4YFN closes its 4th anniversary edition with a record of attendees

ST Bureau

Barcelona

4 Years From
Now (4YFN), the startup business platform of Mobile World Capital Barcelona,
has closed its 4th and most international edition with 19,123 attendees, over
60% more than in the previous year. A staggering 47% ventured over from GSMA
Mobile World Congress, with over 70% of attendance being from abroad. Female
participation has increased substantially as the rate has increased by 7%,
reaching a record 37% in total.

The 4th edition of 4YFN announced on
Monday that the event will be organised for the first time in America. Aleix
Valls, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, has emphasised “the positive
reaction of the global entrepreneurial community, which has already expressed
its interest in the new 4YFN San Francisco edition”. In addition, Valls has
also remarked “the growth of the event in Barcelona, as well as the multitude
of activities that 4YFN encompasses over the year, thanks to its presence in
Shanghai, Tel Aviv and now in San Francisco”.

The closing of 4YFN Barcelona,
organised by Mobile World Capital Barcelona, in collaboration with GSMA Mobile
World Congress, has featured more than 600 startups, large corporations and
accelerators within its innovation market. Of note is the presence of national
and international delegations from France (La French Tech), United Kingdom
(Trade Fair UK Pavilion), Israel (Intel Corporation), USA (City of Belvenue),
Argentina (Fundación Exportar), Colombia (ProColombia), Sri Lanka (ICT Agency
of Sri Lanka), Pakistan (Vimpelcom), Kuwait Brilliant Lab), Taiwan (Industrial
Technology Research Institute) and South Korea. Barcelona Activa, the Catalan
and the Spanish pavilions have also counted within its own space, more than 80
startups.

The event has gathered over 700
hundred international investors that have participated in the Founders &
Investors pitching sessions; who have had the opportunity to witness over 200
startups pitching their businesses in the hope of gaining future investment.

The networking activities for startups
have also hosted the Pitch the Press sessions,
a “speed dating” activity between entrepreneurs and media. With 4 sessions throughout the event, 2,400
pitches have taken place and have been attended by journalists from CBS
Interactive, Business Insider, Tech.eu, The Next Web, Tech Crunch among others.

4YFN
Awards 2017

The 2017 edition of the 4YFN Awards
has awarded WeFarm (London), hu:toma (London) and TheMotion (Madrid) in the
Disrupted by Mobile, Internet of Things and Digital Media categories,
respectively. The winner of the Disrupted By Mobile Award created an
application for farmers in remote areas that provides information to improve
the management of their fields, while winner of the IoT track presented a
marketplace platform that creates, motivates and encourages learning through
chatbots. TheMotion, winner of the Digital Media Award, provides a platform
allowing companies with digital assets to create multiple video adds for the
products in their catalogue in a quick and easy way.

A
360 programme

Terry von Bibra, Global Manager EMEA
of Alibaba, Michael Spiegelman, Director of Product Innovation for Growth &
Acquisition of Netflix, Fernando Fanton, CTO of Just Eat, and Sir Martin
Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, have been the main keynote speakers of 4YFN. In
addition, the event has featured presentations from Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice
President EMEA of Facebook, Josh Quittner, Editorial Director of Flipboard,
Jonas Gumny, CSO of MyTaxi and Harper Reed, PayPal’s Next Gen Commerce.

4YFN has also included demo days by
NUMA Barcelona and StartupBootcamp IoT&Data, both initiatives supported by
mVenturesBcn, the Mobile World Capital programme to promote the creation and
growth of digital startups and enhance the ecosystem. Hack_D_Gap Global
Challenge, part of the Women4Tech programme at 4YFN, has gathered startups from
16 countries driving forward gender diversity in the digital sector.

Tags: Events