TecnoCampus will host the first Startup Grind Tech Summit to be held in the city of Mataró between May 8 and 9. The event focused on technological entrepreneurship will bring together people from 12 different countries -among entrepreneurs, investors and technology specialists-, to discuss current issues and encourage the exchange of ideas about the sector.
"The event is designed for anyone who is interested in technology, startups and technological news," explains Jordi Bolet Castellà, director of Startup Grind Mataró and promoter of the event. And he adds "We also look for companies that want to show their product and their production processes to attend, as long as they are linked to the latest developments".
The Startup Grind Tech Summit will have digital transformation and innovations in the technology sector as its common thread. Among the topics that will be discussed are issues such as investments in startups, Growth Marketing, cybersecurity or corporate entrepreneurship.
"In addition, technologies and some of their applications that are already part of our daily lives will be discussed, and that in some cases are generating some controversy, among them, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, the metaverse, or NFTs," he points out. Antonia González, head of entrepreneurship and business growth at TecnoCampus.
The event will feature different activities, including a Pitch Competition, networking areas and presentation panels on current issues with great speakers such as Kate Afanasyeva, director of Growth Marketing for EMEA at Google Store; Àlex Corretgé, Head of Invention at Vueling; or Martí Manent, CEO and Founder of various startups such as Derecho.com, elAbogado.com or Sttok.
“Being able to attend as a speaker is an honor and I hope to help consolidate the Startup Grind Tech Summit, an event that emerged from the association of entrepreneurs, Startup Grind Mataró, which was born during the pandemic and which during these two years has been carrying out face-to-face activities despite of the difficulties”, explains Martí Manent, CEO of Sttok and attendee at the event.
The Startup Grind Tech Summit, which emerged from the association of entrepreneurs promoted by Jordi Bolet, is based on a project developed in Silicon Valley by Google, whose objective was to promote technological entrepreneurship, Google for Startups.
"Google for Startups started the Startup Grind in the United States, later, the person in charge separated from the North American company and founded his own movement to help entrepreneurship," says the director of Startup Grind Mataró.
From that moment on, the Startup Grind movement, already consolidated in the United States, was exported throughout the world, including Europe and Spain. It is currently in 600 cities in 125 countries around the world.
“Startup Grind arose at first in Barcelona, the Barcelona Chapter, apart from the monthly events, organized a large conference annually, but due to the pandemic this event was suspended, which left the territory without a very important event in the future. field of entrepreneurship”, says Jordi Bolet.
To which he adds: "We were able to convince Google to hold the forum in Mataró thanks to Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit, director of the meeting in Barcelona, and a very well prepared proposal with the collaboration of TecnoCampus".
The objective of the event, according to the words of the promoters, Jordi Bolet and Antonia González, is to stimulate an ecosystem in which entrepreneurship is encouraged and turn Mataró into a pole of attraction for events for startups and newly created companies.
The meeting to be held at the TecnoCampus is being organized to promote not only the dissemination of knowledge, but also networking between entrepreneurs and investment funds.
“The event is based on three pillars: learn, be inspired and connect. To put this last principle into practice, we have proposed various networking activities, including the Pitch Competition”, comments the director of the Startup Grind Tech Summit.
The Pitch Competition is a competition in which ten selected startups, previously registered through this link, briefly present their business proposal to a jury.
"The projects that have been selected as winners will have the opportunity to hold one-on-one meetings with different investors," explains Antonia González.
To which Jordi Bolet adds: "In addition, they will also receive visibility in our communication networks, they will have free tax advice available and, the company Aticco, will allow them to have a Coworking space for three months."
The jury, which will analyze the proposals of the companies that participate in the Pitch Competition, will be made up of four members: a person in charge of TecnoCampus, Quino Fernández, Director of AticcoLab; Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit, recognized business angel; and another business angel from large investment funds.
“Currently we have around 100 attendees, but based on our proposal, we trust that more than 300 people and around 20 startups from all over Spain will attend. So we encourage anyone interested in attending to register for the event through our website”, concludes Jordi Bolet.
