BNDES launches program to serve startups

 

Proposals must be submitted by January 27 

 

 

The president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Dyogo Oliveira, announced this Thursday, 6th, a call for the selection of 60 entrepreneurs or companies that will participate in his startup development program BNDES Garagem. On the occasion, a public notice was also released for the choice of manager for the Bank's innovation center, which should open in 2019. The announcements were made at WeWork's office in downtown Rio de Janeiro, a space that will house the 60 participants of this first edition of the startup creation and acceleration program. 

 

BNDES has R$ 10 million to be invested in two rounds of the startup creation and acceleration program. Resources will cover the entire cost structure, including workspace and program management and delivery. The expected budget for the innovation center is up to R$ 20 million per year. 

 

Dyogo Oliveira highlighted the low value of the initiative for the entity's standards, considering that the merit is not “in the volume (of investment) of the BNDES”, but in the “effective contribution that its insertion will make to the growth of the Brazilian economy”. 

 

Startup development – Conducted by the Wayra consortium – Liga Ventures, chosen through a public notice to manage this first edition of the startup development program, the selection of entrepreneurs will prioritize proposals from the following segments: health and well-being, social and environmental sustainability, creative economy, security, financial solutions and education. Priority will also be given to startups with Internet of Things solutions applicable to cities, rural environments and industry, as well as applications that use blockchain technology. Interested participants may submit their proposals until January 27. 

 

The first strand (creation) aims to support the creation of startups and is aimed both at teams of individuals and legal entities. The goal is to identify ideas that have not yet had the opportunity to be turned into products and support their development. 

 

The second module (acceleration) aims to support research, technological development and innovation projects of emerging companies with high growth potential and annual gross revenue of up to R$ 16 million. The intention is to identify companies that already have a functional minimum viable product, which may be serving the first customers, but which still need to leverage sales and/or gain scale. 

 

Innovation Center – With the public notice for selection of manager of the innovation center launched today, BNDES intends to choose a partner (which could be a company or a consortium) to help in the implementation and management of the BNDES Innovation Center. In addition to operating the space, the manager must, in partnership with the Bank, support the connection of entrepreneurs with the innovation and investment community. Future editions of the BNDES Garagem startup development program should be held within the Innovation Center. 

 

Scheduled to open in November 2019, the space should be located within a radius of 3 km from the BNDES' headquarters, in downtown Rio de Janeiro, and have a desirable minimum of 1,000 jobs, in a usable area of at least least 4 thousand m2 (with the possibility of expansion to 8 thousand m2). The expectation is that the environment will be occupied by innovation teams from large and medium-sized companies, startups, universities and national and international research centers. This initiative seeks to strengthen the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, with the commercialization of innovative products, the development of new business models and the strengthening of the entrepreneurial culture of the actors in the ecosystem. 

 

BNDES's investment expectation in the innovation center is up to R$ 20 million per year. 

 

Those interested in participating in the selection for manager of the innovation center can apply until February 15, 2019. The selected candidate must be announced by April 12, and the center is expected to open in November. 

 

More information about the call for entrepreneurs for the startup creation/acceleration program and the public notice for selecting the manager of the innovation center are available at www.bndes.gov.br/bndesgaragem.