The Tech Spirit grows strong in its third edition

On the Tech Spirit stage, entrepreneurs who have only one minute to convince the audience of the validity of their project coincide with those who already carry the title of unicorn under their arm. The event, organized by Tech Barcelona, celebrates its third edition this week, consolidated as a meeting point for local entrepreneurs, bringing together more than 150 speakers at the Llotja de Mar and reaching a wider audience, with 8,500 registered attendees, the highest attendance of the last two editions. A figure that, for Miquel Martí, CEO of Tech Barcelona, "exemplifies the growth of Tech Spirit as a reference event to highlight the value of the city's ecosystem, as well as the desire of the technological and digital sector to grow and be global."

On the first day, it kicked off with about thirty startups that participated in a pitch to find the best emerging company in Catalonia, organized by Acció. Among health, ICT, and deeptech companies, there were those who wanted to seduce spectators by drawing on personal anecdotes, asking them questions like if they could live without cheese, taking off their stethoscope and throwing it on the floor, resorting to movie scenes like The Big Short, comparing themselves to Alexa... There was even someone who turned their back to the audience to capture their attention. Also noteworthy was the low participation of female entrepreneurs, with only seven out of a total of 27 participants.

All of them had only one minute, and there were those who went blank, which earned them the applause of the audience to recover. After each thematic block, attendees voted for the three best startups, via a QR code, seeing who was on the podium live. Of all the participants, those that finished in a better position were Real Deal Milk, VRPharma Immersive Technologies, Aortyx, Eagora, TalentFY, Brickbro, Process Talks, Bio2coat, and Aqtiva.

Awaiting to know who will be the Catalan startup of the year, which will be announced on the second day of Tech Spirit, the most incipient entrepreneurs have been able to participate in speed datings with 80 local and international investors, also organized by Acció, or have been able to entertain themselves listening to those who already know how to overcome the stage fright of a pitch. Valerie Vanhooren, co-founder and CEO of Ona Therapeutics, focused on ending metastasis, has warned them that emerging companies are "like a roller coaster," so it is always important to be surrounded by a team that accompanies them in good times and in those that are not so good. "You have to think big and not give up," said the Belgian entrepreneur, based in Barcelona for years.

"Before starting, if I had known everything that was coming, I wouldn't have done it," added Markus Wilhelms, in defense of preserving a certain ignorance, or innocence, when undertaking and not wanting to know everything so as not to stop trying to launch projects like his, Mowoot, a company that has developed a belt to alleviate chronic constipation. For his part, Marc Martinell, CEO of Minoryx Therapeutics, has advised young entrepreneurs not to trust only the resumes of those who want to work with them and prefer profiles they can trust. In that sense, Ana Maiques, CEO of Neuroelectrics, has also advocated for thoroughly reviewing investors' backgrounds: "When I raised capital, I should have done more homework."

One talk later, it was the turn of Factorial, one of the most recent unicorns in the Barcelona scene. Jordi Romero, CEO of the company that has developed software to facilitate the daily life of SMEs, has defended the need to create role models to continue growing the ecosystem. For his part, the co-founder of Submer, Pol Valls, has demanded the need to have investors with more capacity so that local startups do not have to go looking for them abroad to continue growing. "We need to scale to be able to play in the Champions League," remarked Maiques, who also participated in this talk, replacing Elisenda Bou-Balust, founder of Vilynx, a company bought by Apple in 2020, a last-minute cancellation.

An ecosystem made up of 1,900 startups

The Barcelona entrepreneurial ecosystem is made up of 1,900 startups and raised 1.48 million euros in 2021, figures that strengthen the city's position as the leading European tech hub in Southern Europe, according to the latest data released by Acció. All startups invoice 1.7 million euros and have generated some 19,300 jobs.

Local startups are also characterized by a strong international component. Some data that demonstrate this are that 26% of startup workers are foreigners, and 17% of founders are also foreigners. Another factor that also detects this trend, collected for the first time this year by Acció, is that 73% of companies have international clients, which represent almost half of their turnover.