One of the core values of IE University is its commitment to the transformative power of innovation and the promotion of an entrepreneurial mindset. From the moment they join the IE Community, students are encouraged to pursue their ambitions and develop their business ventures.
IE Venture Lab is a pivotal element in this process. IE University’s startup incubator and business accelerator allows students and alumni to take their academic projects and business ideas to the next level, training and mentoring them as they explore, validate and develop ready-to-launch startup ventures.
The work carried out at the Venture Lab culminates with Venture Days, a platform for finalists from the accelerator program, as well as other students and alumni, to pitch their project in front of an audience of angel investors, venture capitalists and other local entrepreneurs. IE University alumni have raised an impressive €3.3 billion in seed investment capital as a result of these events.
The project structure
IE Venture Day Madrid is IE University’s demo day, during which the best startups and startup projects developed by alumni and students in the Venture Lab are showcased. Created with the goal of fostering the entrepreneurial ecosystem, it seeks to connect the best startups, investors, corporations, accelerators and thought-leaders, as well as celebrating the winners of the Venture Lab Accelerator program.
In order to participate in IE Venture Day Madrid, teams must:
- represent a startup developing innovative technology;
- have a full-time dedicated team;
- have a startup already founded or at least in the process of being founded;
- be in search of funding or strategic partnerships.
IE Venture Day Madrid 2022 was open to the general public and to IE University students and alumni, combining keynote speakers and panel discussions. The first half of the event also included a series of one-minute elevator pitches from the semi-finalist teams. The second part of the event consisted of the startup competition.
Twelve finalists were selected to give a five-minute pitch before a panel of investors, followed by a five-minute Q&A session. After all teams made their pitches, the jury deliberated and selected the winners.
IE Venture Day Madrid 2022 finalists and winners
The July 2022 edition of IE Venture Day Madrid offered a strong line-up of exciting pitches and fierce competition. Out of 95 student- and alumni-led startups registered, 77 made it to the semi-finals—and then the teams were further narrowed down to just 12 lucky finalists.
Between elevator pitches and keynote presentations, the new dean of IE School of Science and Technology and former chief scientist and faculty director of UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, Professor Ikhlaq Sidhu, participated in a fireside chat with Mike Lepech, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. In front of an attentive audience, the discussion—titled “Silicon Valley Meets Madrid”—saw them debate strategies for being successful with new ventures, while contrasting the pros and cons of running new ventures in Silicon Valley and Madrid.
By the end of the evening, the first prize of this IE Venture Day Madrid edition had been awarded to climate change solution startup Tero, a green tech ecosystem of three browser extensions that focuses on creating a free and easy way for people to help fight climate change, saving trees simply by opening tabs, searching or shopping online. Second prize went to Jubba, a startup that aims to alleviate the problem of the lack of software developers in Europe and help high-quality African software developers get jobs. And the third prize went to Chrysalis, a virtual platform that offers mindfulness sessions.
The triumph of the undergrads
Although a majority of participants in this edition of IE Venture Day Madrid were MBA or Master in Management students or alumni, Paris de l’Etraz, the Managing Director of IE Venture Lab, was particularly impressed with the performance put up by the Bachelor in Business Administration alumni.
“The Bachelor in Business Administration alumni are coming back as part of their BBA programs, and they’re coming on strong. And I think that’s natural. If you look at traditional business schools, BBA students are the most entrepreneurial, because they have less to lose and their opportunity cost is lower. I think that, in the coming years, we’re going to see a lot of what we’re seeing here. Both the BBA participants and the Bachelor in Business Administration undergraduates are going to be doing very well,” he said.
According to Paris, the goal cannot be to turn people into entrepreneurs, but instead to help them think like entrepreneurs—help them see opportunity in times of uncertainty. “I think undergrads need to develop a mindset that they don’t have to fear when faced with uncertainty. COVID-19 was a mess for a lot of people and a lot of people were very scared. But other people actually saw opportunity during COVID-19. So, I recommend that every student take on an entrepreneurship project, allowing them to get more comfortable with uncertainty, because that’s the real world.”
Congratulations to all of the IE Venture Day Madrid 2022 finalists. IE University is proud of your continuous efforts and entrepreneurial spirits.