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Esade BAN Grows During Pandemic Thanks to Commitment of the Network

In 2021, Esade BAN invested €4.1 million in 27 new projects, the second-highest annual figure in the network’s history.

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The success of Esade BAN is based on being a network that functions as a community of connected entrepreneurs and investors who support one another. Together they foster innovation and achieve a greater positive impact on society. This mutual value creation and community building allows members to share experiences and grow together – a unique distinguishing feature of the Esade Alumni business angels network.

Entrepreneurship is about bringing ideas to life. Esade Alumni encourages the network to put their projects into practice, thereby contributing to business progress and generating a positive impact on society by acting as a liaison between entrepreneurs and investors. Beyond connecting startups with investors, Esade BAN provides all of its entrepreneurs with a complete entrepreneurial ecosystem, through Esade and Esade Alumni, where they can find everything they need to develop and launch their projects and companies, and make them grow rapidly and successfully.

Founded in 2006, Esade BAN is made up of 230 private investors, most of whom are business angels, family offices and representatives of venture capital, corporates, and investment groups. Over the past 16 years, the network has invested nearly €40 million in 240 companies, with an average investment per project of €170,000 (each investor invests an average of €30,000 per startup).

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Deeptech: the sector attracting the most investments

Despite the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, Esade BAN received more than 400 project proposals. Those selected (97) were presented at 18 investment forums (Seed Forum, Growth Forum, Expansion Forum, Healthcare Forum and Deeptech Seed Forum). A new initiative in 2021 was the Traveltech, Tourism and Hospitality Challenge, focusing on sectors hit hard by the pandemic, and the Deeptech Seed Forum, which this year was held in conjunction with Barcelona Activa and five other universities. In addition, a new edition was held on the future of the real estate industry or proptech.

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Accounting for 61% of this year’s startups, the sector that attracted the most investments was deeptech, a field that uses technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, augmented or virtual reality, photonics and deep learning to offer solutions.

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Fernando Zallo, Director of Esade BAN commented: “The entrepreneurial ecosystem has changed substantially in recent months. After two years dealing with the effects of the pandemic, we have observed an uptick in projects related to value-added technology or deeptech, which has become an increasingly indispensable attribute among startups with high growth potential. We expect that investment in this type of project could grow even further in 2022.”

In this interview Zallo tells us how Esade BAN helped startups in 2021 and explains what the network will be focusing on in 2022.

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Outstanding startups and projects

One of the startups that best exemplifies the growth of deeptech investment is Unblur. This initiative, led by co-founder and CEO Alfonso Zamarro, a graduate of the Esade BBA, uses artificial intelligence to integrate real-time information from drone video cameras, sensors, maps and traffic information to improve the response of emergency services such as fire brigades, police and civil protection. This startup raised €180,000 from 13 Esade BAN investors.

Besides Unblur, most notable beneficiaries of investments by the Esade Alumni business angel network in 2021 include Dinbeat, an initiative that harnesses the power of the Internet of Things to offer veterinary telemedicine and home-care services, which received investments totalling €1.1 million; Nymiz, a web-based data protection and anonymisation software that prevents data from being exposed, which received €253,000 from the private network; and iXorigué, which sells geolocation collars to monitor livestock and received €95,000 from Esade BAN investors.

Other initiatives presented at Esade BAN investment forums include Competize, a system that organises amateur leagues and tournaments; Cavli Wireless, a solution to democratise the Internet of Things in everyday environments; Mapsi Photonics, a startup that detects gases and biochemical products using a patented platform; and April Plants, an online plant shop.
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