From the ‘real’ metaverse to the growth of ‘scaleups’: a look into the future of innovation and entrepreneurship within 4YFN

A flying taxi from the North Korean company, SK Telecom, or the prototype for an ultra fast train capsule from HyperloopTT open the door for us to imagine the mobility of the future. Wireless virtual reality glasses allow people to interact with other devices and, for example, zoom in over a screen. During the Mobile World Congress, innovation and technology fused to imagine what the future will be like. In this futuristic context, there is also room for entrepreneurship at 4YFN (4 Years From Now), the event dedicated to the entrepreneurial ecosystem of one of the world’s most important technology fairs.

Matterverse or deeptech are some of the terms that are most commonly used in the ninth edition of 4YFN, but also others such as scaleups, as a sign of the period of maturity that thrives through the Spanish entrepreneurial system.

“4YFN is a point of connection for the entire ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship. It’s an opportunity to establish new relationships, meet clients, partners, or find financial support: everything happens through conversation”, claims Pedro Muñoz, Head of Open Innovation España at BBVA Spark. Through their stand at 4YFN, the ally of high-growth companies that has already facilitated 200 million euros in financing and can count on 500 clients, has announced their value proposition. They have also demonstrated their support to numerous other companies related to the healthtech, agrotech, and greentech’ sectors, which have utilized the bank’s space to demonstrate their innovative products and services.

Deeptech, healthtech, and fintech, the leading sectors that have traversed the halls of 4YFN 2023

During the 4YFN 2023 celebration, two sectors were identified to be at high growth: deeptech, identified by BBVA Spark as one of the technological tendencies of 2023, and healthtech, which continues opening new opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators. Timo Hallantie, head of the unit for the European Innovation Council (EIC), has explained what the support is in Europe for the entrepreneurs within the first space mentioned. “Over many years we have seen excellent projects, with people who have made discoveries and formed companies, but they lose time searching for investors. We want to change that; we want to be right next to them to help them make the adequate transition towards the acceleration phase so that the company can work“, Hallantie explained.

In this sense, EIC serves as a unique opportunity that offers instruments such as subsidies for cutting-edge projects or support for scaling and deployment in new markets. Additionally, within the same context, the company has also provided visibility and financial support for deeptech projects such as Galgus, which investigates and develops wireless technology, or PhotonicSens, which designs 3D cameras that improve depth perception.

Along with the attention provided to deeptech, the edtech and healthtech environments have also received special attention.At the BBVA Spark stand, HomeDoctor, which has developed a health robot capable of monitoring parameters such as blood pressure or oxygen saturation in the blood, also provided its vision of the future of the healthtech sector. The CEO of this public startup focused on senior care, Juan Láriz, claimed that “we have seen a great opportunity within the field of artificial intelligence to provide personalized daily care for all of our patients”.

WellWo, a company specializing in employee wellbeing, or Expert.AI, which offers a solution for natural language processing are two of the companies that were particularly present within the BBVA Spark space and demonstrate how innovation can be integrated into all sectors, including fintech. In fact, Payflow, an application for financial wellbeing that allows professionals to charge money as they need it, has been selected as the winner of the 2023 4YFN Awards.

The maturity of startups is a fact: the prominence of scaleups is growing

In the year 2022, scaleups reinforced their role within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Their growing importance has been demonstrated within 4YFN in which entrepreneurs had the opportunity to hear advice and recommendations from other founders through a variety of expositions, so that their projects could succeed.

Bernat Ripoll, co-founder of Holded, a management software for SMEs and entrepreneurs, advocated for the construction of a strong and transparent culture as the foundation for the growth of any company. In one of the talks at the event he claimed “a good leader is the leader of the culture”.

Within the same context, Eva Martin, cofounder of Tiendeo, a platform that connects retailers and brands with buyers across the world, mentioned other determining factors when it comes to scaling a startup: determination and creativity. “From these traits you can surround yourself with good people and form a great team to be able to grow”, she assured.

The exhibitions also highlighted the threats to obtaining capital within the real context. The scaleups have found a new paradigm: equilibristic growth. “It is not necessary to grow at any price”, claimed Oriol Fuertes, cofounder and CEO of Qida, a company for domiciliary attention. His perspective is that it is vital to reach cost effectiveness within a company and use technology to improve processes in order for entrepreneurs to develop their business.

The maturity of many of these startups has been visible, but there is still space, both within 4YFN and the overall ecosystem, for startups that are still in the more early phases. Pedro Muñoz from BBVA Spark argues that “its important to follow the more early stage companies, because those are the companies that are going to incorporate new innovations while going against what has already been established“.

Heading towards a more tangible metaverse

Throughout 2022, exploring the limits of the metaverse has been the central mission of different companies from all over the world, including BBVA. During 4YFN, visitors were also able to learn about some use cases that have led to the emergence of the term matterverse, that is, the application of augmented reality (AR) to the industrial world.

“Ultimately, the metaverse is about the fusion of the physical world and the digital world. If we want to embark on a journey that allows us to reach that industrial metaverse, there are steps we need to take in order to get a final version,” explained Jan Junker, Executive Vice President of Solution Delivery at TeamViewer, a company specializing in providing remote access to computers and networks, during the talk From the Metaverse to the Matterverse: How to do it right?.

There are already some use cases of the metaverse in industry. Junker himself cited the example of the Frontline xPick solution, implemented by TeamViewer, which applies augmented reality to allow for information visualization in the logistics process. Similarly, Ronnie Vasishta, Senior Vice President of Telecommunications at NVIDIA, also positively assessed the involvement of the metaverse in industry. In fact, he has joined forces with BMW to build a replica of the car companys factory in this environment. “It allows them to plan strategies in a greater number of scenarios or introduce production improvements that cannot be carried out in the real world,” Vasishta argued.

In 2023, the Mobile World Congress has closed an edition where it has managed to bring together 88,500 attendees, according to data from the GSMA. In this context, 4YFN continues to establish itself as a connection point for actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and a witness to its evolution. In BBVA Spark, they can find an ally to help them grow.