EIT Manufacturing West reinforces its investment network in Spain

EIT Manufacturing West reinforces its investment network in Spain signing an alliance with the venture capital firm Easo Ventures

EIT Manufacturing, the largest innovation community in the industrial sector in Europe, was established in 2019 with the vision that global manufacturing will continue to be led by Europe and contributing to make Europe and its manufacturing sector more competitive and sustainable. In doing so, EIT Manufacturing brings together a growing network of Europe’s manufacturing actors and strategic alliances are always essential.

EIT Manufacturing West has given a new step to reinforce its network in the Basque Country and to enlarge its area of influence with a new partnership. From today, Easo Ventures  has become network partner of the European organization. Easo Ventures is a private venture capital firm whose mission it is to accompany individuals and companies that have a clear growth project by providing investment, expertise and experience. It was born from the lack of an investment industry in the Basque Country to support startups and SMEs and it boasts the participation of close to 100 Basque companies and entrepreneurs who, in addition to providing investment, offer their knowledge and experience to support invested companies.

Antoni Pijoan, Managing Director EIT Manufacturing West, and Pedro Muñoz-Baroja, Managing Partner of Easo Ventures

Antoni Pijoan, Managing Director EIT Manufacturing West, and Pedro Muñoz-Baroja, Managing Partner of Easo Ventures

The agreement has been signed by Antoni Pijoan, Managing Director of EIT Manufacturing West, and Pedro Muñoz-Baroja, Managing Partner of Easo Ventures. EIT Manufacturing West is signing a strategic partnership agreement with Easo Ventures, a Spanish Venture Capital with special focus on industrial projects. The purpose of this partnership is to foster opportunities for co-investing in Spanish startups and scaleups that bring valuable solutions for the industry to be more sustainable and competitive. The role of EIT Manufacturing will be to support invested startups to grow across Europe. We are sure that this collaboration will lead to impactful investments that will contribute to Europe’s manufacturing sector transformation”, explained Pijoan.

Muñoz-Baroja added that “For Easo Ventures, collaborating with the largest innovation community in the industrial sector in Europe, which is one of the pillars of the Basque economy, is a great opportunity to enhance our focus on industrial projects, as well as to help them grow on a national and even international level. We firmly believe that, if we join our knowledge, this alliance will boost innovation in the manufacturing sector”.

With this new agreement, EIT Manufacturing West already count with 18 network partners and 22 full members, including universities (Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Grenoble INP), research centres (CEA, CT-IPC, INESC-TEC, Tecnalia, Manufacturing Alliance, Eurecat) and industrial organizations (Aerospace Valley, CESAMES, ESI Group, Fives, ISYBOT, SISE, TANALS, Sonae MC, Aernnova, ARITEX, IDEC, MMAEN and Mondragon Corporation). CLC West is based in San Sebastián (Spain) and coordinate the activities of EIT Manufacturing in Spain, France and Portugal.

Learn about how to become a member of EIT Manufacturing and the different partnership models here!