For the 3rd time, Madeira Startup Retreat is back!
On Monday, January 13th, the 11 startups arrived at Colégio dos Jesuitas, their new HQ’s for the next 6 weeks, located at the heart of Funchal’s city.
Hosting the Launch Event was Micaela Vieira, Project Manager at Startup Madeira, who warmly and enthusiastically presented the program, how it was created and what it entails.
Cristina Salsinha, Project Manager of Turismo de Portugal spoke to our entrepreneurs about the Portuguese Travel & Tourism Ecosystem, exploring the current tourism market in Portugal. She introduced how Turismo de Portugal helped mold it to meet the country’s needs, as well as the different projects and their impact on the Portuguese tourism experience.
To talk about the Entrepreneurship Scene in Portugal, we welcomed one of this edition’s mentors, Felipe Ávila da Costa, Co-founder and CEO of Infraspeak. Building a bridge between his experience as a long-time entrepreneur and the startup culture in Portugal, Felipe Ávila da Costa was able to share the pros and cons of building and growing a startup in Portugal.
To properly introduce and welcome this year’s edition’s Startups, Carlos Soares Lopes, CEO of Startup Madeira, joined by Cristina Salsinha, called each startup to the stage and presented them with a symbolic Key and Madeira Book, representing the new opportunities opening ahead of them, and the place they can now call a second home.
And so, one by one, we welcomed Local Cave (Brazil), Localie (Netherlands), Oveit (Romania), Pelagic Dive Travel (Australia), Qwixi (Latvia), Sally Road Trips (UK), SnowPass (Portugal), SpotAR (Germany), Tell the Hotel (Switzerland), Wanda Maps (USA) and YouTravel.me (Russia).
After enjoying a coffee-break and meeting the office space, we welcomed Joana Barba, Entrepreneurship Area Manager at NOVA SBE Venture Lab, who guided a speed dating activity between the startups and the Local Hosts.
To end the day in the best way, we ended the day at Barreirinha Bar Cafe for a Networking & Poncha Experience.
Check out all of the photos HERE!
An impactful way to launch this 3rd edition!