“What does a bank do at an event like this?”, asked more than one visitor in the presence of Banco Sabadell's recently created BStartup at the first edition of 4YFN (4 Years From Now). At that time, it was just emerging as a small meeting of entrepreneurs within the largest technology congress in the world. A decade later, 4YFN is considered the reference event for the international entrepreneurial ecosystem and no one doubts that emerging companies need a specific financing and investment service like BStartup.
“Banco Sabadell has supported 4YFN since they presented the project to us in a three-slide ppt,” reveals Yolanda Pérez, director of BStartup, who details how the entity clearly saw the potential of the event: “at that time for startups it was very difficult to enter the Mobile World Congress. They had one of the most relevant technology events in the world in Barcelona, but they couldn't take advantage of it, it wasn't a place for them. The first edition, although very far from what it is today, was a resounding success. Today it is an inseparable part of the MWC and we can say that 4YFN and BStartup have grown together. “We are proud to be part of this history.”
From February 26 to 29, 4YFN 2024 will bring together corporations, startups and scaleups, and investors from all over the world in pavilions 8 and 8.0 of the Gran Via venue at Fira de Barcelona. For yet another edition, BStartup will continue as Main Sponsor, providing nearly 20 valuable content, led by relevant speakers and investors. In addition, it will advise the visiting startups and present 15 of the projects that have most recently been incorporated into its portfolio.
As Yolanda Pérez assures, “we have always tried to contribute to the success of this event, because we sincerely believe that it is a value for the Spanish entrepreneurial and innovative ecosystem and for the city of Barcelona. It is a showcase for innovation and startups, and a platform for connecting with international investors and corporations.”
The numbers speak for themselves: 60% of the nearly 95,000 MWC visitors from all over the world spend time visiting 4YFN, and this percentage grows year after year.
Although generative artificial intelligence is probably the topic that will generate the most excitement at the meeting, the growth and financing of startups will have a very prominent role. Thus, one program will help investors meet the next big company, while another will focus on founders and training entrepreneurs.
Along these lines, BStartup's programming also gives prominence to content on financing, since, as its director argues, "due to the macroeconomic and investment situation, startups and scaleups are more attentive than ever to alternatives, or complementary financing to Venture Capital.”
In this sense, two of the three sessions that BStartup will offer within the official 4YFN program will be dedicated to the challenges of financing a startup today and the perspectives of investment in Venture Capital, access to capital and trends in next years.
The first of them will take place on Monday the 26th from 1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. in the Agora Stage auditorium, with interventions by Ángel Buigues, segment director of BStartup; Laurent Arens, director of BStartup10 and Anna Niubó, investment manager of Sabadell Venture Capital and Jaime Medina, CEO of Startup CFO, as moderator.
The second, moderated by Laurent Arens, will feature as speakers Itxaso del Palacio, General Partner of Notion; Aquilino Peña, co-founder and Managing Partner of Kibo Ventures; Montse Suárez, founder and Managing Partner of Iris Ventures, and Aristotelis Xenofontos, partner of Seaya Ventures. It will take place at the Banco Sabadell Stage on Tuesday the 27th from 4:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
In addition, Sergio Pérez Merino, Managing Director of Sabadell VC, will participate in a panel on Venture Debt, again on the Agora Stage.
Obtaining financial resources is a priority for the hundreds of entrepreneurs who will participate in 4YFN. To facilitate the success of this phase, at the BStartup stand you will be able to learn about these non-dilutive alternatives, venture debt and bank financing, and also about treasury management instruments and specialized products.
In addition, they will be able to present all types of projects that require venture capital to the BStartup10 team. “We can invest in any sector and, for example, we would very much like to find scalable projects that seek to contribute to the decarbonization of the planet through technology and innovation, that promote the energy transition, Smart cities, sustainable mobility, the industry 4.0 or the circular economy”, explains Yolanda Pérez.
Precisely, on the first day of the event, the BStartup stand will host five promising companies that promote sustainability, an area on which it has focused for four years: Bia Power, Improfit, Newe, Moa Foodtech and Ocean Ecostructures.
And also on Monday the 26th, at 5 p.m., the stand stage will host a session that will gather different perspectives of the current moment of investment, led exclusively by high-level women investors, among whom will be Elena de Benavides, investment director from Elewit-REDEIA (former Red Eléctrica); Marta Antúnez, director of Wayra-Telefónica Barcelona; Sonia Fernández, partner of one of the main VCs in Spain, Kibo Ventures and Marta Noguera, director of Lanzadera.
Another of the sectors that generates the greatest interest in the ecosystem is health and biotechnology, which is why for six years BStartup has had a specific vertical to invest in this category. Specifically, in health projects in the pre-seed and seed phase, where the investment is fundamentally aimed at validating the technology, research and business.
“In Spain there are very good health projects that attract national and international funds, but there is still a gap in those initial phases in which we invest. At that moment they have a considerable risk, but when they are successful they have a double impact, financial and social, because advances in health and medicine can have a very significant impact on society,” says the director of BStartup.
Currently, the entity has 16 investments in biotechnology and medical devices startups. Five of them will present their projects on the second day of the event at the BStartup stand: Oxolife, Nanobots, Time is Brain, Able Human Motion and Sycai Medical.
On the other hand, to give a vision of the investment priorities and focus areas of investment funds in health and biotechnology, BStartup organizes a round table - on Wednesday the 28th from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the Agora Stage - in which the leaders of some of the most relevant funds in Spain in health investment: Damià Tormo, General Partner of Columbus VenturesPartners; Clara Campàs, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Asabys Partners; Pablo Prieto, Managing Partner of CG Health Ventures; and Montserrat Vendrell, partner of Aliath Bioventures. Moderated by Yolanda Pérez, this session will address sector trends and the enormous opportunities of the latest technological and scientific developments, such as AI, personalized medicine, genomics, advanced therapies and cost-effective technological solutions that improve patient care. patient.
On the last two days of the event, the startups invited to the BStartup stand will be Toddl, Saigu Cosmetics, Kimera Technologies, Qbeast and Remuner, representing different sectors. According to Yolanda Pérez, “we always try to give priority to BStartup's most recent investments, but we also highly value that they can make the most of the showcase of exhibiting their project at 4YFN. That is why we also take into account those that are seeking an investment round or are expanding.”
Furthermore, with the aim of being another agent of the startup ecosystem, facilitating networking and valuable contacts, a total of 15 small format sessions will be held on the stage of the BStartup stand, with the participation of key actors of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. from all over Spain, such as Barcelona Health Hub, Seed Rockets, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Basque Tek Ventures, Andalucía Emprende or Global Legal Tech Hub, among others.
