"We will do in four days what we would do in at least six months." This is a message repeated by the startups that spread through the halls of 4YFN, where entrepreneurs from all over the world mix with investors, incubators, companies looking to innovate, simultaneous pitches, and funds searching for the next unicorn. A complete macro-ecosystem formed by other ecosystems, compressed into four days and a single space, condensing the best of each. All, in Barcelona.
"We are obsessed with 4YFN being a platform that helps entrepreneurs do business," summarizes the event director, Pere Duran. There are more than a thousand startups from all over the world —which is easy to say—, representing 12 different industries and 45 ecosystems, each of which brings the best of the best to the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona. 4YFN —for 4 Years From Now— thus generates an international context that is geographically located in Barcelona, but is purely global.
In this international context, Catalan startups play at home. They represent about a third of the thousand startups, and many go hand in hand with institutions, accelerators, universities, research centers, and business schools. "We bring 30 startups from the local ecosystem, who can connect with international investors, talent, corporations, and agents," highlights the executive director of Business and Entrepreneurship at Barcelona Activa, Itziar Blasco, from a stand converted into a meeting space.
Just opposite, another hot spot of the exhibition: that of the Generalitat and Acció, from which Catalan startups showcase themselves, interact with investors, and participate in challenges launched by companies, such as the one posed by Swiss Post to address product return processes. Faced with the challenge, startups present solutions and proposals, as Revivack has done, focused on the traceability and circular economy of products. "We want to pilot the return of products when their useful life ends, so that they can be valued and used to create new ones," explains María José Pedragosa. They have already tested the system with mobile phone cases made from recycled fishing nets from Popsicase, and are already planning their next objective: coffee capsules.
As in the case of Revivack, the event aims to generate connections that lead to pilots, alliances, investment, and strategic agreements, which materialize throughout the exhibition through new contacts, handshakes, LinkedIn invitations, and quite a few selfies. When the exhibition ends, meetings will be counted in the thousands: only those organized through 4YFN exceed 800, to which are added all those closed at the exhibition itself, those arranged through the app, and even those that arise spontaneously.
However, this spontaneity does not arise on its own, and it is best leveraged if one is prepared. "To get the most out of 4YFN, the work has to be done before the fair. You have to research which startups and investors are coming, and work on prior matchmaking. You have to come with your agenda set," highlights Albert Mascarell from MWCapital, which promoted the event 12 years ago. "Investments always come out of here, whether they close at the exhibition or later," emphasizes the director of the Technology Transfer Area of MWCapital.
The foundation has landed at the exhibition with several spin-offs from its program The Collider, including two technological experiences, led by UniSCool and Ephion Health. The first focuses on optimizing the cooling of data center racks to gain energy efficiency, as recounted by its CEO and co-founder, Montse Vilarrubí; the second, to analyze the characteristics of a person's gait when walking, as digital biomarkers to ensure precise monitoring of diseases and treatments, as explained by Mireia Claramunt.
Just as the foundation gives visibility to the projects in its portfolio at the exhibition, so do countless universities, research centers, and hubs that grow the Catalan entrepreneurial ecosystem, from the Barça Innovation Hub to the Catalonian Health Innovation Ecosystem, including actors such as the hub BCombinator. "We are an incubator, community, and venture capital. We come to meet startups looking for investment," they emphasize from the hub, with an investor's perspective. From the other side, startups seek opportunities to finance themselves to grow.
"In four days, we have 15 meetings with investors," highlights Joan Ortega from YK Robotics, a startup incubated by Logistics 4.0 of the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, which has developed a tool so that people not expert in robotics can handle advanced robotics. How? With AI agents. And it is that artificial intelligence is a transversal element in the event, a technology that serves as a basis for many of the solutions that are spread throughout the hall —and also the MWC, across the aisle—.
Ready, set, AI
In fact, 4YFN is experiencing a turning point this year regarding AI. "Until last year, most ofstartupsthey were experimenting with AI solutions; now, 56% are already commercializing AI solutions," Duran emphasizes. And what's more, "AI is transversal," and it's the strongest trend at the fair—and in the ecosystem it reflects.Beyond AI, there are sectors that stand out and set trends. Among them, the health and quantum fields are prominent. "Digital health is the most represented vertical, with 16% of the startups. It's a reflection of what's happening in Catalonia," adds the event director. Thus, dozens of health startups are exhibiting at the event, from diverse fields and all stages of maturity, from the most consolidated to the emerging, such as Nataly. Driven by biomedical engineer Olivia Genova, the startup incubated by the UB is developing a medical device that detects postpartum hemorrhages, the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide. And it does so just through a sanitary pad.
The diversity of the entrepreneurial ecosystem is such that it even extends within the health sector itself, with proposals like Save Hands, a device that detects bacterial contamination and verifies proper hand hygiene in hospital or food production contexts—using ultraviolet light and, of course, AI. It does so from the Barcelona Activa stand, where variety is served. Not far away, a Hoop Slam basketball hoop stands, with a built-in timer and digital scoreboard and an app that works like a Tinder for basketball fans. Art also has a place at 4YFN, with startups like those brought by Catalan Arts, present at a fair that grows every year.
No little brother at all
This growth is not only in the quantity ofstartupsor space, but also in entity. The 4YFN, in fact, has for the first time its own independent entrance from the MWC; it is not an annex to the giant mobile congress, but an event with its own key entity for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Thus, the fair does not only receive visitors from the Mobile who cross pavilions and take the opportunity to browse among thestartups, but with an audience that expressly goes to meet entrepreneurship.Some, however, continue to refer to 4YFN as the little brother of Mobile. "And it's not at all," replies the event director. "Our role is to connect the entrepreneurial ecosystem, it's our DNA. In any case, we are a complementary platform." And that complementarity is not trivial: the close link with MWC allows synergies to be generated between large companies and emerging startups: "The innovation directors of large companies come to see 4YFN, and we have many anecdotes of startups that have been approached by an executive from a giant; it can change your life."
"With 4YFN, once again, we ensure that Barcelona is not only a technological hub, but also an entrepreneurial one," proclaims Duran. It also acts as a meeting point for the Catalan entrepreneurial universe. And this no longer operates "only as an ecosystem on its own, but as a global ecosystem, from Barcelona."