THE U-Start, boutique advisory for European investors interested in investing in digital startups from emerging markets, held its first event in the country on February 8th: the U-Start Conference Brazil 2014. At this meeting, four Brazilian businesses were chosen to compete with companies from Italy, Switzerland, Russia and South Africa for spaces in the international scenario of entrepreneurship. The global conference will take place on the 13th and 14th of May in Milan, Italy.
The national stage took place at the Telefônica Vivo theater in São Paulo, where 19 companies presented their projects to a jury made up of Felipe Matos (Start-Up Brazil/Federal Government), Marine Buclon (Bolt Ventures), Rosi Rodrigues (ABSTARTUPS), Bruno Ghizoni (FIESP/CJE) and Thiago Silveira (U-Start). After pitches 4 minutes, the experts chose the four startups, which will participate in the international stage of the conference. Learn a little about the Brazilian winners:
– ZeroPaper – an enterprise finance manager in the cloud. The company has a base of 45 thousand users and its software is aimed at professionals, freelancers and individual entrepreneurs (www.zeropaper.com.br);
– intoo – online platform facilitates access to credit for small and medium-sized companies, and allows requests for financing and anticipation of receivables, directly to financial institutions (www.intoo.com.br);
– love mondays – platform provides candidates seeking qualified jobs with information about the companies applied for. This “professional showcase” promises transparency and ethics in professional relations in the Brazilian market (www.lovemondays.com.br);
– NearBytes – communication tool performs the transfer of data by proximity, through sound. The tool uses an application, which will allow you to automate spaces, make mobile payments, among other functions. (www.nearbytes.com/br)
The four selected startups won tickets and accommodation and a training week - a week of mentor training to be held prior to the conference – all paid for by U-Start. And over three days, entrepreneurs will receive mentoring, consulting, preparation for the pitch and will have the opportunity to tour the city of Milan.
“This is an excellent opportunity for Brazilian startups to appear on the European innovation and technology scene and show that we are more than creative, we are innovative”, celebrates Luiz Guilherme Rinke, country manager at U-Start Brasil, and organizer of the U-Start Conference. 2014. The event was sponsored by Telefônica (www.telefonica.com.br), Amazon Web Services (www.aws.amazon.pt) and Bessa Advogados (www.bessaadvogados.com.br); and support of the Digital Convergence websites (convergenciadigital.uol.com.br) and Startupi (www.startupi.com.br).
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