Ecocitor and Calpech win the ‘Energy’ Special Prize from Extremadura New Energies and the ‘Growth’ Prize from C-LAB

Startups Ecocitor and Calpech have been named winners of the ‘Energy’ Special Prize awarded by Extremadura New Energies and valued at €10,000, and the Growth Prize of the Acceleration Program of the High-Performance Center for Startups (C-LAB) of the Cámara de Comercio de Cáceres, which amounts to €5,000.

These prizes were awarded after a pitch contest in which the seven startups hosted in the C-LAB Accelerator participated, and under the watchful eye of more than 125 national entrepreneurs and investors who gathered at the Investment and Startups Day organized by the Cámara de Comercio de Cáceres.

This forum, with investment in emerging companies as its focus, was an important meeting point where innovative startups, investor and financial entities, institutions and companies connected to boost the provincial and regional entrepreneurial ecosystem.

As highlighted at the opening by the president of the Cámara de Comercio de Cáceres, Gabriel Álvarez, “in Extremadura we have a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem, which we continue to improve thanks to the joint work of all the actors that make it up, on the basis of public-private collaboration. An ecosystem key for the productive fabric of Extremadura to be placed on the map of the excellence it deserves.”

In this context, the Secretary General for Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity of the Junta de Extremadura, Juan Carlos Preciado, emphasized the value of digitalization and, specifically, digital talent, as a guarantor of the future. “It is digital talent that drives the successful implementation of technologies, that fosters innovation, the improvement of business competitiveness, and allows full exploitation of digital opportunities, which in turn generates economic growth and improves the quality of life of those of us who live in the region,” he underlined.

The opening of this event also included speeches by the First Vice President for Territory, Equality and Culture of the Diputación de Cáceres, Esther Gutiérrez, and the Mayor of Cáceres, Rafael Mateos, who agreed on the importance of retaining talent in the province of Cáceres and praised the work carried out by the Cámara de Comercio de Cáceres through initiatives such as C-LAB and the Cáceres Impulsa program.

INVESTMENT, STARTUPS AND GROWTH

Within the framework of this day, two roundtables analyzed the most foolproof strategies and keys to achieving success in the current entrepreneurial market, as well as the business opportunities offered to Extremadura by the ‘energy’, ’emerging tech’ and ‘agrofood’ sectors.

For this, the Cámara de Comercio de Cáceres, through its High-Performance Center for Startups, counted on highly successful investors and business angels in the investment field, such as Nacho Alonso, president of Pinama Capital 23 and board member of the Spanish association of business angels (AEBAN); Marta Huidobro, business angel and president of AEBAN; Tom Horsey, investor and cofounder of StartupLabs & Eoniq Fund; Carmen Carpintero, mentor, investor and advisor of the Andalusian association of the business angels network; and Juan Carlos Bugallo, CEO of Startup.st. The direction of this event was led by Josu Gómez Barrutia, president of the international startups association and event host, and María González Mañes, Business Angel at PI Ventures and moderator of the roundtables.

PITCH CONTEST AND AWARD CEREMONY

The crowning moment of this day was delivered by the seven startups hosted in the first edition of C-LAB’s ‘Growth’ Accelerator, which presented their projects in record time to companies and potential investors.

MiLuz, an intelligent energy monitoring platform; Calpech, a startup dedicated to the creation of iron nanoparticles from alpechín; Ergofito, a company founded to commercialize and manufacture in Europe a biological technology based on microorganisms that can be applied in agriculture and livestock; Evorgy, a digital platform for energy projects; Ecocitor, manufacturing supercapacitors from tobacco butt waste; Horux Medical, Virtual Reality medical education; and Oscillum, a startup dedicated to smart labeling and intelligent conversation of food, competed in a pitch contest to win the ‘Energy’ Special Prize from Extremadura New Energies (ENE) – a sponsoring company of C-LAB – which amounts to €10,000, and the C-LAB ‘Growth’ Prize of €5,000.

After a difficult jury deliberation, on this occasion the ‘Energy’ Special Prize, awarded by ENE and presented by its CEO, Ramón Jiménez, went to Ecocitor, while the C-LAB ‘Growth’ Prize went to Calpech.

It is noteworthy that this event was attended by the Director of Employment, Training and Entrepreneurship and the person responsible for startups at the Cámara de España, María Tosca and Alberto Hervás, respectively, the Director General of Enterprise of the Junta de Extremadura, Celina Pérez, as well as representatives from Cajalmendralejo, a sponsoring entity of C-LAB, and leading companies from Extremadura, among others.

Note that C-LAB, in addition to the support of its sponsors, has the backing of the following corporate partner companies and entities: Iberdrola, Centro de Cirugía de Mínima Invasión ‘Jesús Usón’, Cooprado, Fundecyt, and CTAEX.