Consult our ACCELERATORS & INCUBATORS here
Startups follow a very defined growth process. And in that process, the accelerators and incubators are fundamental pieces that give methodology, knowledge, contacts and sometimes money to the entrepreneurs. And it happens all over the world. The first accelerator was Y-Combinator, created in 2005. Although we all think that it is original of Silicon Valley, initially it was constituted in Boston. In the next two years appeared Techstars and Seedcamp and a little later Startupbootcamp.
It is therefore a recent phenomenon, which has spread throughout the world in just ten years. Of course, the startups ecosystem of Barcelona shares this global dynamic and has a powerful offer of accelerators and incubators. I review the 30 that I have identified. I do it in two different posts, today the first and the next in the next few days.
INCUBIO. Created by Simon Lee and Andrés Manso, it released its first batch of startups in 2012. More than 230 startups have gone through their programs and they have created 31 companies. Incubio also manages entrepreneurship initiatives commissioned by other institutions:
- Corporate Venturing Sity Program
- Starting Lab of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra
- RepteBCN of the Barcelona City Council and Sónar + D
- GAMEBCN, accelerator of the video game sector promoted by the Generalitat de Catalunya
- Desafio Emprende from la Caixa
- Endurance Lab of Creacció – Vic
- Barcelona Media Television Lab
- Creative Park Canódrom, promoted by Barcelona City Council
REIMAGINE DRONE. Recently Incubio has launched Reimagine Drone in Barcelona, with the people of BRINC, global accelerator placed in Hong Kong. The project looks for startups that develop disruptive technologies taking advantage of the use of drones. Technologies such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, 360 drone user experiences, Data Analytics, Surveying and Mapping, Deployment Systems, Transportation and Delivery. The program offers online support, assistance in the management of immigration visas, 3 months in Barcelona, €5,000 for the incubation process and 200 hours of on-demand support.
CONECTOR. Conector Startup Accelerator, created in 2013 by Carlos Blanco, one of the pioneers and most active entrepreneurs in our startup ecosystem, along with other referents such as Elisabeth Martinez, Marc Vidal, Gerard Olivé, Miguel Vicente and Xavier Verdaguer. Connector is oriented to startups in the telecommunication, Internet, Media and Entertainment sectors. A hundred startups have already gone through their process.
Conector recently opened other lines of action, oriented to corporate venturing activities:
SEAT Accelerator
Bankia Accelerator, located in Madrid
ABANCA INNOVA, from Galicia
SEEDROCKET. Promoted by Jesús Monleón, SeedRocket was created in 2008. It is therefore also one of the pioneers in our ecosystem. Its facilities are in Barcelona Activa. The accelerator is complemented by the SeedRocket Angels Association, which can provide financing for projects. So far, SeedRocket has accelerated more than 70 startups and more than 50 have obtained funding (60 million euros). Examples of startups that have gone through their program are Kantox, Novicap, Offerum, Ulabox, habitissimo, Captio or deporvillage.
DEMIUM STARTUPS BY SEEDROCKET. This incubator (understood as a stage before the accelerator) has just landed in the ecosystem of Barcelona by the hand of SeedRocket. Demium Startups (formerly Momentum) is an internet startups incubator that was born in Valencia in 2013, by Jorge Dobón. In those four years in Valencia has organized a dozen events Allstartups and has supported some 30 startups, getting for them more than 4 million euros. They have arrived in Barcelona forming tandem with SeedRocket. Demium brings its know-how in the very early stages of the projects and SeedRocket in the slightly more advanced stages.
BIBA. BIBA is a project promoted by Diego Fernandez and Alberto Ratti. In recent times, this initiative has evolved towards traditional companies offering Corporate Venturing solutions. In this area, BIBA works for example with Ogilvy, Grupo Torras or Zobele.
GRUPO INTERCOM. What to say about them? They were the First and have generated startups of great impact. Founded in 1995 by Antonio González-Barros, they define themselves as the Spanish company with the largest number of Internet businesses launched in Spain. They have built more than 50 startups and have achieved exits like Infojobs (acquired by Schisbted), Softonic (acquired by Partners Group), Niumba (by TripAdvisor), bodas.net (Weddingwire) or Buyvip (acquired by Amazon). Today they are defined as experts in online classifieds.
FLEDGE 11 BCN. They have just arrived and we welcome them. Barcelona Plataforma Empresarial has obtained the license of this well-known American accelerator that works in areas such smart cities, circular economy, sustainable tourism, health, education and social economy. They start next September. They will select 8 startups that will enter a 10-week program. The program will provide them cash (€15,000), training, mentoring and access to investors. The program seeks startups already constituted and with an incipient billing. The deadline for applications is 21 July.
Moda22 Makers. MODA22 is a space of coworking and accelerator of fashion companies. It offers spaces, specific materials for fashion production, mentoring and professional advice. It is born of the hand of a textile and clothing company from Barcelona, with more than 40 years of experience in the sector.
GAMEBCN. Gamebcn is the incubator of video games projects in Barcelona, mainly arising from university courses. The promoters are the Generalitat of Catalonia (through the Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises) and the Barcelona City Council (through Institute of Culture). It is managed by Incubio and is located in the Canodrom (http://canodrom.com/es/). The incubation process lasts 6 months and ends in a Demo Day. Gamebcn offers to a maximum of three companies selected in the Demo Day the opportunity to enter into an eight-month high-performance acceleration program focused on two major areas: product and company.
SHIP2B. Ship2B is a platform of support and investment in social impact startups. It was created by Xavier Pont, Maite Fibla and Clara Navarro, nowadays conceptual leaders in our ecosystem in impact investment and impact entrepreneurship. By their programs have already circulated 70 startups, they have more than 100 mentors and 400 investors and have raised 1.5 million euros for their startups. Some examples of companies that have gone through their process are CeliCity, Cebiotex, La Casa de Carlota, Wongo or Visualfy. Ship2B develops various acceleration programs:
- Tech4Health, for health sector startups
- FUTUR Impact, for startups in the tourism sector
- Water4Action, investment and acceleration platform for high impact social startups related to water, people and cities
- Tech4Social, for startups that use technology as a means to solve problems in vulnerable groups, people with dependency, disability, functional diversity, mental health or social exclusion.
- EduTech, along with ClickEdu, Edebé and the Edutech Cluster.
- Bridge2Work, for startups that promote youth employment
- People & Communities, for startups related to the housing sector and services to people.
- Women’s Challenge, for women-led projects
ATIPICS. This is a 7-month entrepreneurship program for young people, with ideas in a very incipient phase. Much of the program is residential: entrepreneurs live 48 days in 12 meetings. A quantity of €30,000 is awarded in prizes to participating projects.
Itnig. Itnig is a venture builder founded in 2011 and led by Bernat Farrero. Located in the 22@, the technological district of Barcelona, it builds startups of the internet world. Among them: Camaloon, Factorial, Gym for Less, Parkimeter, Playfulbet and Quipu.
101startups. This initiative is investment, venture builder, accelerator. It has some features and capabilities of each of these models. It is led by Jordi Priu, Robert Vilaseca and Marc Borrell. They have 15 projects under their program. Among them Brainsins, Cognicor, Cl3ver, Quantion or Nautal.
Grupo ITNET. It is another pioneer: founded in 1996 by Carlos Blanco it invests and builds startups in the digital leisure sector: games, lifestyle, sports … It currently has 10 own companies and more than 30 participated companies. Among them, for example: Akamon, Kantox, deporvillage or Infantium. Carlos Blanco has expressed the progressive cessation of the activities of Grupo ITnet and his dedication to another project: Nuclio.
Inspirit Labs. Inspirit is Didac Lee’s incubator and venture builder. It has created renowned companies like Zyncro, Spamina or Hotelerum.
I leave for another future post the following initiatives:
- Intelectium
- Antai Venture Builder
- Photonic Ventures Incubation Program
- Spire Bioventures
- Wayra
- The Founder Institute
- NUMA
- Impact Barcelona
- Startup Catalonia
- European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre Barcelona
- Akola Venture Builder
- The Carrot Cake – Venture Builder
- Nuclio – Venture Builder
- Bloomium
- Incúbame