Barcelona, June 28, 2019. – Wayra4Women, an event promoting female entrepreneurship, brought together eight female entrepreneurs and eight investment groups in Barcelona through a speed meeting format. Wayra, Telefónica's open innovation hub, organized this event at Utopicus Glòries, where the startups presented their projects to major investment funds. In addition, an audience of over sixty people learned about the experiences of five women in a roundtable discussion where they shared their successes leading entrepreneurial projects.
On the one hand, the eight women who participated in the speed meeting represent the startups Benergys, Travel BookTek, Marbel, Inviertis, Wipass, Viume, eHealth, and TheIFS; The eight investor groups in attendance were NekkoCapital, LaSalle Technova, Inveready, #WeRockCapital, CaixaCapitalRisc, Women4Steam, 101 Startups, and Wayra itself. The Wayra4Women roundtable, titled ‘Women Entrepreneurs: Breaking Down Barriers,’ featured five prominent speakers: Katrina Walker, founder of CodeOps; Sara Werner, creator of Cocunat; Olga Valls, founder of Marbel; Clara LaPiedra, startup consultant and business angel; and Magda Marín, CEO of Mayerling. They have all shared their experience and professional journeys to achieve success in their entrepreneurial projects. Supporting female entrepreneurship: Telefónica allocates 37% of its startup investment to projects led by women, and the intention is to increase this figure to match that of projects led by men. Telefónica's open innovation area has more than 120 startups led by women. Last year, more than €3 million was invested in 27 women-led companies through Wayra's network of 11 hubs in 10 countries. As demonstrated by the experience of Wayra, Telefónica's open innovation hub, startups led by women have a higher survival rate: 79% of projects led by women are successful compared to the average of 67%. With Wayra4Women, Telefónica expands the mission of the Womensage project, an initiative launched by Telefónica's Open Innovation area in 2015 to promote female entrepreneurship. Through Womensage, the multinational aims to foster STEM vocations in girls, facilitate entrepreneurship among young women and university students, promote the training of women in technological skills, and find and share role models that can inspire other women.
About Wayra
Wayra is Telefónica's most global, technological, and connected open innovation hub in the world. Wayra operates through 11 hubs in 10 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, Peru, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela. More than 500 of the startups that participated in Telefónica's Open Innovation program are still active, and more than 100 startups are doing business with the company.