15 Mar The best startups born in Madrid
The number of start-ups, investment rounds and success stories has grown in the Spanish capital, making it one of the most popular start-up destinations in Europe. The reason is that Madrid has a number of qualities that make it a true cradle for these start-ups.
One of the advantages it has over its competitors is the location. The capital has an enviable strategic position between Latin America and Europe. In addition, it benefits from a outstanding infrastructure in terms of communications. At present, the city has more than 175 airport connections and with the second largest high-speed rail network in the world.
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"Looking for talent in the Spanish capital?
Madrid offers a human capital The capital has one of the most highly-qualified workforces in Europe, most of whom are willing to work on entrepreneurial and innovative projects. The capital has an education system made up of six public universities, eight private and one distance learning university (UNED). In addition, it is the home to four business schoolsThe capital has an education system made up of three of them recognised in the ranking of the best centres in the sector at world level.
On the other hand, this is one of the cities which has a increased number of square metres dedicated to coworkingspaces. And we must not forget the large number of synergies that are created with other start-ups in these spaces. The reason is that the best interaction for many is still face-to-face and personal, something it is important not to lose sight of in the digital and post-pandemic era.
"From Madrid to the sky and a little hole to see it
The city that never sleeps offers another advantage. While London has 65 sunny days a year and Lisbon 270, Madrid has 290The city that never sleeps offers another advantage. It also has free and high quality public services. In addition, its crime rate is very lowIt is one of the safest capitals in Europe.
"3 Start-ups born in Madrid
With all these qualities and many more in mind, here are three start-ups that, taking advantage of the capital's innovative style, made the news when they were born three start-ups that, taking advantage of the capital's innovative style, were news when they were born and will probably be again in 2021.
1. WOOM
"Data
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- Year founded: 2015
- Sector: Health
- Founders: Clelia Morales and Laurence Fontinoy
- Main investors: TheVentureCity, Toro Ventures, Gerard Olivé, Jesús Monleon, Beatriz González and Miguel Haupt.
- Website: https://woomhealth.com/
This is a company specialising in women's health and fertility whose application helps women get pregnant easily and efficiently. Its mission is to assist in reproductive health decision making by means of a algorithm that can calculate a woman's daily probability of pregnancy. The algorithm takes into account information such as the menstrual cycle, the couple's lifestyle and biometric data.
This Madrid-based company has participated in three acceleration programmes:
"SeedRocketSeedRocket : is one of the first technology-based start-up accelerators created in Spain.
"Google Campus MadridAccording to its creators, this is the place where they managed to establish relationships that helped them, from attracting talent to closing financing rounds.
"TheVentureCity: here they developed the post seed phase for the internationalisation of the product and its technology.
Today, WOOM is one of the world's leading femtech companies. leading femtechfirms (an umbrella term for technology companies specialising in women's health) and enjoys a unique position in Southern Europe and Latin America.
"How does it work?
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WOOM does not only offer a fertility and ovulation calculator or a menstrual calendar. Its intention is for users to know their bodies and maximise their chances of getting pregnant. The secret of the app lies in its powerful personalisation.
- Calculates fertile days and menstrual cycle accurately, providing daily pregnancy probability.
- The calendar facilitates comprehensive cycle and ovulation monitoring.
- Allows access to personal data and personalises the length of the menstrual cycle and period.
- Sends notifications when your period or fertile days are about to begin.
- Let the partner know when the fertile days begin.
- It sends content on nutrition, lifestyle, fertility and sex life, among other topics.
"Additional data
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WOOM works with the pharmaceutical industry as a data providerthanks to its B2B model.
To launch the company and the minimally viable product, its founders required, first of all, an initial investment of 200,000. Subsequently, they closed three rounds of financing and two participative credits from Enisa. These are the metrics currently offered on its corporate website:
- Countries where it is present worldwide: 9
- Registered users: 1.3 million
- Active users per month: 150,000
- Parameters collected: +70
2. DIXPER
"Data
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- Year of foundation: 2018
- Sector: Video games and software
- Founders: Iván Mayo, Luis Manuel Torres, Alejandro Leal.
- Principal Investors: Wayra, Laura González-Estéfani, Clara Bullrich and Ernest Sales.
- Website: https://www.dixper.gg
This company offers players of sports video games the possibility to increase monetisation through disruptive audience interaction. Its founders decided to call it Dixper, recalling the effect that sunlight has on the atmosphere. "When a beam of light comes into contact with the Earth's atmosphere, it scatters in all directions, resulting in today's blue sky (and orange at sunset)". This image has been an inspiration for the company. "We want to replicate the same effect on a computational level. The computer that Dixper uses is able to spread out across the network and share the games with other users anywhere in the world".
Indeed, the company has developed a software which allows you to connect, from a remote web browser, to a computer to access the games stored on it. In this way, users can streaming to your computeras if they were watching YouTube or Netflix; play video games on your computer y screen sharing with their friends via a link.
As soon asviewers and streamers install the application on their computers, they have access to an administration panel from which they can, "...".launching games, inviting their friends and managing those who are online". In addition, users have the possibility to play with their favourite streamer, through the web browser, without being in front of their computer and without having the game installed.
The service is initially aimed at "any gamer in the industry". However, its founders have decided to focus on streamers to offer a video game streaming service with a product based on the audio-visual world of Twitch and YouTube. These streamers must send a request to Dixper to obtain partner status. In this way, they gain access to a special panel from which they can, ".share your link while broadcasting on Twitch or YouTube to interact with your viewers, select which of them play in your game or create random matches". They also have a permissions panel which allows them to manage which controls they leave to their subscribers, such as "move the mouse, the keyboard or the gamepad" with which they can "move the mouse, the keyboard or the gamepad". streaming becomes fully interactive".
The company classifies the streamers according to the number of viewers or followers they have, and assigns them a monetisation level which is divided into a percentage for the company and a percentage for them.
"Additional data
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In the first phase of Dixper's implementation, its creators received up to 310,000 euros310,000, which they spent on team growth, marketing and sales, materials and engineering infrastructure.
The company has allocated part of this budget for the development of campaigns with influencers sector and activity in the social media.
Yago Arbeloapresident of MIOGROUPsaid that 2021 will be a good year for Dixper as the technology stream related to entertainment will grow, particularly in the gaming and gaming sectors. gaming and sectors such as streaming. As a result, the company will have the opportunity to establish itself during the year just begun.
3. COBEE
"Data
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- Year of foundation: 2018
- Sector: Fintech
- Founders: Borja Aranguren and Daniel Olea
- Website: https://cobee.io/
Cobee is a Madrid-based start-up whose founders, Borja Aranguren (CEO) and Daniel Olea (CTO), have created a platform that manages, in an automated way and in a simple and efficient manner, a flexible remuneration system for workers. This plan allows them to pay for certain products or services through their gross salary, saving on income tax (IRPF).
Cobee allows all the benefits that can be offered to be unified in a single tool: meals, transport, health insurance, training, pension plans and others. The interested company contracts the service, registers the employees and establishes the benefits. These benefits will be offered through the web platform, without the intervention of suppliers or intermediaries that would increase management costs.
"Additional data
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In order to develop a minimum viable product and test the model, the company raised an initial direct funding of 375,000 375,000 in a round of venture capital funding. This sum was allocated to building a more robust product, hiring marketing and sales staff, and technology and product.
Cobee is one of the Madrid start-ups that have managed to internationalise their business in the middle of the pandemic. After several successful rounds of financing, its objective for 2021 is to consolidate the Spanish market and open up to Portugal, a country where it has already landed.. "It was a goal since the creation of Cobee, a logical step in the strategy."Aranguren explains. The reason is that they detected that there were, "many similarities, in terms of the concerns of workers and companies, regarding the management of profits".
In relation to the situation in which their internationalisation has taken place, the CEO of Cobee reveals that, ".although the start of the year was difficult, the demand for our services has not fallen off". This phenomenon is attributed to a circumstance that fits the start-up's business model. "Companies have had to meet the needs of their employees as a result of the pandemic.".
Borja Aranguren says they were able to finish 2020 with very positive results: a strong increase in clients and a doubling of staff in the middle of the pandemic. These circumstances have allowed them to migrate to Portugal and to approach this year optimistically. In fact, they recognise that they are planning to expand to other European and Latin American countries. The company aims to close 2021 with a portfolio of major brands that trust them.
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As you can see, Madrid is an excellent place to incubate new ideas. We have presented three start-ups that are having an excellent projection. In future issues we will tell you about more interesting ideas that are being born in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the capital.