Parlem Ventures, the accelerator of start-ups in the technology sector driven by Parlem Telecom and Inveready, has selected in a pitch day the three winning start-ups of the second annual call. A call that has highlighted the presence and recognition of female talent and entrepreneurship, since four of the 14 companies selected to move to the second phase were led by women and, finally, one has been among the three winners, Wipass. In addition, another of the recognized companies, Gretel, has been represented by one of its female managers in the presentation of the project at the pitch day, which took place last Friday, December 16.
The three selected companies, which have been selected among fourteen candidates, are in the seed stage and offer technological solutions in different sectors: a new tool for Phygital experiences (Wipass), a virtual recruiter (Opground) and the use of artificial intelligence as a marketing assistant (Gretel). The selection has been made by a Selection Committee with the participation of Parlem Ventures’ partners: Ventures: Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona, Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Fundació i2CAT i departament de la Vicepresidència i de Polítiques Digitals i Territori de la Generalitat.

Workshops and mentoring

The 14 candidates -selected from among the 40 initial projects that were submitted- have had 5 minutes to present their proposals and 5 more to answer the jury’s questions. The pitch day arrives after five sessions of workshops and mentoring in the hands of great professionals. Now, once the three winners have been selected, in the next few weeks, the possibility of investing in the projects will be evaluated. Specifically, each of the three start-ups would be eligible to receive up to €50k from Parlem and €50k from Capital Risc management company. In addition, it is also that the three future companies will establish commercial alliances with the Parlem Group.

By unanimous decision of the Parlem Ventures Selection Committee, the first place went to Wipass, a start-up that creates Phygital experiences by turning business into Smart Business. Wipass is a Wi-Fi marketing tool that unites the physical and digital worlds and creates a unique, immersive and connected experience. The jury highlighted the high compatibility of the company with Parlem, and the fact that it uses a very innovative technology with a high scalability of the project.

The start-up Opground is working, through a chatbot, to connect companies and professionals based on the same information that people use, the first interviews, but in less than five minutes. The jury valued that it is a successful combination of innovation and technology that solves a globalized problem in the field of Human Resources, that allows to find talent in a fast, efficient way and is focused on the tech sector.

Finally, the third selected start-up company is Gretel, which offers the first AI-based digital assistant for marketing teams that proactively provides alerts and provides proactive alerts and recommendations to make fast and impactful data-driven decisions. According to the Selection Committee, it offers a great differential in the technology used, which will help companies to automate processes and improve data processing in order to better execute marketing campaigns.

In the next few weeks the first of Parlem Venture’s two annual calls of 2023 for technological start-ups will take place, leading to the selection of three new start-ups from Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia. This initiative, which counts with the participation of the Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona, the Fundació i2CAT, the Mobile World Capital Barcelona and the Departament de la Vicepresidència i de Polítiques Digitals i Territori de la Generalitat de Catalunya, wants to continue to promote technological innovation and focuses above all on projects that offer solutions with a B2B (business-to-business) model.