Venture Leaders defy Mobile World Congress cancellation

After the cancellation of the Mobile World Congress and the 4YFN event in Barcelona, it was unclear if numerous satellite events will take place. A group of local entrepreneurs and investors in Barcelona decided to support these events by organising the Barcelona Tech Spirit. Orchestrating the various initiatives of locals and international MWC participants, the program of the Barcelona Tech Spirit included over 180 events, including conference-like keynotes and panels, pitching sessions and meetups.

“Many investors and other actors of the tech scene still decided to be there, so we considered it would be the best to take this opportunity while leveraging the preparation done in an adapted program vor the Venture Leaders Mobile”, explains Venturelab’s Managing Partner Jordi Montserrat. “We focused on one day with sailing and pitching, followed by the Mobile Sunday 2020 open networking event”, he adds.

This needed some extra effort: The 5th Edition of Mobile Sunday by tech.eu was one of the affected events that was close to cancellation due to the drop-out of sponsors and partners. Less than one week before the event, Venturelab and tech.eu joined forces to save and co-host the event. Venturelab helped to organize it and supported it as a sponsor. The Mobile Sunday combined inspiring input from keynote speakers, insights into the startups – and entrepreneurial life of the Swiss Venture Leaders, and a informal rooftop networking for the more than 200 guests.

Jordi Montserrat, summarizes: "Participating Startups had the opportunity to pitch investors in an exclusive setting during the sailing and pitching event at the Royal Yacht Club, followed by prominent exposure and networking at the Mobile Sunday which was relayed at European level by Tech.eu. Many start-ups also used the trip to organize meetings with business partners. Finally, despite the shortened program, the team effect played its magic and the entrepreneurs really connected together."

Although the outcome of such a trip can only be evaluated after a few months, there were already first tangible results during the two days. Beat Schillig, founder and president at Venturelab says: “One of the participating startups was outperforming the others by winning an investor and a customer in one single day. This is not only efficient, but also fun considering that he did this while participating in a sailing regatta under the Venturelab flag.”

(Stefan Kyora)

Another article about the trip can be found on the Venturelab website.