secpho, as Startup Europe Ambassador recognized by the European Commission, organized two sessions, one in Barcelona on 6 March and one in Madrid on 7 March, focused on helping deep tech startups in the creation or growth phase, favouring their connection with investors and big industry. These meetings were dedicated to startups that use high tech hardware technologies in their business model, since it is harder to find support for the development of hardware technologies, while software is usually the predominant technology used by startups.

The format of the sessions was organized to enhance the visibility of all attendees and to promote the networking among them. Thus, four parts were designed: a first part of elevator pitches by startups; a second part of presentation of the investing companies; a third part of parallel sessions giving the opportunity of B2B between startups and investors and sharing common experiences among the rest of the startups; and, finally, the session closed with the presentation of technological challenges launched by large companies such as Continental, Standard PROFIL, GoHub by Global Omnium, Suara and Lubrizol.

The first day took place at the Valid World Hall in Barcelona, and companies as diverse as Eliport, EXOM Engineering, VEnvirotech Biotechnology, MeetOptics, Procarelight, Green Killer Weeds, Quside Technologies, Smart Business Idea, Venturi, BIOO Tech, Pharmacelera, Radiantis, Adan Medical Innovation, Rokubun and TORRES attended the event. On the investment side, Roger Martí from Avançsa, Juan Álvarez and Carlos Vila-San Juan from Origen Ventures Fund and Adriana Freitas from Muster Ventures participated.

The second day was held at the urban innovation hub of La Nave in Madrid, where the following companies participates: Ilice Photonics, Hardwarriors, Utek, Gyrobikers, SkanSense, Smart Business Idea, Plactherm, Sepiia, UpDevices and Technologies, Innitius, Tanjomar, Artificial Vision, Nest Robotics, Insulclock, Laser 2000 and IMDEA Materials. The investment side was represented by Francisco Javier González from Caixa Capital, José Luis Gómez from Bullnet Capital and Enrique Sainz from Canaan R & D.

secpho organized this type of event for the first time and, given the success of participation and the good evaluations of the attendees, both sessions were certainly a success. There is definitely a need to create more opportunities to connect, grow and boost competitiveness.

Therefore, it should be mentioned that both days served to vitalize the deep tech startup ecosystems in Spain as preparation for major international event led by secpho, that will take place on 25 April in Barcelona. As part of the European Acceleration programme DeepTech4Good, two calls have been opened in parallel with deadline until end of March: one for investor’s pitching and another one for corporate technological challenges. If you are a deep tech startup, an investor or large company, you should not miss it!