Finally unveiled the list of 10 Spanish startups admitted to the Fall 2022 edition of the Desafia San Francisco Immersion Program, established by ICEX Spain Trade and Investment (the Government of Spain’s agency for the internationalization of businesses) and Red.es (the Government of Spain’s agency responsible for executing and deploying part of Spain’s Digital Agenda), run this year by the local partner Mind the Bridge (MTB).
The startups’ founders will be joining the 2-week-long immersion program that will take place in San Francisco from November 28th to December 9th, hosted in the MTB Innovation Center in San Francisco, South of Market (SOMA): a comprehensive experience that includes workshops, learning and exploring Silicon Valley, generating networking opportunities and nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset unique to this region.
The program offers a privileged stance to Spanish startups from the most important ecosystems generated in Spain whose participation has been stimulated through both workshops organized in Madrid and Barcelona and accelerators and incubators based on locations all along the country.
Their solutions range from connection systems for satellites to online voting, blockchain technologies, real estate, sales and marketing tools, green solutions, interactive video technology, talent and job platforms. All the projects can boast a product or service of high technological value and sustainable business model.
The first 3 companies, in alphabetical order, are Brickbro global investments s.l., Clientify sl. and CO2 Revolution sl.
Brickbro global investments s.l. Brickbro is a peer-to-peer platform matching anyone looking to buy, sell and rent commercial properties with new value generated offering an end-to-end online transaction. They identify the distressed commercial assets in the market and their potential future use to maximize their value, thus matching owners with individuals looking for the best opportunities. Currently, Brickbro is one of the leading real estate transactional platforms in the Spanish market.
Clientify sl. Clientify is on a mission to make state-of-the-art sales and marketing tools accessible for everyone. They created an all inclusive platform which is user friendly even for the least technical founders and marketers out there. Currently their software is paving the way to sustainable growth for our partners in more than 20 countries around the world. They are the leading sales and marketing platform for Spain and Latin America.
CO2 Revolution sl. CO2 Revolution calculates your carbon footprint and helps you offset it through the creation of reforestation projects.They restore forests, selecting native species and land with high-ecological value.Thanks to the use of biotech, they are able to plant trees by dropping from drones self-developed iSeeds with high germination rate. Their revolutionary techniques enable them to maximize efficiency, in order to help companies to strengthen their ESG strategies and ultimately fight climate change.
“Desafía San Francisco is the ideal tool for startups that are planning to scale their business model globally. According to feedback from alumni who have gone through Desafía immersion programme in San Francisco, this experience has been a real catalyst for ideas, knowledge and experiences with a clear practical orientation, allowing them to reflect and take strategic ideas in the most efficient way”. commented José María Blasco, Director of Infraestructures, Health & ITC at ICEX.
Moving forward in the list, we find Elliot Cloud sl., Finboot Tech sl. and Korum social sl:
Elliot Cloud sl. Elliot Cloud is an open source solution for infrastructure management. It allows the integration of different infrastructures in a single platform in a secure space for data sharing, making it possible to create applications for the management and control of these infrastructures - linked to the water, energy, industry and cities sectors - in a more intelligent, efficient and sustainable way.
Finboot Tech sl. Finboot is a technology company simplifying enterprise blockchain. We facilitate the core priorities of industry leaders to enable fast and easy adoption of digital ecosystems powered by blockchain. Finboot created the first No-code / Low-code platform and ecosystem, MARCO, to enable Web3: Bringing the future of the internet to business. MARCO greatly improves management of value chains and drives forward digitalisation, sustainability and ESG agendas. The purpose at Finboot is to enable Web3 and unlock its full value. Finboot is making blockchain accessible and understandable to business and delivering the leading No-code / Low-code platform and ecosystem for a decentralised world.
Korum social sl. Kuorum is a tech company that provides solutions for electronic voting, digital identity and citizen engagement. The solution allows all types of organizations to launch an online voting platform in less than a minute. Kuorum complies with ISO27001 and ISO9001.
"Our aim with the Desafía Immersion Program is to help Spanish tech companies become international references, thereby nurturing the entire Spanish start-up ecosystem." - added Luis Prieto Cuerdo, Digital Economy Director at Red.es.
The final 4 startups of the list are PlayFilm s.l., Shakers Global Solutions sl., Satelio IOT services s.l. and Wisar by Talent Revolution s.l.:
PlayFilm S.L.. Interactive video technology aiming at helping companies sell more through our Interactive Video + Artificial Intelligence technology and going beyond the traditional ads on digital channels. The solution promises to reduce the cost of capturing advertising campaigns by up to 30%.
Shakers Global Solutions sl. Shakers is the next-gen work platform built for real time collaboration between teams of top freelance & modern companies. Create your team, connects with verified talents, keep track of the project and get paid on time.
Satelio IOT services s.l. Founded in Spain in 2018, with the purpose of connecting IoT devices directly from space, together with 3GPP, Satelio is enabling IoT devices that work in a seamless satellite/terrestrial mode in every single place on earth, utilizing 5G IoT low-cost standard devices by introducing a pioneering, hardware agnostic solution that allows a single device to automatically and transparently gain connectivity anytime it does not find a cellular connection.
Wisar by Talent Revolution s.l. Harnessing the power of technology and education, Wisar boosts digital talents globally through 2 groundbreaking services: Wisar Academy (an online school that offers life-changing trainings to learn how to thrive as online freelancer) and Wisar Pro (the first aggregator that uses artificial intelligence to find freelance jobs 50% faster). Through cutting-edge technology, Wisar matches talents with the best opportunities from the most relevant freelancing platforms, while their Academy provides the tools to convert those opportunities into contracts and build stable freelancing careers.
“It’s never easy to choose among so many qualified projects. We took our time to thoroughly evaluate the startups’ potential to scale globally - commented Bobby Amiri, Head of Startup Products and Services at Mind the Bridge - Sometimes projects are really good but they just don’t find the right support and network to speed up their growth and become an established tech company. With the Desafia Program we aim to help these amazing companies, learning from some of the best in Silicon Valley - it’s a once in a lifetime experience we hope they will take full advantage of.”
C-Level officers and founders will participate in workshops, meetings and activities that not only inspire but help assess the current strategic position of the company, plot improvements to ramp-up growth, define a roadmap based on strategic and tactical considerations and start working on it.
During the first week, participating startups will have the opportunity to learn about the US business landscape and Silicon Valley Ecosystem, refine their storytelling, value proposition and pitching specific to a VC audience in the US, build strong networks with VC, corporate leaders and mentors and visit a corporation born out of startup culture. The second week will be focused on understanding how to compete globally and grow revenue, ensuring IP is protected, learning how to build a strong cross cultural multi-functional team, meeting other startup founders and grabbing insights from their journey.
A second session is scheduled in Spring 2023 and a third in Fall 2023.