Telefonica Open Future has launched a new call for training and assistance that will benefit more than 800 startups and digital SMEs in the market. In this way, its commitment to investment in projects in different economic sectors in the areas of Andalusia, Catalonia and Madrid is consolidated.
Telefónica also offers the possibility for the selected companies to form part of its open innovation ecosystembeing able to be a focus of investment of Wayrawhich is the open innovation initiative in startups that the company maintains.
With this new Telefónica Open Future acceleration plan, the company’s commitment to create a entrepreneurial ecosystem that starts from a strictly local scope and ends up acquiring a global perspective.
Its goal is none other than to find the best projects from startups and SMEs with less than five years of experience and include them in its Startup Acceleration Program, which has the support of the School of Industrial Organization (EOI) and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism. All of this is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan funded by the EU and Next GenerationEU.
In fact, since it was founded in 2014, Telefónica Open Future has invested in more than 1,000 startups around the world, supporting local startups in the initial stages of maturation. This strategic line is part, along with Telefonica Ventures and Wayra, from Telefonica Open Innovation.
Startups from the telecommunications and mobility sectors may be added to the acceleration program, maintaining the registration period is now open until August 31 through a form.
Telefónica Open Future currently has 30 hubs spread over three countries in Europe and Latin America. Since then they have been undertaking a total of 300 startup search callsaccelerating some 1,300 projects that in turn have generated over 4,900 jobs.
The training process
The companies selected to be part of the new Telefónica Open Future call will receive a free personalized trainingaimed at company founders and employees, for four months.
It has the mentoring expertise of Telefonica and individual masterclasses in topics such as agile methodologies, team management, pitching and financing oriented to the management team. The training is divided into 50 hours of online workshops, 40 hours of personalized online individual mentoring, events, office space and job support, among other initiatives.
For their part, the employees They will be able to access training related to digital tools, sales or languages focused on business operations. They will also have access to Telefónica Open Innovation capabilitiesdeveloping business with the company itself and obtaining greater visibility in the media.
In this way, they will be provided with the keys to be able to bring efficient technological innovations closer to their businesses and clients, maintaining direct contact with real investors and offering them the possibility of expand into new markets such as England, Germany and Latin America. In them Wayra and Telefónica Open Future already have a presence.
Telefonica’s perspective
ines oliveira, Global Manager of Telefónica Open Future, assures that the company’s objective is none other than to provide an opportunity to those who have a disruptive project and who need the help of mentors and experts. In addition, he clarifies that he registration process is very simplesince it adapts to each entrepreneur profile.
For this program to be effective, Oliveira herself points out that Telefónica carries out an exhaustive study in which, through a diagnosis, it detects the friction points of each company. From there, determine the axes of work and set an acceleration plan long-term. The efforts focus on areas ranging from production and equipment to monetization and financing.
