Over 100 technology professionals gathered at the Digital Catapult in London last week to help launch the first ever Brazil Tech Award.
The Brazil Tech Award 2019 aims to reward new solutions and leading technology companies with a £70,000 valued prize in business services that will allow for development and the scale-up in business.
The launch event took place, fittingly, at the heart of London’s digital technology hub in King’s Cross – Saint Pancras where attendees had the chance to listen to scale-up companies from Europe and Brazil including the likes of TransferWise, InfraSpeak, Avatr, Gympass, Tempest and SalaryFits.
On 21st February, technology entrepreneurs shared lessons about the challenges of expanding abroad to mark the launch of the Brazil Tech Award 2019 with entries now open.
Entries close on Friday, 30th August where a panel of ten Brazilian experts will whittle the shortlist down to a final five. The winner will then be named in late November during the Sao Paulo Tech Week after all shortlisted companies have had the chance to press their claim with a final pitch presentation.
The prize will see one lucky company in the Smart Cities, health, Fintech, Agritech, manufacturing and creative tech industries who are looking to up-scale their business handed £70,000 in services to help them expand further in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The £70,000 prize includes services such as business development and accounting by Deloitte, legal and digital marketing by Eydos Digital, coaching by Sapovalova, public relations by GrupoCASA UK , soft landing by Sterna and New Option and a one-year workplace for two staff by WeWork.
Attendees at the launch event enjoyed breakfast upon arrival before a network forum and lunch took place later in the day.
Roberto Doring from the Embassy of Brazil in London opened the event with an engaging speech where he touched upon Goldman Sachs statement in 2017 where they estimated that Brazil’s Financial Technology companies could generate over 24 billion dollars over the next 10 years and that the sector is growing very rapidly.
The Brazil Tech Award 2019 aims to reward new solutions and leading technology companies with a £70,000 valued prize in business services that will allow for development and the scale-up in business
Geraldina Iraheta, Director of Business Development at Digital Catapult, said: “I think the Brazilian Tech Award initiative is a great way to motivate businesses from the United Kingdom, especially the scale-ups, who are looking to expand to other markets to attract them and showcase themselves in Brazil.
“It’s a great way to grow their businesses as they can tap into a market which has over 200 million people in its population.”
Diana Avila, TransferWise’s Global Head of Banking, added: “I believe this award is really important, the idea of promoting Brazil as a country to the business scene is very interesting and the award offers expert support to start-ups that might be interested in branching out to Brazil is superb.”
The Award’s organisers Sandra Sinicco and Gustavo Sánchez Reulet, founders of LATAM Tech UK, said “We are proud to announce the launch of the Brazil Tech Awards, we are now expecting scale-up’s above one million dollars of income and wishing to compete and grow their business in Brazil to register”.
“It’s a great way to grow their businesses as they can tap into a market which has over 200 million people in its population.” – Geraldina Iraheta, Director of Business Development at Digital Catapult
The award offers companies the opportunity to scale up their business in the Brazilian market and to enable them to achieve extraordinary gains, which would otherwise take a long time and at a significant cost in other countries.
Closing remarks came from Mr John Thompson, Head of Aerospace, Technology and Smart Cities, UK Department for International Trade (DIT) where he stated “We stand on the threshold of a new technology dawn and an exciting age potentially more exciting than anything in our past” and about the Brazil Tech Award he added “The Brazil Tech Awards initiative is a great opportunity for new businesses to learn more about the technology, AI and data opportunities in Brazil and how they can internationalise their business through partnerships and collaborations with universities, with government and businesses in Sao Paulo”.
