GO announces €2 million fund for start-ups

“As the longest-standing telecoms company in Malta, we have been enabling local businesses to thrive and innovate with our robust and reliable telecommunications services. All the innovative developments of recent years depend on resilient communications networks and services such as those provided by GO and we have invested heavily to stay ahead of the game. It is now time for GO to take this further, which is why we want to become direct investors in innovative startups.”

This was said by Nikhil Patil, CEO of GO in his keynote address at yesterday’s DELTA Summit as he announced that, at the beginning of 2019, GO will be launching a new fund of up to €2 million to provide start-ups with easier access to all the resources they need to take their ideas forward.

GO will make financial support, telecommunications services, mentoring and physical space available to promising start-ups in the areas of distributed ledger technologies, AI, Big Data, cybersecurity, fintech and other related areas.

“This is why GO has decided to diversify its operations to start investing more in start-ups, not only through cash injections but also with facilities such as fully wired office spaces, access to GO’s products such as mobile, broadband and cloud services and to make equity investment in any start-ups that are open to such investment and have the potential to grow. We will become enablers of more start-ups and, through this initiative, our shareholders will experience more growth. So we are calling out to promising start-ups in the areas referred to above to talk to us,” added Mr Patil.

He referred to GO’s major role in building Malta’s telecommunications infrastructure, its half-amillion customer connections and the fact that Malta is connected to the rest of the world through two submarine cables to mainland Europe.

“Locally, over the past 10 years, GO has invested over €240 million and continues to invest millions more every year to ensure the island meets its connectivity requirements to enable the country to achieve its bold targets. We are delivering true fibre services across the island and among the fastest mobile data speeds in the world,” he added.

“Malta is already achieving a lot in the field of blockchain technology and we believe that it can accomplish even more in this regard. But we are looking beyond that, and therefore we will be putting in the resources and experience to ensure that Malta’s efforts in the blockchain area have the support to succeed,” Mr Patil concluded. Interested parties are invited to contact GO on startups@go.com.mt for further information.

Nikhil Patil