US market welcomes Swedish startups
Uminova Innovation through the initiative Enterprise Europe Network in cooperation with US Commercial Service has held a seminar about the Select USA-program.
During a visit in Umeå and to the incubator Uminova Innovation Dillon Banerjee, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy and Tuula Ahlström, Senior Commercial Specialist at the U.S. Embassy are looking for companies that are born global and startups that are considering US as a growth market.
When meeting the startups at Uminova Innovation they want to understand in what growth state they are and what they are thinking on international expansion.
“We want to identify those that are ready to do a more in-depth analysis and exploration of the US market,” he says.
“Select USA is a program for companies that have an established business model and maybe already are doing successful business. But that doesn’t mean that an early stage company cannot consider an expansion in the US,” Dillon Banerjee explains.
At the meeting, he invites the startups to a big summit in Washington D.C., June 10-12, 2019. The SelectUSA Investment Summit brings the diversity of the United States together under one roof – enabling any business to find the people, resources, and market it needs to be successful. It is the highest-profile event dedicated to promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States.
“During a couple of days the startups can meet with several state officials to find out what the possibilities are,” Dillon Banerjee says.
10 top questions when going to US
These are the top 10 questions that most companies have, according to the Embassy’s partner in this initiative, the Silicon Valley law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati.
- Location/property: Identify your optimal U.S. location, evaluate and address office requirements.
- Funding: Prepare U.S. appropriate materials: executive summary, deck and pitch for investors.
- Personnel: Recruit and build the right U.S. team; identify potential employees and contractors.
- HR & admin: Arrange bookkeeping, payroll, HR, employee benefits and withholding tax systems that can support your U.S. business.
- Banking: Establish U.S. banking facilities and coordinate U.S. and home banking arrangements.
- Taxes: Establish U.S. and home market tax structuring and compliance procedures.
- Visas: Address immigration requirements for relevant personnel.
- Insurance: Extend business insurance to the U.S.
- Government support: Identify U.S. state, local and federal programs.
- Legal: Form U.S. entity; employee contracts & equity; Americanize contracts; trademark/patent filings; data privacy.
[tipsbox id=”21383″]