The first call made by Wayra, Telefónica’s open innovation hub, and the sports startup accelerator founded by Iker CasillasSportBoost, has been a complete success. 120 startups of the following 17 countries will participate in the event: Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, England, Spain, USA, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Malta and United Arab Emirates.
The objective of this initiative is to support and promote the most innovative sports-tech companies on an international level. To do this, SportBoost and Wayra will invest up to 700,000 euros jointly or up to 350,000 euros individually in the selected startups.
In this first call, a total of 120 startups have been presented, covering 18 areas such as event management and organization, fan engagement, performance, wearables, AI and data analytics, wellness, web 3, blockchain and sustainability.
The committee of experts from SportBoost and Wayra is already evaluating the 120 startups presented to start making the selection and make future investments in the companies that offer the greatest growth potential.
Extensive network of mentors with athletes
In addition to receiving financial investment and the active collaboration of Iker Casillas in the events that are organized, the startups that receive investment from Wayra and SportBoost will have at their disposal a wide network of mentors made up of renowned professional athletes. In addition, SportBoost will support startups by facilitating access to the entire ecosystem within the world of sport, contributing to their positioning and connecting them with different investors, sports entities, clubs, etc.
On the part of Wayra, they will be able to opt for a physical space in their Gran Vía facilities (Madrid) with the aim of supporting startups in the development of their projects with the different business units of Telefónica. They will also organize face-to-face or online talks and meetings that favor the networking of startups to facilitate access to the investment ecosystem of Telefónica’s open innovation initiative
