IE’s Area 31, the start-up incubator

Three of the startups – Top Around, Pathfinder and 3dPrintMe – developed by entrepreneurs from IE Business School´s Venture Lab Accelerator and Area 31 Incubator are among the 12 winning projects of the ‘2020 for 2020 Startup Madrid’ competition.

The overriding objective of the Madrid 2020 initiative is to showcase the talent of 2,020 entrepreneurs to help them find the funding and guidance they need to launch their businesses in sectors like technology and environmental sustainability  which will play a key role in the future of the city.

“We are delighted to see these startups get the recognition they deserve, these teams have gone from an idea to a validated product in a short space of time demonstrating their excellent capability to execute.  Entrepreneurship at IE is all about doing and these teams are a great representation of the entrepreneurial talent in Spain”, explains Liz Fleming, Deputy Director Venture Lab.

Top Around is a mobile App that helps those eager for knowledge to discover and listen to audio guides and GPS guided tours. It’s a technological platform for tourists loving audio guides, with crowdsourced content which is reviewed & rated by the users themselves. “Madrid 2020 provides us with a top-level media coverage, and positions Top Around as one of the key startups with the greatest potential in the Spanish and international markets in the tourism sector”, explains Daura Carball, Top Around co-founder.

Pathfinder is a social pinboard created to help entrepreneurs reach valuable information, according to their location, needs and main challenges. It’s a virtual space where startups and entrepreneurs could have real perspectives on the resources available curated available to them, such as useful articles, recommended books, events happening nearby, etc. “We’re working to create a better environment for startups and entrepreneurs”, explains Rui Delgado, Pathfinder co-founder. “We’re extremely excited to be one of the 12 startups selected in the first generation of ‘2020 for 2020 Startup Madrid’. It’s not only a challenge for us, but also for Madrid to be able to help 2020 entrepreneurs before the year 2020. Since our startup’s mission is to motivate an entrepreneurial culture, it’s an honor to represent all the potential that Madrid has to offer to the startup world”.

3dPrintMe! is a collaborative platform that enables users to create customized products. The platform makes it possible to share creations with other users, modify, customize, and sell them, thanks to the new possibilities of 3D printing technology. “We are very interested in Madrid 2020 Olympic Bid for the shared values between entrepreneurs and olympic athletes: energy, sacrifice, passion, competition, perseverance, with the sole objective of reaching the goal as winner. We think we can learn a lot from this experience and we are delighted to represent the entrepreneurial talent that Spain has and should spread throughout the world”, explains Silvia Paredes.

About the author