The Porsche accelerator, in collaboration with Conector, launches program aimed at startups specializing in smart mobility, lifestyle, customer experience, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The search for startups officially began December 12, and the Porsche accelerator will host an Open Pitch Night on Wednesday in Madrid.
The best projects will go directly to the final phase of preselection, the Startup Day. Once the inscription phase is finished, a committee of managers from Porsche Ibérica, experts from Porsche Digital, and members of Conector will select between 10 and 15 startups to pass on to the Startup Day, which will take place in the beginning of February 2018.
Tomas Villen
“Our objective with this program is to impulse the innovation in the automotive sector, which faces vertiginous changes during the next decade, changes which possibly are greater than those of the last 100 years,” said Tomás Villen, Managing Director at Porsche Ibérica.
“Through the collaboration with entrepreneurs we not only help them to develop their projects, but have also access to a large amount of ideas which could give rise to further cooperation’s bringing our own business forward.”
The five-month acceleration program is looking for startups, which have a stable team, a leader, a working product in the market with first achievements and which are scalable. These startups can apply to the program until January 25, 2018.
Startups selected during the Startup Day will receive a place to work, as well as all the benefits from the cooperating companies of the accelerator (with a value of more than 400,000 EUR).
Like all good accelerators, those chosen will also have access to networking throught Porsche and Conector. The will additionally receive an extensive training plan, an event calendar, and will have their own board of mentors.
Thilo Koslowski
“The startup scene in Spain is booming and we’re looking forward to forming winning partnerships with the best ones,” said Thilo Koslowski, CEO of Porsche Digital.
During the five-month acceleration phase, startups will work side by side with their mentors to obtain a sound project, supported by a proven business model with defined metrics. To achieve this, the teams will have monthly mentor boards where they debate about the strategy they are following and they analyses the action plans defined.
Finishing off the program with a Demo Day, the young companies will present their project in front of a forum of capital risk companies (VCs), investors, and business angels to achieve their investment target.
Sixto Arias
“This Acceleration program is the realization of a dream of the selected entrepreneurs. At Conector we are convinced that Porsche will be a great driver for the entrepreneurs of our country,” said Sixto Arias, Partner at Conector Madrid.
In September 2015, the Conector Startup Accelerator launched in Madrid to help boost the promising entrepreneurial ecosystem of the city.
Conector has its Spanish operations in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Seville, and Galicia.
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