Tickets to California: three circular economy startups win the third edition of Know Hub Ignition

TICKETS TO CALIFORNIA: THREE CIRCULAR ECONOMY STARTUPS WIN THE THIRD EDITION OF KNOW HUB IGNITION

Dropit, Beloop and BioProc will travel to the United States in November to validate their business models and pitch to an international investment fund linked to the University of California, Riverside.

Dropit, Beloop and BioProc are the three winning startups of the Know Hub Ignition program, an initiative in which a total of 10 startups took part to validate their customer segment and value proposition, guided by national mentors from Know Hub Chile and international mentors from the University of California, Riverside -in the United States-, the organizers of this program.

With support from Chile’s National Research and Development Agency (ANID) and sponsorship from Corfo, more than 100 startups from various Latin American countries applied. The first cut left 28 teams, who pitched to an evaluation panel, which selected 10 startups to move on to the training phase.

After their presentations, which focused on their differentiation, business model, commercial strategy and investment needs for global growth, the three winning teams of the third edition will gain access to international training in the California Riverside ecosystem.

Óscar Astudillo, innovation coordinator at Know Hub Chile, says that “we hope to continue supporting them with a work plan that will allow them to reach the market in the short to medium term”.

All three winners work in the circular economy

The three selected teams have something in common: they all develop projects focused on the circular economy. First, BioProc is a Chilean biotech founded in 2021 by Gabriela Villouta that contributes to gas and odor decontamination processes using a biological filtration unit with an automatic electrochemical biofilter system.

Dropit, created in 2021 by Nicolás Retamal and Marcelo Torres, focuses on developing sustainable cleaning products in tablets and ultra-compact formats that dissolve in water. Its goal is to minimize single-use plastics, shipping logistics, space and the environmental impact of transportation. Finally, there is Beloop, also Chilean, a circular analysis software tool founded in 2020 by Gabriel Sanllehi and Darlyn Riquelme to drive the reduction of environmental impact by designing new packaging and container systems.

“The process that is now opening up is a tremendous challenge, in which we will get to know the California market in greater depth and identify potential to add value to the region,” says Sanllehi. Retamal adds that being part of this program “opens the doors to a new era of innovation and development. We are very excited about what the future holds, full of confidence and dreams.”

Product validation

With the support of the CircularTec Technology Center, the three startups will travel in November to the city of Riverside in the United States. The goal is to validate their business model through the I-Corps methodology, as well as to receive support from the university’s experts. Each team will have a work agenda and contact networks to conduct interviews with relevant experts and potential partners.

They also explain that “this phase culminates in a final pitch by the teams to an international investment fund linked to the University of California, Riverside, which provides capital to early-stage ventures”.

Beloop says this opportunity “represents a fundamental goal: enabling industries in Latin America, but above all in the United States, to transform their operations toward more circular and regenerative methods with our tool”.