AcelerarEspaña chooses four Argentine startups for its program

Contxto – Im Packing, Iantech, VU Security and Guapaletas are four Argentine startups that recently competed at the third annual AcelerarEspaña event in Madrid.

After receiving over 600 applications from Argentine ventures pursuing internationalization efforts in Spain, the softlanding program declared these ventures the chosen ones.

What now? 

These four winners will begin a 40-day immersion program in Madrid beginning in September. During this time, the goal for them is to validate business models and further develop internationalization plans. 

By the end, the participants must have closed their first commercial contract in Spain. Collaborative workspaces, mentoring and networking will also be provided for six months from the program.

What is AceleraEspaña?

The Argentine Business Chamber in Spain (CEAES) organizes this softlanding program for Argentine startups and SMEs. Participants must be in the internationalization phase and intent on operating in Spain. 

Entrepreneurship continues to grow worldwide, according to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s latest report. It is particularly robust in Argentina where the Entrepreneurial Activity Rate (ASD) to measure the optimism of starting new businesses exceeds 44 percent.

“The level of startups that participated is incredible,” said Leandro Sigman, president of Insud Pharma and the Argentine Business Chamber in Spain. “Argentina has a very diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem, which continues to take hold and whose potential is enormous.” 

Other sponsors included the Argentine Embassy in Spain, the Ministry of Production and Labor of Argentina, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship of Argentina, in addition to many others. 

More about winners

Argentine startups included Im Packing, which is a comprehensive management and traceability solution tracking fruits as well as vegetables. There was also VU Security that provides fraud prevention and identity protection services to clients.  

“For us, this is a great milestone as a team,” said Sebastian Stranieri, CEO of VU. “Entering the ecosystem in this way strengthens our presence in Spain and helps us to implement our solutions to protect people’s identity and prevent fraud in Europe as we have been doing in Latin America for over 11 years.” 

Iantech was another participant. Retailers use this startup’s platform to process and analyze large amounts of information, make predictions, plus generate action plans. Last but not least was Guapaletas that produces homemade ice cream. 

Other Argentine firms that attended the final included RevistasYa!, CamOnApp, BDEV, Tigout, Mamotest, Go Global, Club Viajando.com, as well as RockCycle. 

-JA