Telefonica’s UK tech accelerator Wayra selects 17 of the best new digital start-ups
Today 17 start ups from education kickstarters to cloud based ticketing platforms, and dating apps to restaurant delivery services have been selected to join O2 parent company Telefonica’s global tech start-up accelerator programme, Wayra. The London academy opened its doors in April 2012 and has a dedicated focus on nurturing the best ideas and talent in the field of ICT.
From 3,444 applications across 32 countries, 30 finalists battled it out at O2’s headquarters in Slough to win a place at the prestigious London academy. The 30 start-ups were subjected to a three day intensive pitch process, dubbed wayraWeek, where they were assessed and judged by a panel of eight experts, including names from Hailo, to Seedrs, to Silicon Valley Bank.
Each winning start-up will receive up to €40,000 in funding which may eventually convert into a minority shareholding in their business, typically between five and ten percent. In addition, they will be given access to a rent-free customised work space at the UK academy in central London and “money can’t buy” mentoring from industry leading executives, legal and financial advisors and angel investors.
WayraWeek 2013 coincided with the appointment of new Academy Director, Charmaine Eggberry. Charmaine brings a wealth of experience and displays a strong tech and entrepreneurial streak having started her first company while at school. Several companies later she joined RIM when it was first trying to get established in the UK and went on to help it become a multi-billion dollar business across 44 countries. After a stint advising a number of global hedge funds and management consultancies Charmaine then moved to Nokia to become Global SVP Marketing and additionally is a board member and trustee of the Marketing Academy.
She said: “wayraWeek 2013 has been another massive success for Wayra. We’ve invested in 17 start-ups and we’re proud that more than a third of our winning founders are women. This second annual wayraWeek reinforces Telefonica’s commitment to investing in the UK’s digital talent to drive a more entrepreneurial Europe. ”
“I’m truly excited to take up this new opportunity as Director of Wayra UK to continue to build on the phenomenal success of the programme to date. Wayra is an incredibly special and unique accelerator with a clear focus on supporting world class talent as well as their world class ideas. That’s an exciting journey to be a part of.”
Charmaine replaces Ashley Stockwell, who took the reins as Guest Director at the UK Academy in 2012. Ashley helped mentor and develop the original 19 start-ups, many of which have seen notable successes during their time at the Academy. TaskHub, an online community hub and social marketplace, has received a six figure investment from Telefónica and nine other start-ups have been invested in by third parties. This includes PixelPin who are soon to complete a funding round of £150,000 on the crowd funding platform Seedrs. Many of the other businesses are actively seeking funding from third-parties.
Commenting on the success of the UK Academy Ashley said: “It’s been a pleasure to be part of the UK Wayra programme and see our 19 start-ups grow and develop their businesses. It’s been an incredible journey for everyone here at the Wayra Academy and I look forward to watching how the new intake of start-ups bring their ideas to life.”
Full list of winners:
- TicketingHub is a technology focused B2B cloud ticketing platform, which specialises in the management of sales and inventory of tickets.
- TankTop TV:Life's too short for boring TV. TankTop TV builds the easiest way to find great content to watch, from all the on-demand sources.
- Songdrop is web application for people to store, play and share the music they stream online.
- Narrato:All your adventures, organized and backed up. Perfect for revisiting or selectively sharing.
- GoCarShare:A marketplace for empty car seats with a trusted community using Facebook.
- Eventstagram shows beautiful, live, customisable Instagram slideshows for events such as weddings, conferences, festivals and corporate events
- Peekster is a mobile application and basically a bridge between analog printed media and internet.
- Sponsor Craft is aKickstarter for education. We help students crowdfund their projects, ideas, and events by connecting them to alumni, friends, and family.
- Dattch is the first dating app built exclusively for lesbian, bi & curious women. See who’s nearby & wants to meet to get yourself a date.
- Removalstars.com is aPrice comparison and online booking space for removals.
- JollyDeck is an effective system for #gamification of learning and knowledge examination in enterprises.
- iHELP is a mobile application and platform with the mission to increase safety and provide effective help in any type of emergency
- Ensygnia is apatented process to scan images to trigger actions such as payments or registrations Enygnia’s OneScan app makes it easy to login or make payments with just OneScan.
- Munch delivers good restaurant food from Wagamama, Pizza Express, Nando's, GBK, Gaucho etc right to your front door!
- SaaSAssurance helps organisations gain ISO certification at a lower cost.
- EI Technologies strive to be the leader in solutions that are able to assess, identify, predict and respond to the emotions of consumers
- Gordon Games delivers Enterprise Gamification for knowledge workers and call centres
The panel judges included:
- Feilim Mackle, Telefonica UK, Chief Judge
- Jason Goodman, Albion
- Jeff Lyn, Seedrs
- George Berkowski, Hailo
- Bindi Karia, Silicon Valley Bank
- Inmaculada Martinez, UK Trade & Investment
- Alex Van Someren, Amadeus
About Wayra
Wayra aims to promote innovation and identify new talent in Latin America and Europe in the field of ICT. Its global acceleration model supports the development of entrepreneurs, providing them with the technological tools, qualified mentors, a cutting-edge work space and the funding necessary to accelerate their growth.
Present in 12 countries (Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, Mexico, Peru, the United Kingdom and Venezuela), Wayra has received over 17,000 proposals for new digital businesses, making it the largest technological talent spotting platform in the ICT world. Its academies in Barcelona, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Dublin, Lima, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Munich, Prague, Santiago and Sao Paulo are currently home to over 180 start-ups.
Wayra forms part of the wider Think Big programme across Telefónica. In January, Telefonica announced plans to develop entrepreneurship in Europe by 2015. Among its 2015 targets, Telefónica pledged to build a Telefónica Think Big community of more than 300,000 young people working to build a more entrepreneurial Europe; enrol 50,000 students in Think Big School, teaching digital literacy such as coding and robotics; and transition 5,000 young people and graduates from education into the workplace via its Talentum programme.
Wayra UK continues to grow with the recent announcement of Wayra Unltd a government backed social enterprise incubator bring together Wayra UK and social enterprise network. Similarly Wayra announced that it would be partnering with Enternships to give 130 young people paid internships in its Wayra Academies.
-Ends
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About O2
O2 is the commercial brand of Telefónica UK Limited and is a leading communications company with over 23 million customers – read more about O2 at www.o2.co.uk/news. O2 runs 2G and 3G networks and was the first to trial 4G, reaching speeds of over 100Mpbs, as well as operating O2 Wifi and owning half of Tesco Mobile. O2 employs over 11,000 people in the UK, has 450 retail stores and sponsors The O2, O2 Academy venues and the England rugby team.
Telefónica UK Limited is part of Telefónica Europe plc (a business division of Telefónica SA) which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic.