Beta-i Alumni highlighted at Entrepreneur Awards XXI

Several Portuguese startups and Beta-i open-innovation alumni were highlighted in the event.

The EntrepreneurXXI Awards are an initiative that seeks to identify, recognize and accompany young companies with greater growth potential.

At this year’s event, the spotlight was on portuguese startups Seacliq (invested by LC Ventures) and HUUB, both having created digital platforms to simplify the direct negotiation between providers and buyers in their respective industries (fishing and fashion).

Other notable portuguese finalists include LOQR (Free Electrons Alumni) in Fin&Insur Tech category, NU-RISE and PeekMed (Protechting alumni) in the Health Tech category.

The Winners

Agro Tech

Seacliq is a new electronic platform for the first sale of fish based on blockchain.

Fin&Insur Tech

Predictiva has developed, with technology based on artificial intelligence, a superbot specialized in the analysis and interpretation of spontaneous speech.

Commerce Tech

HUUB is an integrated logistics platform for the fashion industry.

Tourism Tech

Tracer has created a system based on blockchain to avoid the problem of abusive resale of tickets at major music and sports events.

Health Tech

Glycardial Diagnostics is working on the development of an in vitro diagnostic device (IVD) for the early detection of cardiac ischemia and prediction of patient evolution.

Impact Tech

Feltwood has developed an innovative process to transform agricultural vegetal residues into ecological industrial material of multiple applications and with characteristics similar to materials such as plastic or wood.

Bluetech Accelerator: the new wave of ocean startups joining the Bootcamp

Bluetech Accelerator – Ports and Shipping 4.0 will have its Bootcamp phase between 24th-28th June. Bluetech is an ambitious and innovative program looking to create a new batch of ocean startups and attracted startups from all over the world.

The Bootcamp

The top startups were invited to join the one-week Bootcamp. In this week, they will benefit from learning about business model innovation, startup methodologies and tools, get additional product validation, define the value proposition and a business case to present to the Partners. The best startups will have the opportunity to work together with one or more Partners in developing a pilot.

The New Wave of Ocean Startups

The program received a total of 87 applications, from 29 different countries. Here are the startups joining the Bootcamp (click on the buttons to know more about them):

Growth Bootcamp: Helping startups scale

Growth Bootcamp is a three-day event, happening on 3-5th of June, to help accelerate the growth of promising startups, by putting them together with partners enabling the environment for startups to succeed. In this invite-only event, startups between Seed and Series A investment and with high potential joined experienced entrepreneurs, seasoned investors and growth experts to build their path to exponential growth.

Helping Startups Scale

This startups are, essentially, in a crucial phase between having a product and clients, but really needing to scale the dimension of their business. It’s an important time, when founders must make decisions that might impact their business in the short and long run.

Realising this need to support founders at this stage of their journey, Beta-i created Growth Bootcamp – to help founders at this stage while keeping their focus on the bigger picture.

The 3 day program includes:S

  • Panel sessions with leading international entrepreneurs and experts on product, growth, marketing, channels and strategy, that are willing to share their knowledge and experience on startups’ growth.
  • One-on-one sessions mentoring sessions with kickass mentors with entrepreneurial and investing experience, to get feedback and guidance on the particulars of each founders’ journey.
  • Networking with peers, prospect clients and investors where they can enjoy an open conversation between equals.

On the last day of the program, founders will get access to Investors’ Academy – an immersive program on smart startup investment – where they get to network and ask for feedback from experienced corporate and angel investors, and get valuable insight on investment strategy.

Building a Stronger Innovation Ecosystem

The final goal of Growth Bootcamp is to create a stronger ecosystem. By connecting founders with mentors who have lived the same experiences and can bring valuable advice to their choices, we give them the opportunity to make better choices – fail less – and create stronger companies that can lead innovation in the years to come.

“We consider Lisbon Investment Summit to be one of the best events in entrepreneurship and investment in Portugal and Europe” Daniela Seixas from Tonic App

We are one week away from Lisbon Investment Summit, the slightly unexpected startup conference that gathers the most daring innovators, corporate visionaries, and top-tier investors. We spoke with Daniela Seixas, CEO of TonicApp, and winner of last year’s competition, who will be joining Beta-i at #LIS again.

TonicApp, dedicated to the medical community, is an app that aggregates the most useful medical tools for doctors. It lets medical practitioners discuss clinical cases, check drug conversion tables and get informed on healthcare news –  it even has a secure case discussion platform that connects doctors that can help each other in providing better care for patients.

Daniela, a medical doctor herself (neuroradiologist), felt the need to create a place for the community to convey and share. It was a necessity I felt myself and all doctors as we see it. Today, doctors are overwhelmed with pressure from all sides – about costs, about time, and even legal situations in some markets like the United States. Besides that, the scientific knowledge is ever expanding and, nowadays, fragmented across the internet. So the idea was to create a go-to platform for all doctors that solves most of the problems they face daily.”

The startup has a connection with Beta-i from its early days – having participated in open-innovation programs like Techcare, backed by Novartis with whom TonicApp has partnered up -, so Lisbon Investment Summit made sense to them.

We consider Lisbon Investment Summit to be one of the best events in entrepreneurship and investment in Portugal and Europe. At this time last year, we were starting our fundraising, and we specifically decided to start it at LIS, and we applied to pitch to have the exposure we needed. We’re closing the round now and even though we didn’t meet our investors at LIS, we definitely started the process there and communicated differently with each one, and it worked – we got the visibility we needed.”

The startup is not stopping anytime soon – they aim to be the ecosystem doctors need to thrive in all aspects of their profession, giving them the tools and information they need to keep thriving and providing the best care they can give to their patients.

“Tonic App has a lot of resources for doctors – some of them are clinical and some are not. This is our bet, we want to help doctors in their professional life, be it helping them diagnose and treat their patients or other areas.”

To create this, TonicApp is partnering up with other players and entities in a collaborative environment, to progress faster in a fast-paced innovative space.

“Building on an ecosystem idea, we want to work with all players in the ecosystem that have valuable resources for doctors, so we create partnerships with multinationals, like Randstad, or Medtronic or Novartis, but also with public entities, scientific organizations, and other startups like us, like Eventtia and SerFarma. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to develop software ourselves when it already exists – we work as a channel for doctors.”

TonicApp will be at this year’s edition of Lisbon Investment Summit, and Daniela will be speaking at one of the panels at Google Stage – at the Book Launch: “Ara the Star Engineer”. The book tells the story of a young girl who loves numbers and uses her smarts to solve a big problem, by creating an algorithm and encountering real-life women tech trailblazers of diverse backgrounds. It aims to inspire young girls to pursue STEM careers and bring gender equality to the table in the sector.

As a doctor and female founder, Daniela is no stranger to the quest, bringing their unique perspective as a woman, doctor and entrepreneur: “I didn’t feel discrimination much as a female founder. Actually, even though entrepreneurship is a male-dominated field, much more than medicine – which nowadays has a lot more women than men – it’s a much more equitable environment for gender. Founding my own company and becoming its CEO, depended solely on me and my work during this time. In medicine, reaching a leadership position would not depend on me or my accomplishments, but on the established institutions.”

Don’t miss this and other important and thought-provoking conversations at Lisbon Investment Summitget your ticket (with a 35% discount) here.

The Lisbon Investment Summit Guide for Non-Entrepreneurs

Taking the first steps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem can be daunting – the lingo, the fast pace, the new technologies. But worry not, we have a handy guide for any non-entrepreneur about what they need to know to navigate #LIS and what can they take advantage of.

What is #LIS?

Lisbon Investment Summit is an a surprisingly informal and slightly unexpected startup conference. The motto of the event? #nobullshit. That means business. During these two days, #LIS will promote thought-provoking conversations, will join at the table the most disruptive innovators and the most seasoned investors, and completely change the way you think about your business.

Get to know the lingo

If you want to blend in, you need to dominate the lingo. This is important to make sure you understand where each other attendee is coming from – a startup in the seed stage or raising a series B are not in the same position – which means they also have different things they can offer and are looking for different things. It’s easier than it sounds – we made a little dictionary of what you need to know – find them here and here.

Inspiring Talks

At #LIS you will get access to thought-provoking keynotes, given by world-renowned speakers. That is the case of the #LIS headliner, Andrew Kween, best-selling author of “How To Fix the Future”, who will speak about the dangers of a digital world and how can we overcome them. Maybe some of the talks about disruption will be a bit scary – especially if they fit your sector – but take the chance to be open to learn what chances are taking place – and how to take advantage of them. Check out the agenda of talks here.

Workshops

The workshop stage powered by Google, is the perfect place for you to learn new ways of doing things, from tools to digitize your business, to identifying business opportunities – get your hands ”dirty” in innovation.

Pitch Competition

The pitch competition is where up-and-coming startups (previously selected by the LIS team) pitch on stage to a crowd of angel investors and corporate venture capitalists, looking for investment or new clients. Why should you watch the live pitches? Well, for one, any of these startups could be disrupting your business, so you should keep an eye on them. But also, their new technologies might bring incredible advantages to your business – and they will most likely be open to partnerships, so take the opportunity to get to know them.

Unexpected Side Events

One of the best things at #LIS are its side events. Sure there are spectacularly fun parties, but it’s the unexpected that makes it fun, like in Dinner With a Stranger – you just have to  sign-up and get selected to meet a curated group of people in a fabulous Lisbon restaurant. You never know who could meet – maybe your next business partner, maybe someone who inspires you to venture into your own business idea. We promise you one thing – it will be memorable.
Wait no more – get your tickets to #LIS19 here.