by amalienaustdal | Sep 13, 2017 | Corporates, Investors, Startups
During the last year, we’ve had heaps of exciting programs aimed at bringing startups and corporates together. These programs are vastly different, operating in different industries, with different companies and a variety of startups. What they have in common, is a curated scouting phase to ensure we find and attract the best startups with the perfect fit for the program.
Here are some insights into the applications for our programs in 2016/17.
Numbers matter
In total, the 2016/17 programs received 975 applications, with an average of 82 complete applications per program. 219 startups entered Beta-i programs, with 101 moving to the final stage and 79 developing pilots with our corporate partners.
We will choose Quality over Quantity any day of the week. Still, having access to a large pool of startups in programs where the goal is to reach up to 10 pilots, it’s vital to ensure that those selected few were chosen from a competitive batch.
The vast majority of the applications were made by startups founded less than 4 years ago (94%). More than half of the startups were founded in 2016 (35%) and 2015 (23%). These are early stage, pre-seed and seed startups with ⅓ having received some funding prior to applying. Yet, the stage of the startups depends largely on the programs’ end goal in terms of intended collaboration.
Global reach
The startups who applied originate from 59 different countries, creating an international environment of startups that, with the right partnerships, can translate into an opportunity for all parties to reinforce their international networks and reach. Continually pushing for a global mindset.
In total, more than ⅔ of the applications came from outside of Portugal. The countries with the most applicants (in descending order) are Portugal, USA, France, Spain, UK, Germany, Italy, India, Switzerland, and Ireland.
by amalienaustdal | Sep 12, 2017 | Corporates, Investors, Startups
At Beta-i, we are surrounded by awesome startups and incredible founders, day in and day out. Change is a constant in the daily life of an entrepreneur, which is why we want to update you on some of the startups at our Hub.
Petable
The founders of Petable made their vision a reality, a networking platform for veterinarians. In 2015, Petable participated in several acceleration programs, including the Lisbon challenge and Deloitte Digital Disruptors. After obtaining feedback directly from veterinarian clinics, they realised the need to adjust their idea. Several tweaks later, Petable became what it is today: a platform for pet owners to keep their pets healthy. It contains medical incidents, appointments, body condition record, vaccines and deworming-health plans. Petable advocates the importance of being part of an entrepreneurial hub, highlighting the sharing and support within the community and avoiding ‘tunnel vision’. Today, their platform has 60k pet owners and 300 veterinary clinics.
Visor.ai
We first got to know Visor.ai in our flagship program, Lisbon Challenge. Their idea was lacking in several areas, forcing them to pivot. With new learnings in their pocket, they applied to another program of ours, Smart Open Lisboa. In the program, they addressed the large quantity of requests and questions facing Lisbon Municipality (CML). The result was a platform combining a ChatBot with human messaging. The project was a success and CML is still using the system today. The founders realised, “if it works for CML, it should work for others too”, and long story short, Visor.ai was born. Their selling point is high-quality, automated responses. Decreasing company costs and increasing customer satisfaction through lower response times. Since then, Visor.ai has participated in several other acceleration programs such as Protechting, The Journey and Startup Chile. Recently, they have received funding, grown to a team of 6 talented people, and consider themselves on the right track to break even.
Future Fuel
Future Fuel was born in Boston, US, and is currently operating from there and from Lisbon. Future Fuel addresses one of the major problems facing young career starters (particularly in the US) – a huge amount of debt accumulated from their time at university. They offer students debt repayment as a service, empowering employers to offer it as a new employee benefit. Being located in Lisbon offers several benefits to Future Fuel, allowing scalable and cheaper hiring. Moreover, being part of accelerator programs such as the Startup Bootcamp and Lisbon Challenge has helped the team in terms of networking and exposure to partners and sponsors. Future Fuel has already had two investment rounds and is continually raising capital for future expansions.
Meet all the startups thriving at our Hub
