The most important investment event in America, Pitch at the Beach, was in Portugal with its first edition held in Europe and the municipality of Oeiras was the host (Porto de Recreio de Oeiras/ Marina).
In previous editions, Pitch at the Beach has been a great success in Cancún, Tulum and Isla Pasión, in Cozumel, Mexico and has an accumulated investment of over eight million dollars.
The concept was created by Angels Nest and Bizrupt, two of the most active investment groups in start-ups in Latin America.
Having as local founders in Portugal Eduardo Baptista Correia, CEO of Taguspark, and Alexandre Fonseca, Co-CEO of Grupo Altice, Pitch at the Beach Portugal was supported by Taguspark, Altice Portugal, Huawei and Oeiras Valley.
Since its launch, Pitch at the Beach has consolidated a network of investment funds and business angels with a portfolio of over a billion dollars and provides an opportunity for the best startups able to grow and cement their business on other continents.
The event was attended by 170 people and investors from more than a dozen countries, including South Africa, Germany, Canada, Croatia, Spain, United States of America, Estonia, France, India, England, Mexico, Norway , Portugal, Switzerland, Ukraine and Venezuela. During three days (July 2nd to 4th), young entrepreneurs, startupsmanagers and investors ‘exchanged the suit for beach flip flops’ in search of the most innovative ideas with the greatest potential to become successful projects at an international level.
event activities
During four days, the event had several activities for the participants, highlighting the keynotes in speakers national and international, on topics such as technological trends, leadership, metaverse, innovation, soft skills and the future of investment. Debate panels, gastronomic and nautical experiences and musical moments were added, as well as the presentation of 10 projects per day to a group of investors (5 minutes per pitch:+ 3 minutes of questions and answers) each day, three winners were selected and, on the last day, three winners will emerge from the nine finalists (see table on the side).
450 applications were received to participate in Pitch At The Beach from 18 countries and 3 continents. Among the 30 selected, 14 are Portuguese start-ups: Artshare, Bandora, CascataChuva, Explor, Funpass/FestForward, GlassOn, Inocrowd, Logrise, Midiacode, Sizl, TheStarter, Timeview, Tripr and Wingdriver.
big winner
THE start-up Portuguese Bandora is the big winner of the first edition of Pitch at the Beach in Portugal. Is start-up dedicated to the digital and energy transformation of smart buildings, managed to stand out before a panel of international investors and, as a prize, will integrate the Taguspark incubator and have specialized technical support in the Altice laboratories (Go.Lab IoT and Go.Labs 5G ) and mentoring in the open innovation program to support startups by Altice (ENTER).
Ana Figueiredo and Alexandre Fonseca in the speakers
Speakers included Zev Siegl, co-founder of Starbucks, Swati Mandela, activist and granddaughter of Nelson Mandela, and Miryam Lazarte, CEO of Latam Startups, Paulo Pereira, Managing Director of Huawaei, Ana Figueiredo, CEO of Altice Portugal and Alexandre Fonseca, CO -CEO of Altice Europe.
The opening session of the event was attended by Israel Pons, international co-founder of the event; Eduardo Correia, CEO of Taguspark and the vice-president of the Municipality of Oeiras, Francisco Rocha Gonçalves. The musical opening was in charge of the Novos Horizontes Orchestra.
O keynote The event was opened by Ana Figueiredo, CEO of Altice Portugal, who showed the company’s commitment to Portugal and to entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives. The company is one of the sponsors of Pitch at the Beach and Ana Figueiredo underlines the importance of the open innovation model and the role of mentors, which fosters initiatives that bring new projects and opportunities to the sector. And she added: “The Pitch at The Beach is a very important event that serves to connect entrepreneurs with business angels and investors and is an opportunity for us to exchange ideas on how we can build a better world and tomorrow for all».
5G technology and Altice Portugal’s commitment to digital health were also highlighted in the presentation and Ana Figueiredo recalled the example of breast cancer surgery recently carried out at the Champalimaud Foundation, which used augmented reality technology with Microsoft’s Hololens and to a 5G connection from Altice Labs. between Lisbon and the Hospital Clínico de Zaragoza.
The Executive President of Altice Portugal highlighted that «one of the characteristics of 5G is its latency, which allows us to have answers in real time. In healthcare, two seconds can be the difference between a successful or unsuccessful operation, whether people live or die,” she said.
Ana Figueiredo also explained the role that 5G will have in cities of the future in areas such as the environment (with waste management, energy efficiency, solar energy management or fire detection) and mobility (with parking management, traffic management or charging electric vehicles).
She also defended that the «application of technology must make our cities more sustainable and healthier, for each of us», she said.
Finally, the Executive President of Altice Portugal said that «technology exists to make our dreams bigger and bolder. But we need to work together, in a sustainable way, to make this planet a better place to live.”
There was still a challenge to the entrepreneurs in the room to continue to dream to use technology to create a better world, with the quote from Peter Drucker remembering that «the best way to predict the future is to create it».
O keynote The closing ceremony was addressed by Alexandre Fonseca, Co-CEO of Altice Europe. The official started by referring to his international career and suggested to the young people who were at the Marina de Oeiras to travel the world, get to know other cultures, have different experiences.
«One of the things I have in common with most people here is a zest for life, for contacting different people from different countries, with different people and with multinational experiences».
Alexandre Fonseca also highlighted the five principles of Altice leadership: taking risks, being close, having a deep knowledge of the business, leading by example and being a good communicator.
The opportunity to attract talent and bring together entrepreneurs and innovation is one of the factors highlighted by the Co-CEO of Altice Europe, who states that «the projects that were presented are very relevant, with a maturity above expectations, and which shows Portugal’s ability to generate projects and that it is important that investors are aware of investing in and contributing to the development of the ecosystem».
Comments are disabled.
