Who are you?
What’s your mission at Via ID?
Vincent Cabanel, I’m 29 years old, a native of Albi, and I’ve lived in several cities during my studies and career: Toulouse, Nantes, Warsaw, Barcelona and Paris.
Today I’m based in Paris, at the Via ID offices in the 2nd arrondissement. I joined Via ID in 2021, initially as Corporate Innovation Manager. I was in charge of the Mobility Club for a year and a half. The Mobility Club is the acceleration platform dedicated to mobility players that Via ID created in 2018. I supported the club’s members, corporates, in understanding and apprehending trends in the sector, but also in building and implementing their innovation strategy.
Since January 2023, I’ve had two roles at Via ID, I’m part of the Ecosystem team – led by Clément Guillemot – but also the Investment team – led by Romain Lafitte – as Dealflow & Startup Acceleration Manager.
My mission at Via ID is to:
- Manage the European Startup Prize for Mobility (EUSP). The acceleration and investment program created in 2017 by Karima Delli and Via ID, which aims to support European sustainable innovations. I’m in charge of defining the criteria to analyze the projects, steering the selection process designed to evaluate the candidate startups (to identify the TOP 50 and TOP 10), building the acceleration program dedicated to the European expansion at stake for the finalist projects, as well as leading a whole network of European investors and corporates. Through the EUSP, we are developing Via ID’s network and positioning in Europe, and consequently that of Mobivia. It also gives us access to an incredible database of startups, which we can capitalize on for our investment activity, but also for our core business.
- Support Moove Lab startups – the acceleration program dedicated to mobility and automotive startups based at STATION F, co-founded by MOBILIANS and Via ID in 2017 – and also set up the customized program, in connection with Clément.
- Finally, manage the Via ID Dealflow. In particular, sourcing and analyzing the most promising mobility and automotive startups for our investment activity, the Moove Lab, the EUSP, as well as Mobility Club members who have subscribed to the Dealflow offer we provide. I’m also delighted to have co-constructed, with the Fleet-hub team, a recurrent sharing of startups based on their business needs, to help them define and develop their commercial offering. I’d like to duplicate this format with other BUs!
What news would you like to share?
On October 26, we brought together the entire European Startup Prize for Mobility ecosystem at the European Parliament in Brussels, for the annual awards ceremony. A first! The TOP 10 startups were able to pitch their projects, and special prizes were awarded by EUSP partners. It was a moment of celebration, marking in particular the end of the call for projects and startup analysis period, when we received a record number of +700 applications!
A great milestone, followed by the launch of the acceleration program for the 10 finalists of the 5th edition. The program kicked off last week with a Masterclass by Henri Moissinac, Co-founder & CEO of Dott. We’ll soon be holding a Demo Day with the TOP 50 EUSP startups, and you’re all invited to follow this event. Don’t hesitate to reach out!
What do we really need to know about you?
Originally from the south-west of France, I’m passionate about rugby, a sport I’ve played for a long time, and which has taught me a lot. Obviously, I was very saddened by the French team’s elimination from the World Cup quarter-finals, even though we all know it was because of the referee (#frenchbadfaith).