South Summit-Pacific Alliance brought the most innovative entrepreneurs of the region together with important international investors in a competition that crowned 4 winners.
The first edition of South Summit – Pacific Alliance took place in Bogota on December 1st.
Leaders in innovation and developing businesses belonging to the 4 countries that form the so-called “Pacific Alliance” gathered together at the event. 40 nominees from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru were selected out of the 600 initial participants and headed for the crown.
To win the competition, the startups had to prove their strength over fundamental points: their innovative aspect, their economic viability, their growth opportunities, their team and their capacity to attract investors.
With that in mind, 4 most outstanding startups were chosen out of the 40 nominees: The Chilean SmartFES, Mexican Quotanda and Colombian Leal and Pulpo WMS.
The 4 medalists were innovative and disruptive across the sectors of ‘New Money’, ‘Smart Mobility’, ‘Healthcare & Wellness’, ‘Content & Channels’, ‘Business Solutions’ y ‘E-services’.
The Chilean startup SmartFES was the most feted at the event, winning the overall competition as well as the category ‘Healthcare & Wellness’. Their application allows people who suffer from a foot drop (a muscular weakness or paralysis that makes it difficult to lift the front part of your foot and toes) to wield an electronic neurostimulator.
Courtesy of: J.M. Vargas
The price for ‘Most Disruptive Startup’ went to Quotanda, a Mexican startup that also won the ‘Fintech’ category. Quotanda’s innovative technology aims to make access to education more equal as it helps schools introduce flexible, affordable financing programs for the students without the need to hire additional resources.
The Colombian application Leal was voted ‘Best Team’. Their loyalty program allows businesses to digitally identify, retain and reward their best clients.
The category of ‘Most Scalable Product’, referring to its growth opportunities, was won by another Colombian startup, Pulpo WMS. Its warehouse-system helps to supermarkets to optimize their logistics as it manages the inventory of products and monitors their performances and costs.
The winners will receive a boost for their business as they are granted access to Area 31, the space for entrepreneurs of the renowned Spanish IE University. Furthermore, they will receive a lot of visuality and connections with the ecosystem, investors and innovative corporations.
The Spanish bigger brother of the Latin American version, South Summit, was founded in 2014. In a joint initiative with IE Business School, it wanted to prove to the world the talent, the innovation and the opportunities of Latin America and will be looking to build on other similar initiatives.
Another example of the growing innovation in South-America is Startup Buenos Aires, a community-led organization for startups and entrepreneurship around the world. It works with the community to curate events, educational series and professional connections in order to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Latin America while bridging the gap between startup communities around the world.
Over 3 years, South Summit has become a magnet for innovation worldwide, with more than 12,500 attendees from more than 100 nationalities.
