RCS NEST: A NEW DIGITAL INCUBATOR MODEL
A new space for digital innovation is created
at the RCS Group headquarters.
The new start-ups NetworkMamas, Dunkest and Intertwine,
as well as the activities of the latest businesses incubated—Made.com, Twigis and MyBeautyBox—presented.Â
The ever increasing opportunities offered by digital development
at the centre of the debate at the round table with leading figures in the sector.
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Milan, 1 April 2014 – Just a few months after the announcement of the launch of RCS NEST, the startup accelerator of RCS MediaGroup and Digital Magics, the two partners tell about the first start-ups incubated, the space that hosts them and the first steps of a unique project in the world of publishing.
Digital innovation lies at the centre of the strategy of the RCS Group, which, also through the experience of Digital Magics, a certified incubator of innovative start-ups, has created a place where ideas and expertise can be exchanged and where the focus is placed on the development and growth of new and dynamic initiatives that can meet with success in the field of new media, online marketing and technological platforms.
Through RCS NEST, the selected start-ups can meet with RCS managers and professionals to be guided in the design and launch of business ideas, take part in meetings and training seminars, and use the innovative space set up in Via Rizzoli, along with the digital services of the RCS Group.
The start-ups are selected based on the project’s level of innovation and on their consistency with and strategic value for RCS activities in the fields of digital media, e-commerce, and b2b marketing services, and in the development of technological platforms. To date, the RCS NEST team has received 55 projects in addition to those of Digital Magics. It has focused on 35 of these, and ultimately chosen the three start-ups presented today.
The event was also an opportunity to tell about the start-ups already incubated, namely Made.com, an innovative model for
interior design e-commerce, Twigis, a community dedicated to children aged 6 to 13 years, and MyBeautyBox , dedicated to cosmetics. In addition, the latest initiatives selected by RCS NEST were presented: NetworkMamas, a marketplace dedicated to Italian mothers that provides them with advice, lessons and micro-jobs, Dunkest, an interesting community and a fantasy game dedicated to basketball, and Intertwine, a web platform for collaborative multimedia editing.
“Being able to provide opportunities to develop the potential of young entrepreneurs with innovative digital development projects in tune with our core publishing business is key to our strategies,†stated Pietro Scott Jovane, CEO of RCS MediaGroup. “Just a few months after the announcement of the agreement with Digital Magics, it is a great satisfaction to see that this lab of creatives and innovators is already at work and, in some cases, already yielding concrete results. RCS NEST is perfectly in line with the major partnerships we are establishing to consolidate the multimedia activities of RCSâ€.
At the inauguration of RCS NEST, the country manager of WPP, Massimo Costa, the CEO of Cefriel, Alfonso Fuggetta, and the president of Confindustria Digitale, Stefano Parisi, spoke of the opportunities arising from technological innovation and digital development during a round table meeting chaired by the founder and executive chairman of Digital Magics, Enrico Gasperini, and by the chief digital officer of RCS MediaGroup, Alceo Rapagna.
The agreement between Digital Magics and RCS envisages that both select innovative start-ups in the digital sector and develop a business plan with the founders, supporting the selected initiatives financially and with media, logistics and technical services. It also establishes that, once the intermediate development targets are reached, they will jointly finance the initiatives, providing that in these cases RCS MediaGroup can increase its investment through an agreement on the specific economic terms. The initiative is the result of a cooperation agreement signed by Digital Ventures, an RCS subsidiary, and Digital Magics on 8 October 2013.
A short description and the first results of the selected digital initiatives follow below.
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For more information:
RCS Group Press Office
Beatrice Minzioni
beatrice.minzioni@rcs.it – +39 02 62824810 – +39 366 9206986
Monica Morigi
monica.morigi@guest.rcs.it – +39 02 25843995
Digital Magics Press Office
Giorgio Bocchieri
giorgio.bocchieri@digitalmagics.com – +39 02 52505202 – +39 334 6853078
The new start-ups to have joined RCS NEST:
NetworkMamas
It is a user-friendly and intuitive platform, which provides advice and online video lessons from women expert in various sectors, who have decided to manage their time and careers independently once becoming mothers. NetworkMamas brings together lawyers, psychologists, architects, translators, make-up artists, experts in technology, marketing and communication, graphics, video, photography, catering and events, sports, medicine and health, finance and accounting, interior design, and gardening, all in a single virtual venue. The platform helps working mothers to return to the world of labour while being able to handle their time with greater freedom and at the same time offering useful and real-time services to those who need them.
Intertwine
It is a platform for collaborative editing, which allows users to create and publish shared multimedia works. Specifically, it aims at using the experience of social media to circulate and stimulate creativity by providing a writing tool incorporating all the available means of communication, from text and video to images and audio files. Thanks to the social vocation, its users interact and collaborate by sharing and exchanging parts of a work, comments and suggestions.
Dunkest, the American fantasy basketball
 Through eye-catching graphics and a simple and intuitive game mode, Dunkest is the first to bring Nba fantasy basketball to Italy. Creating and managing a virtual team with real professional players and competing with other players is fun and easy, and the platform allows users to create private communities where they can invite and challenge friends.
The start-ups already incubated:
Twigis:
Born from the partnership between the Israeli group Tweegee and RCS MediaGroup, Twigis.it is the online reference point for children aged 6 to 13 years, providing a safe and controlled space where they can express their creativity, play and learn, find information and interact with friends and schoolmates. Just six months after its launch, Twigis.it has achieved extremely interesting results: the number of registered users has increased from 4,000 to over 30,000, with 4,800 profiles opened in January alone and over 360,000 unique users. Each registered user of Twigis.it surfs for about 20 minutes on average. The behaviour of twigers is also quite interesting: every day one out of every four reads one of the articles published, which range from Italian news to international news written specifically for children. The contents are especially rich, with over 1,000 blogs, 15,000 images and 1,600 audio files, and participation is very intense with over 50,000 comments. Great attention is paid to security: all the activities and posts are constantly moderated and controlled, and each discussion or message is subject to approval before it can be published in order to protect children from inappropriate contents. Every day, the team of moderators manages and approves over 1,000 content items, including images, audio, or comments. In addition, Twigis has received the support of Telefono Azzurro, Moige, and the Italian Postal and Communications Police.
Made.com
Made.com is an interior design e-commerce site launched in Italy after having met with great success in the UK and France. It sells design furniture and home accessories by over 40 well-established and emerging designers at an affordable price thanks to the absence of intermediaries between manufacturers and end-users. Launched in Italy in September 2013, its platform has received over 1 million visits since its launch, and has almost 3,000 customers with a database of over 20,000 contacts. Its upcoming projects, some of which also in collaboration with RCS Nest, include participation at the Milan Furniture Fair (Salone del Mobile) with the initiative “Your home, our showroom”, a contest for young talents in collaboration with design schools, and the opening of a showroom in Milan. Link?
MyBeautyBox
It is an online community dedicated to beauty with over 70,000 unique users a month. After registering online and creating a beauty profile to understand the tastes and products most suitable to each user, MyBeautyBox sends a box at very cheap prices offering customers a wide range of carefully selected products from over 90 brands.
