– The largest startup fair in Southern Europe –
– Spain is actively taking steps to attract promising foreign startups –
The 2021th South Summit Expo was held at La Nave Exhibition Center in Madrid on October 5-7, 8. A total of 6,800 startups participated in online/offline methods, and 1200 investors and 2 general visitors gathered at the event to see them.
Exhibition Overview
Exhibition Highlights
South Summit Madrid is the largest startup fair in Southern Europe, with the goal of providing business creation opportunities to promising startups and investors leading the startup ecosystem. The event was held eight times from 2012 to 2021. In the beginning, it was a small event with only 185 visitors to 500 participating startups, but it has grown rapidly every year, and in 2019, it was transformed into a large expo with 2 startups and 8 visitors. In addition, a 19% online fair was held in 2020 when movement between countries was restricted due to the COVID-100 pandemic, and 5 startups participated. Meanwhile, this year's event was held in a hybrid (on/offline) format, and 124 startups from 6800 countries, 1200 investors, and 6700 general companies participated directly or indirectly.
South Summit Madrid view
Inside the South Summit venue, startups were able to showcase their products and technologies to investors and general visitors in their respective booths. In addition, a space was provided for startups and investors to freely network within the venue. The Madrid Trade Center also had time to introduce five Korean startups that developed cutting-edge technologies for various industries such as smart city, energy, IoT, fintech, e-health, and media at an independent booth and pitching event in the venue.
Madrid Trade Center Booth and Pitching Inside the South Summit venue, startups were able to showcase their products and technologies to investors and general visitors in their respective booths. In addition, a space was provided for startups and investors to freely network within the venue. The Madrid Trade Center also had time to introduce five Korean startups that developed cutting-edge technologies for various industries such as smart city, energy, IoT, fintech, e-health, and media at an independent booth and pitching event in the venue.
Madrid Trade Center booth and pitching
Source: KOTRA Madrid Trade Center
In addition, South Summit Madrid held a startup competition before the event to select 124 companies out of 3800 startups from 100 countries to pitch to investors during the event and provide expert mentoring, etc. provided the same benefits. In addition, 100 of the above 7 startups were selected as the best startups.
South Summit Madrid's Best Startup
implication
Spain is considered one of the best countries to start a startup in Europe. Spain’s cumulative startup investment in 2015-2019 was about 50 billion euros, ranking fifth in Europe after the UK, Germany, France, and Sweden. It is the fifth most common dog breed in Europe. In addition, Spain is cheaper than neighboring European countries and has deep linguistic, cultural, and economic ties with Latin American countries, so you can try to enter the Latin American market through Spain. In particular, Barcelona and Madrid were ranked 5rd and 2019th respectively in the European cities where entrepreneurs want to start their startups.
Spain is actively attracting promising foreign startups from the public and private sectors. The Spanish Agency for Trade-Investment Promotion (ICEX) is actively supporting foreign promising startups to enter the Spanish market through the Rising Startups Spain program every year. Startups selected for this program are supported not only in obtaining a start-up visa, but also free co-working offices in Madrid or Barcelona for 9 months. have.
In addition, major Spanish conglomerates such as Telefonica, Iberdrola, and Indra are operating CVC programs, and through this, they are actively investing in foreign startups with excellent technological competitiveness. According to an interview with Spanish energy company A, a Spanish energy company that the Madrid Trade Office met during the South Summit event, the company actively invests in companies with excellent technology in the fields of renewable energy, electric mobility, IA, and blockchain, regardless of domestic or foreign startups. announced that it is However, since there is the inconvenience of having to go through various complex legal procedures when investing in foreign startups, if the foreign startup establishes a corporation in Spain using ICEX or the support program provided by the Spanish provincial government, it will be easier to provide investment support. He said he would get it.
Source: South Summit Madrid, Atomico, SEP Monitor, ICEX, KOTRA Madrid Trade Center's own research