Although there are countless anniversaries of events, entrepreneurs and their supporters have concrete dates marked on their calendars. Startup Olé started in 2014 in Salamanca. This year, 2021, is the 7th edition of a blended learning program inaugurated last year.
This 2021 edition was digital from September 6 and 7 and on-site from September 8 to 10. Thus, the event has opened up the possibility of following the event through a screen from hundreds or thousands of kilometers away from Salamanca and, in the case of professionals, personal participation in activities taking place in emblematic buildings of the city.
Either way, Startup Olé is ending today, and Fellow Funders concludes the week with a positive impression. Just like every year, this week has been full of promising news for a booming sector: entrepreneurship along with visionary projects. For our Fellow Funders team, this week has confirmed what we already thought: the startup world is full of creativity, talent, and, most importantly, a lot of resilience. We can’t wait to start the new year full of entrepreneurship!
Entrepreneurs must lead the fourth era of innovation
Despite the damage that covid has caused in the Spanish and global business world, the organizers of Startup Olé are optimistic about the event’s potential. More than 210 promising projects have been presented to investors. Entrepreneurs from the ecosystem have supported, inspired, and encouraged the hundreds of entrepreneurs who attended the event. Even the European Commission has urged entrepreneurs to lead the fourth era of innovation. The transformation of the economy requires the digitization of the business fabric of Spain and Europe.
This digitization, for example, allowed the heads of major European and global institutions to attend Startup Olé. Directors from renowned multinationals such as Huawei Europe, Telefónica, Acciona, Ferrovial and Iberdrola also attended this 7th edition of Startup Olé. The presence of key players of this stature affects the closing of agreements and projects in different areas of entrepreneurship, with special emphasis on rural innovation, according to the event’s organizers.
However, Startup Olé has taken advantage of this situation to continue its unstoppable growth, consolidating its position as the benchmark entrepreneurship event in Spain. Emilio Corchado, CEO of this celebration, is not yet fully satisfied. During an interview with La Crónica de Salamanca, he confessed his ambition to turn Startup Olé into a technological event par excellence in Spain and southern Europe. The Mobile World Congress of the West.
Talent and resilience
The expansion of Startup Olé results in an overall total of 44 nationalities among all attendees, showing the world the intense internationalization of the event. We have to break this total down between 400 top-notch speakers from 36 different nationalities who participated in more than 60 round tables. Some of our partners, Stephan Maisons, Ernesto Muñoz, and Guillermo Azqueta, attended several of them, preaching the fundamental role of alternative financing in the startup world.
Regarding statistics, this 7th edition received more than 210 projects from startups and 30 from university students. Undoubtedly, this shows that the Spanish and international entrepreneurial ecosystem is increasingly active and is facing a pandemic that is not easy, especially for entrepreneurs. However, the pandemic has demonstrated the capacity of our entrepreneurs to overcome the crisis with talent and resilience.
Fellow Funders has high expectations for the future, both for the event and the ecosystem it addresses. We hope to expand our potential role as an entrepreneurial growth engine in events like Startup Olé and outside them in the coming years. The next event for entrepreneurs and investors will be the South Summit in Madrid on October 5th and 6th. See you there!
