The event, organized by Emprende Tu Mente, brought together the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem of the country and the region.
Once again, the Chilean Venture Capital Association (ACVC) was part of the "Etmday Santiago 2022". This second version of the international meeting brought together more than 20 thousand entrepreneurs, managers, investors and different actors of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem at the Bicentennial Park.
During the two days of the event, ACVC members participated in various activities, including lectures, panels and mentoring.
One of the outstanding panels was "Corporate Venture Capital: strategy and challenges of corporate venture investment", moderated by Stefanie Sherman, vice-president of ACVC and manager of Digevo. Rodrigo Arias, Head Corporate Venture of Agrosuper, Hernán Acuña, Manager of Enel Chile Innovation Hub, Camila Mohr Schenke, general manager of INNSPIRAL, and Maria de los Angeles Romo, director Corporate Venture of SQM, discussed how corporate investment funds have been increasing and how this, in turn, is generating greater opportunities for entrepreneurs who can contribute to improving processes within the business.
"Today, there are greater opportunities for startups as long as they can identify where they bring real value to the corporate," said Stefanie Sherman. Rodrigo Arias agreed with the analysis. "Large companies have already realized that they cannot innovate alone, so collaboration between the entrepreneur and the corporate becomes crucial to add value and differentiation," he explained.
On the other hand, Gerardo Zañartu, Innovation and New Business Manager of AbcDin, was present at the panel "Corporate Venture Capital: Organizations to conquer innovation". In the opportunity he assured that it is necessary to have a sophisticated ecosystem to develop new ventures that generate added value. "Part of that ecosystem are the CVCs, which not only seek to generate internal innovation, but also to pilot and invest in startups, thus opening up to the best talent available," he explained.
During the same panel, Guillermo Ferraro, Chief Development Officer of BiceCorp, detailed the innovation developments they are promoting as an organization and the value proposition they offer to entrepreneurs.
Hernán Acuña, Manager of Enel Chile Innovation Hub, shared with the audience with his talk "How much do you know about our Open Innovability® model? In it he recounted the work that Enel has done to enhance innovation through work with startups and the philosophy they have used to do so. "Sustainability requires continuous innovation. And innovation, in order to work, must be sustainable. If a solution combines these two concepts, it will be able to change the world," he said.
Also noteworthy were the participation of Sofía Grez, head of finance, operations and compliance at Kayyak Ventures, and Sebastián Burgos, Corporate Venture Manager at ChileGlobal Ventures, who participated in the panel "Investment for growth: How to promote the development of high-impact startups".
"Darwin, an AI-based mentor for startups" was the talk given by Roberto Musso, president of Digevo; "Venture Client: Agrosuper's ally for working with startups" was the topic discussed by Rodrigo Arias; and Cristian Tala, General Partner Hero Capital, spoke about "Hits and misses that you will want (or not) to make". Claudio Riquelme Z., leader of innovation in balanced nutrition, was part of the panel "Foodtech: Food of the future".
In the Impacta VC section, the following participated in different networking activities: Marcelo Díaz, Managing Partner of WeBoost; Javier Cueto, Managing Partner & GP of Imagine; and Luis Bermejo and Juan Manuel Giner, both Managing Partners Alaya Capital.
In addition, Dadneo, Imagine, Chrysalis, Centro de Innovación UC, IncubatecUFRO, Digevo Ventures, Incuba UDeC, Brota and Hero Capital welcomed entrepreneurs in the stand area.
