When we submitted OpenGate XR to the BEFuture call a few months ago, we were in the middle of a transformation phase: lots of code to clean up, a very clear vision, and the feeling that Mixed Reality could become a concrete tool for the events world, not just a lab preview.

Our selection in the BEFuture Acceleration Programme, a European initiative dedicated to transforming the MICE sector to make it more sustainable, digital and inclusive, was the first real external “green light” for this vision.

The programme, co-funded under the European Commission’s Single Market Programme (SMP), selected 80 SME projects from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain (Catalonia) and the Netherlands, providing financial support, mentorship, and an international network of partners and investors.
Among them was Metagate, with the project OpenGate XR: a no-code platform for creating Mixed Reality experiences on Meta Quest 3 headsets, designed to make MR accessible to museums, schools, companies and business events.

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What we built thanks to BEFuture

Winning the call was not just a “quality stamp”: it gave us resources, time and structure to do what startups often lack the chance to do — work in depth on infrastructure.

Over these months we have been able to:

• Strengthen the technical architecture of OpenGate XR, cleaning up and making the backend and the webapp connected to the headset app more scalable.
• Make the platform more secure and stable, working on login, APIs, and the modularity of the modules (assets, AI, multiplayer, cloud).
• Keep developing the new Mixed Reality interface: a cleaner, more intuitive UI for Meta Quest 3, with hand tracking, precise spatial placement and guided flows to upload, organise and save immersive scenes.
• Work on key features such as customisable AI avatars, support for 2D/3D/audio/video/PDF assets and persistent multiplayer modes, keeping the focus on usability and accessibility for non-developers.

The result is that today OpenGate XR is much more than a prototype: it is a real platform, already used in museums, events and installations, and ready to scale as a SaaS solution for the events, training and culture sectors.

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IBTM World 2025: when Italian Mixed Reality takes the stage

The highlight of this journey, at least for now, was IBTM World 2025, the leading international trade show for the MICE sector, held in Barcelona from 18 to 20 November 2025 at Fira Barcelona Gran Via.

Within IBTM Ignite, the new programme dedicated to innovation, more than 80 startups selected by BEFuture presented their solutions to an audience of professionals, advisors and investors from the events, tourism and meeting technologies sectors.

For Metagate, it was a double opportunity:

1. A first 3-minute pitch, shared with all the other companies that won the BEFuture call: an intense succession of ideas, solutions and models for rethinking the future of business events.

2. A second 5-minute pitch in front of investors, for which only 10 companies out of 80 were selected. Here you can find the presentation of the 5-minute pitch delivered by Metagate to investors at IBTM World. Here instead is the pitch text and finally here the audio on Spotify.

In this small group, Metagate was the only Italian startup!

On stage, Marco Pizzini presented OpenGate XR as a concrete tool to:

• reduce the costs and environmental impact of trade shows and conferences by transforming booths, demos and catalogues into immersive experiences;
• create new hybrid formats in which digital content, AI avatars and 3D environments support (and lighten) logistics, transport and physical materials;
• democratise Mixed Reality, taking it beyond the perimeter of big tech corporates and making it usable anche da PMI, museums, schools and organisers with more limited budgets.

In a context like IBTM, which brings together more than 12,000 participants and over 2,500 exhibitors from more than 150 countries, being able to present a Mixed Reality solution developed in Italy, born in an independent startup and already tested in the field, was an important symbolic step.

What we take away from BEFuture and IBTM

All in all, the journey with BEFuture and participation in IBTM World 2025 gave us three fundamental things:

1. Validation
   Knowing that a European commission has rewarded OpenGate XR for relevance, sustainability and cost/benefit ratio, including it in a programme that looks at the future of European events, confirms that we are heading in the right direction.

2. Concrete product growth
   The financial contribution and mentorship allowed us to make real progress: today OpenGate XR is more mature, more stable and closer to a scalable SaaS model, ready to be adopted by event organisers, cultural institutions and companies across Europe.

3. International visibility and network
   Being on the IBTM stage, being chosen among the 10 projects for the investor pitch and representing Italy among the startups selected by BEFuture means joining a European conversation about the future of the MICE sector. We are now in dialogue with new partners, potential clients and investors interested in MR, AI and sustainability.

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Looking ahead: OpenGate XR beyond the call

The BEFuture call is coming to an end, but the work on OpenGate XR is only just beginning.

In the coming months we want to:

• consolidate OpenGate XR as a SaaS platform for events, training and culture;
• continue experimenting with new use cases with museums, schools, non-profits and companies, bringing Mixed Reality into contexts where it is not yet perceived as an “everyday tool”;
• work on advanced features (for example: remote multiplayer) that make events not only more spectacular but also more inclusive, accessible and sustainable.

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Thank you

This journey would not have been possible without the support of those who believed in us.

A special thanks:

• to the BEFuture consortium and the European Commission for the financial support, strategic guidance and attention to solutions that combine innovation and sustainability;
• to the organising team of IBTM World and IBTM Ignite, for having created a concrete space where startups can genuinely meet the market, advisors and investors;
• to the people and organisations who in recent months have experimented with OpenGate XR in museums, events, trade shows and educational contexts, helping us with valuable feedback to improve the platform.

As Metagate, we continue working so that Mixed Reality becomes a new everyday interface between people, content and places. BEFuture and IBTM have been two fundamental milestones on this path. The next step will be to transform, more and more often, a simple booth at a trade show, a classroom or a conference room into an immersive, living, shared space.