By now we’ve learned that nothing good lasts forever. And, that is true for this 3rd Edition of Madeira Startup Retreat.
On Wednesday, February 19th, we reached the end of six amazing, intense and fruitful weeks, and we celebrated that in the form of a Demo Day event that took place at the Auditorium of Museu da Casa da Luz, in the center of Funchal.
Local entrepreneurs, partners, investors, stakeholders, hoteliers, airports, tourist animation countries, teachers and students, governmental entities and other guests made up the audience.
As usual, Micaela Vieira – Project Manager at Startup Madeira – was the host for the Demo Day, and there was no better person to share with the audience all that these 6 weeks had to offer.
Before introducing the 11 participating Startups, Sérgio Guerreiro – Senior Director at Turismo de Portugal – shared how Turismo de Portugal has been promoting a sustainable tourism ecosystem and entrepreneurship in the sector, including acceleration programs for national and international startups.
And then, the time came to finally share with the audience what our entrepreneurs worked so hard for during the last 6 weeks, as each startup went up to the stage and pitched: Local Cave (Brazil), Localie (Netherlands), Oveit (Romenia), Pelagic Dive Travel (Australia), Qwixi (Latvia), Sally (UK), SnowPass (Portugal), SpotAR (Germany), Tell The Hotel (Switzerland), Wanda Maps (USA), and YouTravel.me (Russia).
Making the best of the 5 minutes each had, they shared their stories and their why’s, what’s and how’s.
The event kept going as Micaela introduced and welcomed each entrepreneur and guest speaker to the stage.
Rui Barreto – Regional Secretary of the Economy of Madeira – talked about the future of Madeira Entrepreneurship and how the Government is making an effort to support and offer the best conditions for international companies and startups to settle their businesses in the island.
Euclides Major – Director at Entrepreneurship Hub | EIR – talked about the future and new tendencies of entrepreneurship, tourism and technology in the world, and how they will effect the global society.
Luís Martins – Chapter Co-President at Portugal VRARA – shared his thoughts and experience in the ever-expanding world of Virtual and Augmented Reality, providing the audience with real and possible examples of it’s potential and application for the next decade.
José Pedro Almeida – CEO at XLR8 Revenue Management – talked about the hotel industry, how it’s changed over the years, and the role he’s played in improving it.
Miguel Ribeiro – Country Manager & Head of Growth in Europe at Zomato – talked about how unorthodox strategies could help companies grow and expand, as Zomato did, leaving the audience hungry for more.
Carlos Soares Lopes – CEO at Startup Madeira – ended the event by thanking those who made the project possible – Turismo de Portugal, NOVA SBE and, of course, Startup Madeira’s team.
Of course, a shout-out was given to those who made these six weeks unforgettable: the project’s team, André Delgado, the 6 local hosts, this edition’s mentors & the local entrepreneurs and businesses.
A recognition to our partners: Altice, Amazon Web Servives, SRS Advogados, Portugal Ventures!
And, last but not least, the amazing staff of Universidade da Madeira – Colégio dos Jesuítas, our office for the last 6-weeks.
We couldn’t be prouder of the class of ’20! Looking forward to keep up with their future achievements.