Amorim Cork Ventures presents ‘Cork Challenge Barcelona’

Like other similar initiatives in Portugal, this first international project, named ‘Cork Challenge Barcelona’, is built around an 8 week acceleration program. Applications will open in July 11^th, and last until August 31st. The selection phase will then take place, until September 28^th, with the 2 months acceleration stage taking place from October to December 2016.

According to Nuno Barroca, Vice-President of Corticeira Amorim, "this international expansion stage of Amorim Cork Ventures reflects the evolution and consolidation of the company, whose track record shows very positive indicators, like the more than 200 applications we received already". “We are an international company, so this development is fully antecipated, and perfectly in line with our business profile", Nuno adds.

The ‘Cork Challenge Barcelona’ will select a maximum of 14 startups. The chosen teams will have 8 weeks of individual coaching and pitch practice sessions. They will also be exposed to numerous workshops & mentoring sessions, that are key to the development of the business model and product ‘market-fit’.

The program also includes access to Amorim Cork Ventures consultants, that, together with the Beta-i network, means access to a platform of more than 200 mentoring and over 500 startups, as well as top events.

In line with the motto behind the creation of Amorim Cork Ventures - the first incubator and venture capital dedicated exclusively to the cork business - this is another important milestone for the long-term sustainability of the cork industry. By building bridges between the world of startups and the world leader in cork products, this project is a huge contributor to the economic success and innovation potential of the industry, going further than any program so far, and using recognized and tested processes and startup acceleration methodologies. 

"The main criterion is the quality of the startups that will be under pressure to adapt to industry standards and requirements, while also pushing the structure of Amorim Cork Ventures and to respond in time, testing its responsiveness and flexibility", says Pedro Rocha Vieira, CEO and co-founder at Beta-i.

Objectives & impact

Amorim Cork Ventures was founded to foster the creation of new cork products and businesses, mainly oriented at external markets. Although recent, this incubator already supported around 20 projects (four of which resulted in startups), which are at different stages of development, and exploring different areas of activity. 

Amorim Cork Ventures mission involves stimulating entrepreneurs to design products or innovative application ideas for cork and also includes support the existing small businesses, with new products and concepts in cork, that need a partner to gain size and access to foreign markets. 

Beta-i is one of the most active and prestigious accelerators in Europe and has in recent years been focusing on a logic that crosses startups and large companies. Large companies, such as Corticeira Amorim, run already established and profitable businesses, with great market knowledge and using processes that are aimed at ensuring stability. 

In the other side, it’s common for a startup in early stage to have all sorts of doubts about even what the final product will be. That’s why this model is not easy to implement, since the startups goal is precisely to introduce innovative and disruptive approaches quickly, with few processes and control precisely the opposite of the aforementioned stability. 

The added value of such programs lies precisely in the fact that real innovation happens in this common space, between successful companies and ambitious startups, but still lacking size and scale.

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 About Amorim Cork Ventures:

Amorim Cork Ventures has been established with the purpose of supporting entrepreneurs launch their projects exploring innovative ideas and uses for cork. The mission of the newest company in Corticeira Amorim group is to promote the design and development of new cork products and cork-related businesses, mainly targeted to foreign markets.

The Amorim Group is one of the largest, most entrepreneurial and dynamic multinationals of Portuguese origin. Its origins were in the cork business, back in 1870 and today it is the world leader in the sector.

More info: http://www.amorimcorkventures.com

 About Beta-i:

Based in Lisbon, Beta-i is a non-profit association created in 2010, with the mission to improve entrepreneurship through 3 main acting principles: create and boost a network of entrepreneurship, accelerate startups with global ambition and facilitate their access to investment, create space, services and products focused on startups.

Beta-i was considered the biggest startup & entrepreneurship promoter in Europe, by the European Enterprise Promotion Awards in June 2014. Our events are the largest startup gatherings in Portugal and include Explorers Festival, Seedcamp Lisbon, Silicon Valley Comes to Lisbon, Sandbox Lisbon, Startup Weekend and the first TEDx in Portugal. We are mostly known for being the organisation behind Lisbon Challenge, one of the most international accelerators in Europe.

Overall, Beta-i has received 2,700+ applications over 3,5 years, and accelerated over 430 startups, of which 130 are active.

More info:  http://beta-i.pt/