over their business together as something which needed to be done. We have corrected or sharpened their initial assumptions, re-evaluated their market outlook and better prepared them to tackle both the risks and the opportunities ahead of them. We believe this work can help our clients future-proof their business for years to come.”