Know Hub Chile’s startup acceleration program, which in its fourth edition had the collaboration of Tec de Monterrey, held its final pitch day on October 2, where the winners were selected. They will go on to an international immersion stage to advance on their path to market.
A total of 147 teams from various Latin American countries applied to the fourth edition of Know Hub Ignition, the program run by Know Hub Chile in collaboration with the Technology Transfer Office of Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico, supported by ANID, and with the multinational Lockheed Martin as a partner company.
Of all those applicants, 41 startups were selected, 11 of which moved on to the eight-week training phase. Nine of them presented on October 2 at the final pitch, where the jury, made up of Patricia Tobar, Senior Manager Business Development at Lockheed Martin; Patricia Elías, Corporate Deputy Manager of Partnerships & Innovation at Entel; Javier Ramírez, executive director of Know Hub Chile; Esteban Zapata, head of Transfer and Entrepreneurship at ANID; and Celia Cano, Global Partnerships lead at the Technology Transfer Office of Tecnológico de Monterrey, chose three winners.
Soquimat, Alba and Life Nanotechnologies were the winning startups after delivering a pitch focused on what sets their venture apart, their business model, commercial strategy and investment needs for global growth. Over 8 weeks of work with national and international mentors, these teams made significant changes to their value proposition and customer segment, which were necessary to advance toward the market.
International immersion
The winning teams are developing a variety of technologies. Soquimat is a startup that created a Multifunctional Self-Healing Anticorrosive Paint (T-COAT), with bio-based additives from forestry waste that replace the additives traditionally used and banned in the US and EU, such as lead, copper and phosphates, among others. Alba, meanwhile, is a kinesthetic technology device designed by UMOV, specifically aimed at people with motor weakness in their upper limbs. And Life Nanotechnologies developed an oxygenation technology for enclosed spaces that improves the safety of any personnel during an emergency, for example in submarines.
The three winning teams will share USD 140,000 to carry out a work plan. They will also have an immersion phase in an ecosystem suited to their target market, business model and technology maturity level, which could be, for example, Mexico, Spain, France or the United States, among others.
Launched in 2019 as a Know Hub Chile initiative, this program aims to increase the number and the national and international reach of technology businesses based on research and development (R&D) results generated by universities and research centers alike. Javier Ramírez, executive director of Know Hub Chile, notes that “across its different editions, Know Hub Ignition has proven to be an effective tool for turning science into innovation.”
