The new edition of Wayra Investors Day was held today in person at the Sant Pau Modernist Complex in Barcelona. Telefónica and venture capital firm K announced the launch of Leadwind, a fund of up to €250 million focused on deep tech scaleups. Payflow, Reoadly, Watchity, Fuell, Councilbox, Idoven, Sceenic, Ritmo, Volava, Gazoom, Solum, and Unmanned Life are some of the startups that presented their projects to investors in a pitch format.
• Breega, DN Capital, Kibo Ventures, Cathay Innovation, Adara, Sabadell, Caixa and Eurazeo were some of the 60 funds participating in the Wayra Investors Day with an investment portfolio of 3.5 billion euros.
Barcelona, September 17, 2021.- Wayra, Telefónica's open innovation hub, celebrated a new edition of its Investors Day this Thursday at the Sant Pau Modernist Complex in Barcelona, where a total of 17 startups presented their projects to 60 European investment funds with an investment portfolio of 3.5 billion euros. During the event, Telefónica and the venture capital firm K announced the creation of Leadwind, an independent venture capital fund open to public and private investors with up to €250 million focused on deep tech scaleups. The Wayra Investors Day represents an opportunity to connect the national investment ecosystem with international funds, while Wayra startups have the chance to attract investment, scale internationally, and connect with the most powerful funds in Europe. “The combination of public and private forces and co-investment from funds, such as those gathered today at Wayra Investors Day, is key to enabling the best European startups to become scaleups, generating value in their home countries without having to expand to other markets,” explained Marta Antúnez, director of Wayra Barcelona. Among the international investors are funds such as Eurazeo, Elaia Partners, Piton Capital, WhiteStar, and THCap. Among the Spanish participants were KFund, JME Ventures, Adara, Sabadell, Caixa Capital Risk, Encomenda, Inveready, Nauta Capital, and Seaya Ventures. This edition was held in person, following all current Covid-19 safety and hygiene measures. The event began with a roundtable discussion on how to boost the European technology ecosystem. This presentation was moderated by Paloma Castellano, director of the Wayra hub in Madrid, and featured Ben Marrel from the French fund Breega; Ian Marsh from the British fund DN Capital; and Sonia Fernández from the Spanish fund Kibo Ventures. In the second roundtable, moderated by Marta Antúnez, director of Wayra's hub in Barcelona, the secrets of creating a unicorn were discussed. This panel included presentations by Carlos Fisch from the Spanish fund Seaya Ventures; Jean-François Cochy from Cathay Innovation; and Eduard Castañeda from Wallbox Charges. A total of 17 startups linked to Wayra Spain presented their projects to investment funds in pitch format. Payflow, Reloadly, Watchity, Fuell, Councilbox, Idoven, Sceenic, Ritmo, Volava, Gazoom, Solum, and Unmanned Life are the main Wayra startups that showcased their work. The startups Hopu, FlashPark, EdreDrone, Liip, and McSystems presented their work in the 5G Scale Up program, a joint initiative between Wayra and MWC that seeks to discover innovative companies with 5G use cases. Tomeu Sabater, 5G program manager at Mobile World Congress Barcelona, and Marta Villaseca, digital innovation manager at Telefónica, were in charge of presenting the projects. These sessions reflect Wayra's commitment to co-investing in mature, technology-based startups alongside other co-investors present at Wayra Investors Day.