Esade BAN closes an "exceptional" year with 4.1 million invested in 'startups'

Emerging projects in the field of new technologies and innovation have not ceased, despite the uncertainty generated by the coronavirus pandemic, and have also awakened investor interest in the last two years. A context to which Esade BAN, the business angels network of the Esade alumni association, has joined, investing 4.1 million euros in 2021 in 27 startup projects, "exceptional data," according to its director, Fernando Zallo.

The funds raised by Esade BAN are "the second highest figure of operations in the history of the network," created 16 years ago, after the 3.2 million it managed in 2019, and represents a 52% increase over investments made in 2020, about 2.7 million euros. Last year, the average investment per project was 170,000 euros, each investor dedicated an average of 30,000 euros per startup ---two figures that increased compared to 2020---, and about 160 investors participated.

Of the total, 61% of the companies that obtained investment were from the deeptech area, which includes 3D printing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality, Photonics, biotech, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Fernando Zallo argued that an upward trend has been observed in projects related to value-added technology or deeptech, "which has become an increasingly indispensable attribute among startups with high growth potential," and highlighted that the interest and emergence of startups has not ceased despite the pandemic period that the ecosystem "has known how to deal with in the last two years." In this sense, the director of Esade BAN showed his confidence that in 2022 "investment in this type of projects can grow even more."

Esade BAN is made up of 230 private investors, most of whom are business angels, family offices, and representatives of venture capital, corporates, and investment groups. Since its foundation, it has invested nearly 40 million euros in 240 companies.

Among the most important operations carried out by Esade BAN in the last twelve months, the 1.1 million euros raised for the startup Dinbeat stands out by volume, an initiative that, using the Internet of Things, offers veterinary telemedicine and home assistance services for pets.

In addition, other projects have been financed such as Nymiz, software that protects data on the network and anonymizes it to prevent exposure; iXorigué, which offers collars with geolocation to monitor livestock; Competize, a system that organizes leagues and tournaments for amateurs; Cavli Wireless, a solution to democratize the Internet of Things in everyday environments; Mapsi Photonics, a startup that detects gases and biochemical products using a patented platform; April Plants, an online plant store; and Unblur, an emerging company that integrates real-time information from drone and firefighter video cameras, sensors, cartographic information, facility information, traffic, and information sources specific to the corps.

The CEO and founder of Unblur, Alfonso Zamarro, explained during the presentation of Esade BAN's annual report that the company has raised a total of about 180,000 euros through business angels, and that this technology is already being tested in fire brigades in the United Kingdom, including those in Wales.