Over 100,000 people converged on Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2024 (MWC), a four-day technology conference that draws some of technology’s most innovative minds.
Among the attractions at the event, 4YFN (Four Years From Now) stands out as a destination for startup lovers to meet what could possibly be the next generation of great companies from around the world.
Novobrief visited MWC and sat in on 4YFN, where Spanish quantum computing startup, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech, was crowned champion of the 4YFN startup pitch competition.
In its 10th edition, 4YFN sifted through hundreds of applications before landing on the five finalists that would present their ventures in front of the judges panel and audience at MWC on 28 February.
The startups had four minutes to pitch their companies and an additional four minutes to answer questions from the judges panel, which included:
Kate Cornell
Kate Cornell, General Partner at All Iron Ventures
Shesh S
Shesh S, Sr Director – CVC at SK Telecom Ventures
Hendrik Brandis
Hendrik Brandis, Co-Founder and Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital
Nicole Leblanc
Nicole Leblanc, Partner at Woven Capital
Sébastien Lefebvre
Sébastien Lefebvre, Partner at Elaia Partners.
Barcelona, Spain’s Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech was chosen by the judges as the winner of the 4YFN Awards 2024.
The startup is developing quantum chips that are much more accurate than current ones in their calculations. The company currently employs 45 people and is the only company competing in its sector in southern Europe.
This Catalan company was created in 2019 and is a spin-off of the Universitat de Barcelona (UB), the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and the Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE) and was founded by 5 people: José Ignacio Latorre, Victor Canivell, Pol Forn-Díaz, Artur Garcia Sáez and Jordi Blasco.
The company’s CEO, Marta Estarellas, presented in front of the judges and knocked her speech out of the park.
As the winner, Qilimanjaro Quantum Tech will receive a prize of €20,000 and will take the stage during the 4YFN Awards at MWC 2025 as a success story to send a message to emerging entrepreneurs.
In addition to Qilimanjaro, other finalists included:
Whispp
Whispp: a startup from the Netherlands that created an innovative voice-assisted technology that converts whispered and affected speech into a natural voice in real-time, a solution for people who have difficulty speaking due to diseases such as Parkinson’s, stroke or even stuttering.
Bitsensing
Bitsensing: a South Korean company that as of its presentation at the awards had raised 21.3 million dollars to date and developed a radar technology that can detect various things inside a vehicle without the need for cameras, identifying if there are passengers inside, or if a child is left inside the vehicle by mistake, among other things.
Mica AI Medical
Mica AI Medical: this Israeli company claims that through AI it can improve breast cancer diagnoses. After scanning and training with millions of diagnostic images, Mica AI Medical’s technology promises to diagnose suspicious findings long before a cancerous tumor develops. As an added value, the company says it improves on traditional mammography problems.
Ocean Ecostructures
Ocean Ecostructures: this Barcelona-based company seeks to revitalize port infrastructures, offsetting the impact and implementing effective solutions that restore marine life, mitigating the environmental effects of human activity.
Apart from the startup fun at 4YFN, MWC-goers also got a sneak peek at some of the latest technology from some of the world’s largest tech companies.
There were presentations from the world’s leading game developers; the next generation of automobiles; and of course, mobile technology.
Additionally, attendees benefited from interesting talks from some of the leading technology minds of our day. Speakers included Jordi Romero, CEO of Factorial; Oscar Pierre, CEO of Glovo; Pau Gasol, former Spanish basketball world champion and winner of several NBA titles, who has transitioned to the tech world through his Gasol16 Ventures; among many others.