This month we attended 4YFN (4 Years From Now) the startup event hosted in Barcelona, focused on connecting startups with investors and larger companies to launch new business ventures nationally and abroad.  We couldn’t miss the opportunity to showcase our acceleration program in one of the best worldwide meeting points!

We packed up and flew to Barcelona with several alumni startups. At 4YFN, Bind 4.0 Corner was ready for 3 intensive and impressive days with alumni startups, next generation startups, investors and partners.

Now, one week after this amazing experience, here are the takeaways of the Bind 4.0 team and Alumni Startups.

LIS Solution was one of our Alumni Startups exhibiting in Bind 4.0 corner and we spoke to Asier Barredo about his participation at the event: “It was an awesome opportunity to connect with high skilled roles, to present our Industry 4.0 Solutions and to discuss future trends with them”. LIS Solutions provides advanced analytics focused on supply chain and Industry 4.0. Last year Bind 4.0 Acceleration Program connected LIS Solutions with our local Partner in fine blanking and die production, Elay, to program an advanced automation tool, this year with Bind 4.0, they are making new connections and strengthening the business relationships they formed during our program.

4YFN started 6 years ago as a sidebar to one of the world’s top technology events and to the world’s largest mobile exhibition MWC, but now holds its own, as a hub for startups worldwide with technology that will be making a big difference “four years from now.”  Barredo continued: “to be placed in one of the most important Tech events in Europe is a great opportunity.” The mother event, MWC, is the world’s largest mobile exhibition and draws crowds of over 100,000 decision-makers and all the big players in new technology.  At Bind 4.0 we feel this is an important platform to share the successful alumni that we had a hand in accelerating as well as shining a light on several of this years participants who were able to attend.

This year, Bind 4.0 hosted booths for startups: Dative Partners, Globe Testing, Innovae, LIS Solutions, Solid Virtual, WirelessCity Networks SL, XcaLe3D and Zuratrust. Our telecommunications Partner Euskaltel contracted Dative Partners in 2017 for an exclusive data analytics project as part of Bind 4.0. We spoke with Dative Partners CEO Jonathan Amenedo about attending 4YFN this year “The support given by Bind 4.0 is exceptional and this event is no different. As part of the MWC, it is a global opportunity to meet investors, other startups, companies and potential customers.”   

Part of what makes this event so important is the opportunity to meet and collaborate with other startups as well as giants in their industry. This year, current participants from the Third Edition of the Bind 4.0 Acceleration program got to attend on their own merits and showcase their services, we are proud to be working this year with: IOMED, Naru Intelligence, OpenCloud Factory and Tyris.Ai.

Pablo Ayala of Innovae, one of our Bind 4.0 1st Edition alumnus who worked with Partner ABB to develop an augmented reality based maintenance assistance system, said the benefits of attending 4YFN are the “Big number of investors, even if we weren’t looking for them” plus the “great level of networking with entrepreneurs to look for synergies.” Providing opportunity for synergy and collaboration is a commitment Bind 4.0 makes to each of our startups, past and present.

4YNF is a pivotal technology event with attendees, vendors and decision makers from all over the world, one notable group Bind 4.0 alumni had the chance to meet with worldwide organizations’ representatives. Adriana Sáez from Bind 4.0 attended the event in Barcelona and shared this “The 4YFN startup event gave Bind 4.0 the opportunity to promote our proud alumni to not just the top industries in Spain but the enormous international market as well. Representatives from many notable companies spoke with each of our startup alumni and show high-interest for our acceleration program.”  Sáez continued “The networking and publicity at these types of important events is another benefit of our program for our startups, we organized the Bind 4.0 Corner with a stand for each alumni and we enjoyed representing a solid group of young companies.”

We asked David Antuñano from Solid Virtual, the augmented and virtual reality provider who worked with Partners Fagor Ederlan and Mercedes Benz in the second edition of Bind 4.0, about why he was attending 4YFN with Bind this year “To share experiences and synergy with other startups in our sector, looking for collaborations. Finding those startups and seeing how they solve the difficulties can be a great orientation for your own challenges.”

David Antuñano offered advice for future Bind 4.0 startups and our current participants as they seek to expand business and attend Industry 4.0 events: “Any startup that attends should take full advantage of the experience… attend talks & conferences, look for related companies, attend the happy hour… all are there to foster relationships between startups.”

Synergy, Exposure and Collaboration are key factors in growth and development and we know this was a great year of making connections at #4YFN19 for the Bind 4.0 Alumni. Thank you to all the visitors, we’ll see you next year at #4YFN20