After three days of great hustle, where the phrase "digital entrepreneurship” was the resounding topic of conversation and with more than 40.000 people circulating through the spaces of FIL and Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal, the Web Summit 2021 came to an end.
With the presence of several national startups at the event(see gallery above), namely Pay3, the appy people and Baika, one of the world's leading technology, entrepreneurship and innovation events, had a positive balance sheet, where despite the safety "limitations" imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was considered a success, from the organization to the the people who attended it.
The good disposition, the trust and the good expectations was something that was present in the four days of the Web Summit, where the “Founders” were face-to-face with potential clients and partners, after the “coldness” of the online videoconferences, which marked the 2020 edition.
The MenosFios team had the opportunity to speak with Garcia Monteiro, CEO of Paga3, which was one of the national startups present at the event, as it was the winner of the last edition of Unitel Go Challenge, where he spoke about the provision of his institution at the Web Summit.
“We had a very positive performance, we spoke with some investors from countries like England, Lebanon, Brazil, Cape Verde, Brazil and Portugal who found potential in our business model, and show intentions not only to invest in Paga3 but in the country in general. We also had meetings with some Startup Aphas and Betas whose objective was to strengthen partnerships. We also had mentorships, with references from the Brazilian market, in which he invited us to participate in a competition to be promoted by his accelerator in Europe. We had several interviews with the Portuguese media highlighting Forbes Portugal. It was a super magnificent experience.” informs Garcia.
Another national startup that took the country's name at the event was Baika, a technological project created by seven young Angolans in December 2019.
BUT: Web Summit 2021 with the presence of more women than men, reveals organization
According to an official statement, BAIKA is a service platform on-demand that connects users of electronic devices with some malfunction to technicians registered on the platform to carry out the service. Everything is done through an application, where the customer makes the self diagnosis and payment, then waits for the technician who goes to meet him to perform the desired service. The presentation of the project was made on November 2nd, a day dedicated to mentoring and funding at the 2021 event.
Speaking of the Platinum Line platform, Founder Nilton was happy for the feat and assured that the idea of the project is for the benefit of the country.
"It is an inclusive project with a great impact on training young people for digital areas and, above all, young people with a background from poor communities. We also encourage the collection of electronic waste through our platform at no cost to the customer. It is and always will be an honor for us to participate in this type of event and be among some of the ideas that will change the world tomorrow.”
The young Angolan was also concerned about the fact that the country is not betting on staff for development in the area of new technologies:
"the world is changing at a speed that we are not aware of, while I am concerned that Angola is still too far away in fostering the digital ecosystem."
Still talking about this 2021 edition, the Portuguese startup Smartex.ai, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to solve textile waste and defective production in this industry, was the winner of the “pitch” of the Web Summit, the main business contest of this mega technology and entrepreneurship event.
A total of 650 of the 1.519 startups that showcased their projects at the Web Summit participated in the Pitch competition during the three-day conference.
And of the 75 startups chosen to present their projects on the main stage of the Web Summit, which ended yesterday in Lisbon, Smartex.ai was among the three finalists, even ending up winning.
Among the judges for this year's Pitch were Sarah Kunst (of Cleo Capital), Wesley Chan (of Felicis Ventures) and Alf Franzoni (of Siemens).
This year's edition began on Monday and ended on Thursday, where statistics show the presence of around 43 people from 128 countries. The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said on Thursday, during the closing speech of the Web Summit, that he wants 100 people to practice at the technology summit in 2022 – 60 more than this year and 30 more than in the period before the pandemic in 2019.
