Lanzadera de Juan Roig is possibly the best startup incubator in Spain

• FEDE DURÁN

Tuesday, 15 September 2020 - 15:54

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Juan Roig

(Valencia, 1949) generates a strange consensus in Spain.

It is striking that a powerful businessman, owner of a distribution giant like Mercadona, provokes the admiration of locals and strangers.

A question of intelligence, a question of philosophy, a question perhaps of a mixture of happy factors, everything Roig touches turns into gold.

is no exception.

, Roig's child was born with the mission of returning part of the wealth received to society.

For this, the Valencian was and is at the forefront

, whispering some secrets to them, encouraging them to effort with reward.

Several years later, emerging from an immense crisis and recently mired in another of still unknown proportions, it could be stated without too many reservations that the mission has been fully accomplished.

Lanzadera

, some as notable as Jeff, Declarando, Airhopping or Codigames;

contributing in parallel 15 million euros in loans.

Another 130 startups have joined the quarry this week.

The sum of all those that have already passed through the organization

The board where Lanzadera operates is called

" whose other vertices are

.

Since May, when the Lanzadera auxiliary framework was adapted upwards to a volatile environment, the financing of a project can reach half a million euros (previously the ceiling was 200,000).

Lanzadera loans are convertible into capital of the beneficiary startup.

When this option is executed Angels comes into play.

Time

Javier Jiménez is the director of Lanzadera

.

Together with him, in the shade,

.

Applications are received throughout the year, but programs ("windows") start in January, May and September.

This month's window has received nearly 1,800 applications.

There is a process to present the idea, some metrics and objectives, we analyze the legal part, but the truth is fundamental and exclusive is the team ".

Among the brightest residents, two stand out whose fit into the newly defined concept is doubtful: Del Poble (pizzas) and Balbisiana (cakes).

"Of course they are startups, because they show the main characteristic, which is rapid growth, and they also have the technological aspect of delivery and social networks," the director concludes.

Each signing of Lanzadera fits into a category based on the state of maturity of the proposal.

There is a

(here a good idea and an entrepreneurial attitude are enough),

(products or services already launched on the market and supported by the first metrics),

(consolidated business models) and

( companies that have grown a lot and whose foundations are solid).

"These are very complicated times, but I am absolutely positive because entrepreneurs have a couple of special characteristics (taking on challenges and defying conventions) that make them quite different. Warren Buffet once said that when some in crisis get tired of crying, others They are fed up with selling handkerchiefs. We look for those handkerchief sellers, because we know they are there, "reflects Jiménez.

Suspended and approved

Overcoming the Lanzadera screen is not easy.

.

Once inside the house, the credit is optional.

It may happen that a startup does not need money, a situation that does not prevent Angels from injecting capital into it afterwards.

Among the favorites of the investment arm of Marina de Empresas there are two protagonists of the first edition launched by the incubator / accelerator, the aforementioned

(games for mobile phones), which closed 2019 with 30 workers, 44 million turnover and 20 million benefit;

and

, a luxury hotel embedded in the side of a mountain in the Guadalest valley (Alicante) where the night costs just over 200 euros.

In full shock (July-August), with almost no foreign tourists, this establishment has been around 90% occupancy, rescuing 100% of the workforce from ERTE.

The eyes of Roig's angel investor have also settled on two startups from the quarry that this year have closed financing rounds of a certain entity:

(the Valencians who lead the development of Hyperloop in Europe) raised seven million euros in June , while the biotech company

(medical images analyzed by artificial intelligence) got eight million a month later.

Pepe Peris and Carlos Serrano are Angels investment managers

;

Above, only the

remains

"We are not an investment fund

[like Lanzadera and EDEM]. We are not subject to limits on amounts or terms, but it is true that

with tickets of between 200,000 and 500,000 euros,

that ranges between 5% and 20%, although we can invest more or less, it is not a fixed criterion but an approximate one. If we were a fund, we would be a seed fund.

, and if the business is not sustainable yet, let it go towards sustainability,

"says Peris.

"Our focus is above all on people, more than on the sectors or on the offline or online nature of the project. This responds to a reason. We know that

will do everything. in your hand to survive (if there is a crisis) or improve (if the outlook is favorable). It is also important that the selected startups apply Mercadona's quality model, which is supported by two levers:

The most complex edition

The Lanzadera judges have been hunting down talent in the most complex edition ever.

Against all odds, Javier Jiménez's team has redoubled its commitment with a record number of selected startups that cover all growth phases except the one reserved for highly consolidated companies.

Among those included in the growth range, which requires contrasted numbers by default, names such as Dribo (virtual driving school), Bee the Data (algorithms that analyze human behavior in physical spaces) and Wabi Home (e-commerce for home products) stand out. ).

Love without hate

Lanzadera

and also relies on external partners to cover those specialties that, due to time or resources, escape it.

From the first moment and from the first phase,

For example, a beginning resident with a simple idea scribbled on paper will get a loan of 1,000 euros at the beginning.

Likewise, they will be assigned a tutor, they will receive training geared towards their field of action (internet of things, cybersecurity, machine learning and an elastic etc.) and will agree on growth milestones.

"The money," says Jiménez, "

."

And at the end of the tunnel, contractual relationships aside, an emotional bond is forged.

"All the startups that have passed through here bear our seal, this is their home, many come and go, they continue to request support, we help them with funding. In fact, within the relaunch of our activity after the outbreak of the pandemic we introduced a A novelty, a kind of program called Ven o Vuelve that has allowed 14 startups made in Lanzadera to return home after working very well and suffering from the turn of the tables. "

Among them are

(transport),

(SIM cards for travelers) and

(surprise getaways).

Geography is relevant.

.

It is no secret that Lanzadera provides some of the ingredients that make this city the third Spanish hub, each day closer to Barcelona and Madrid.

In the Malaga way, there is a very active university (the Polytechnic), a political commitment (the Generalitat), an ad hoc association (Startup Valencia) and some more than serious accelerators (Innsomnia, Biohub, Booster, Plug and Play).

"We are building a place of reference. Marina de Empresas wants to shine here as the reference of entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean", proclaims Jiménez.

Considering what has been seen, it does not seem like a crazy purpose.

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