The second edition of The Journey is in full throttle!
Brought to you by Turismo de Portugal and fully dedicated to the development of innovation in the Tourism Industry, The Journey is a 3-month program with a global reach. It aims to bring startups dedicated to solving problems in the industry to work alongside Turismo de Portugal and local industry players: Grupo Barraqueiro, Geostar, Pestana Hotel Group, SATA Azores Airlines and NOS.
This second edition is focusing on four big key points:
Personalizing the customer journey
Creating a seamless traveling experience
Improve customer care
Promote conscious travelling
As an important growing industry, tourism is perfectly positioned to create the right conditions for startups and innovation to thrive in Portugal, as pointed out by the president of Turismo de Portugal, Luís Araújo.
“The idea for this project, once again organized by Beta-i, is to reinforce Portugal’s positioning as an entrepreneurship and experimentation platform for startups. At a moment when the digital world both consolidates and conditions the sector’s sustainability, Turismo de Portugal keeps focused on creating a friendly environment for innovation, through several initiatives to support entrepreneurship.”
The bootcamp, which took place last week, gathered 20 selected startups from around the world. Beta-i gave the startups the tools they needed to prepare a business case adapted to the needs of the partners and pilot case plan of action. The week included presentations, workshops and a round of speed-dating (one on one meetings with the corporate partners), motivational talks and sharing of alumni experiences.
The Finalists
These are the 14 startups that are conducting pilot-projects with The Journey’s partners.This exciting phase will develop over the next two months, with the final results being presented on november 20th, at Lisbon Tourism Summit.
Get to know them:
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[item title=”aPieceof.me”]A platform to find unique souvenirs and sustain local commerce and trades
[item title=”Omikuji”] Omikuji is a Software as a Service company committed to democratize the use of Big Data and Advanced Analytics solutions within small, medium and big-size business based on cutting-edge cloud based technology and custom-made data science.
[item title=”Social CxN”]SocialCxN is an automated Influencer Marketing Platform that was designed and developed to make the influencer marketing industry more transparent, collaborative, and efficient for both Brands & Influencers.
[item title=”Timescenery”]Timescenery is a social trip planner and marketplace, making trip planning frictionless and social, especially for multi-leg itineraries, such as road trips, city hopping, business travel or any kinds of trips with busy schedule, including different places to visit and logistics.
[item title=”Venture With Impact”]Venture with Impact brings working professionals to cities abroad in groups of 20 or less. Venturers are provided with living accommodations, workspace, 24-hour support and culturally immersive activities for a period of one month. Venture with Impact participants are matched with an NGO or social business to work on a project that aligns with their professional skills, interests and remote work schedule.
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[item title=”Wall-i”]Wall-I.TV is the most advanced cloud-based Digital Signage OS, able to provide segmented content for the audience consuming the information and versatile enough to be adaptable to the presentation of contents within different context requirements.
Last week I’ve been on the last day of Protechting’s bootcamp. It’s far from being my first one, but it was the first time I actually stopped to analyze them. Not to judge them, not to evaluate them, but to have their backs even without speaking. A lot of our startups come from abroad so their support system is far away.
I used to have this teacher back in college that said we all should go, at least once, to a club, to be completely sober and just observe, he said it was one of the richest sociological experiences he’d ever had. I never did it. But I’ve decided to observe people during a pitch day of an open innovation program, I pretty much minded their businesses without even knowing them.
For a week the startups share our building (Beta-i) but the whole team doesn’t have a close contact with them – we’re almost 60 people -, so we don’t get to know their dreams, their hopes, their fears. But if we stop for an hour to hear them pitch we can have an easy access to all of that. The beauty of pitching is that is someone on their most vulnerable state, trying to convince people they’re good, that they’re here to make a change and they know that unless they’re willing to put their heart, sweat, tears and nervous system on stage, they don’t stand a chance.
I learned that the more you understand and/or enjoy a certain kind of technology the more focused you are during the pitch and the more the nerves are insignificant to you. I have a soft spot for healthtech so, even though, I know for a fact they were all nervous it isn’t that easy for me to understand it and that made me realize that who’s evaluating can easily ignore the fact that their hearts are on their mouths on that stage.
Dry mouth, racing heart, moving hands frenetically are some of the stage symptoms, but it’s the differences that make them unique. Some decide to face the stage in pairs, others record their partner on stage. I may be extremely unfair here but I’d say portuguese and spanish are the ones who show more nerves on stage – this hot blood of ours doesn’t help our cause. The funny thing is that their posture changes from night to day as soon as their pitches end and the Q&A starts.
What do they all have in common? The relief when leaving the stage. For what they all go through, the pressure they put themselves under, my huge congratulations. All 23 were amazing – they always are.
However, from those 23 there were 12 moving forward, it’s not a matter of being better, it’s a matter of fitting better the needs of the client. And those are: SkinSoul, Criamtech, CopSonic, Humanoo, Wall-i, MedicSen, Gistek, BaylifeTech, TMASS, SpinAnalytics, Cardiomo and Rnters.
The second edition of SIBS PAYFORWARD, an acceleration program done in partnership between SIBS and Beta-i, has already selected the startups for its Bootcamp, from more than 100 startups from 20 different countries. The number of startups applying is impressive, in comparison with last year, considering this edition was mainly focused on startups with Open Banking API solutions.
This change from the first edition reflects the “hot topic” in Europe right now and its challenges: PSD2. What is amazing is that the program was able to captivate startups from the United States or Asia where this topic isn’t that trendy right now. This shows not only the success of the first edition but also the current importance SIBS open innovation approach has worldwide.
The 10 startups attending the Bootcamp were chosen after being carefully evaluated and are focused in areas such as: analytics, clients, payments and security. The lucky 10 are:
Coinscrap Finance
It’s a smartphone app that allows users to round up their daily purchases and automatically save the spare change into financial products such as saving insurance, life insurance or pension funds.
Gofact
It aggregates invoicing, expense management and bank account management.
Gofact works with integrated solutions in identity, communication and management. A cloud billing solution made for the micro-entrepreneur.
Infin8
Infin8 created the only mobile banking app that people will ever need regardless of how many banking products they have in different banks. The goal is to carry out all daily banking needs from a single app, making people forget about the financial jargon.
Limitless App
It’s a mobile app which aims to help banks and other financial institutions help Millennials save their own Money. The money is transferred to a dedicated “savings” account rather than invested. Then, some of savings will be invested into risk appropriate, low-cost funds so that clients can achieve their financial goals even faster.
MoneyGarden
It’s a financial platform which offers to users a holistic approach to personal financial planning and wealth management. It also offers a consolidated view of all income, spending and assets. It also shows to customers where they can save money and help them to better invest their money.
Nextgen
It’s an integrated and an inter-operable financial inclusion solution which uses multiple base hardware solutions (SIM overlay, the secure microSD card and a low cost NFC reader for an 360 degree offering on enabling financial inclusion at the last mile and for the masses).
SEZA.ME: FinPin Technologies
It provides a secure and simple new way of secure logins to potentially all existing password protected accounts by leveraging a mobile phone for primary authentication where possible and for secondary authentication where necessary.
SimbaPay
Choose the country to send money to, add the mobile or account number of your recipient, add the amount you’d like to send and include a personal message. SimbaPay, manages the money and risk of the transfer.
Spin Analytics
It brings digital transformation in Credit Risk Management by leveraging predictive analytics, AI and ML techniques on Big Data. It helps business and financial leaders to reformulate their challenges and Convert Data into Actionable Intelligence. Its product implements Credit Risk Models’ development and maintenance by leveraging predictive analytics, AI and ML techniques on Big Data.
Sstrategy
It has a platform called Debit2Go which aims turning enterprise data and transactional banking operations into loyalty & business outcomes. Sstategy enables turning customers into subscribers through the use of SDD (SEPA Direct Debit Scheme) linked to the Subscription Economy phenomena.
During the Bootcamp that is taking place from February 26 to March 2, the selected startups will have the opportunity to learn about payments and tech financial solutions, SIBS’s core business, besides having access to the people who work at different branches of the company developing the services the company has both in Portugal and abroad. As if this wasn’t enough the startups will also be part of the biggest Open Banking ecosystem in Portugal.
The bootcamp also includes individual coaching, which means learning how to pitch, workshops and mentoring sessions, considered crucial for startups to improve their business plans as well as adjust their products to the market where SIBS works.
After this 10 weeks of acceleration awaits the startups with the main goal to integrate them at SIBS and that can turn into business, partnerships and even investment.
Everyone involved is eager for the Bootcamp to start. Maria Antónia Saldanha, Brand and Communication Director at SIBS, says “we are very excited with this new phase. The selected startups are all very interesting and we’re looking forward to see how it goes during the bootcamp”.
Manuel Tânger, Co-founder and Head of Open Innovation at Beta-i, has an advice to the startups that made it this far “look at what SIBS is doing and look at the opportunities both inside and outside Portugal where SIBS operates”. And Francisco Carvalho, Program Director, says that “the goal is a high number of conversion rate after the bootcamp, because that means that the quality of the startups, are, like we believe, really high. We’re aiming for seven pilots”.
techcare, a program developed by Novartis in partnership with Deloitte Digital and Beta-i, started its Bootcamp this week with 11 ambitious startups willing to make a difference in the health ecosystem.
Until November 17 all startups have the opportunity to develop their proposals and work towards new tech solutions alongside Novartis professionals and affiliated healthcare experts.
For Cristina Campos, general-director of Novartis Portugal, the selection phase of the program was “extraordinary”, underlining that this initiative is “the right way to cooperate in the creation of solutions for the health sector”.
And the selected startups to reach this goal are:
• Alcove an #loT digital care service which monitors, enables and provides emergency response to help older and disabled adults remain independent in their own homes;
• Amiko is an upgrading respiratory care with Quantified Medicine;
• Biotechspert is able to quickly connect anyone to a key opinion leader or expert access every sector of the life sciences;
• Care Acrossis a web platform which is a universal meeting point for cancer patients and caregivers, providing them with reliable information, psychological
support, medical guidance and access to interactive tools.
• InforMed.pro helps pharma deliver better educational content to doctors;
• LibHeros connects patients with health professionals, promoting and optimizing the organization of care for patients at home as well as the journeys of professionals;
• MedicSen is a smart diabetes management: chatbot app + predictive A.I. + Needle-free smart patch (insulin).
• NeuroPsycad which provides clinicians (neurologists, psychiatrists, and neuroradiologists) with patient personalized reports helping them make early and accurate diagnoses of various neuropsychiatric disorders;
• Promptly is an online platform to collect and analyze scientifically standardized data regarding healthcare outcomes reported by patients, allowing them to know, keep track and compare their outcomes with the standard of care;
• TonicApp, a software platform to increase productivity of medical doctors;
• UpHilldevelops SaaS to manage and analyze healthcare workforce learning and training.
