Editor’s note: This article was first published in December 2012. The March and September 2013 calls for applications, Living the City’s “more than 6,000 members” in Barcelona and Madrid, and the status of every startup listed are from that time.
LinktoGrowUp was launched in 2012 as an offshoot of linktoStart, a programme run by the INLEA Foundation (Fundación INLEA) that aims to help turn business ideas into viable, profitable companies. Essentially, it is an acceleration programme for technology-based companies, set up so that the participating startups can grow, consolidate their teams and firm up their business models in order to raise funding.
The kind of company LinktoGrowUp is looking for is a startup that has already been incorporated, has its business plan and is at the stage of launching on the market. The first edition has now closed, but there will be two more calls for applications, in March and September 2013, and once again a group of investors linked to the accelerator will be on hand to invest in the participating projects.
The 7 startups chosen for the first edition are:
1. PayRandom
A tech startup that aims to rethink pricing policy in e-commerce and boost online sales. PayRandom is an innovative pricing system that brings chance into the buying process, giving consumers a fun and exciting shopping experience.
2. Hydra360
Hydra360 has developed #market_emotions, an innovative social analytics tool that brings together the key information found on social networks and the internet so that marketing and communication decisions can be made more accurately. Its main differentiating factor is the analysis of the emotions associated with brands, which provides more detailed and reliable information than sentiment analysis. Other differentiating factors are its analysis of recommendations and intentions, and metrics designed around each client’s objectives. The business model is based on selling licences on a SaaS basis.
3. Living The City
A social e-commerce platform about the places and hidden corners you shouldn’t miss in your city. It is aimed at women: very urban, independent women who like to enjoy the city they live in and the cities they visit. It sets out to be a seal of quality for everything new and secret in the city.
Joining the Living the City Club is completely free. Members are offered leisure ideas and plans for discovering the city, along with offline activities so they can meet and share experiences, including networking lunches with prominent guests such as Carme Ruscalleda, Mònica Terribas, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Rosa Oriol and Carme Chacón, as well as themed after-work events.
Advertising is another of its business lines. For brands, it offers a new communication platform, away from traditional offline media such as magazines, for reaching their target audience. Living the City offers branded content and brand experiences. It currently has more than 6,000 members and operates in Barcelona and Madrid.
4. Mynbest Crowdfunding
A crowdfunding website that offers a solution to people who struggle to find funding for their projects, whatever kind of project they are. Through a system of rewards in exchange for each contribution, projects receive lots of investments of different sizes which, added together, make up a large sum that makes the project possible.
5. Offemily
A full-price e-commerce business selling children’s fashion and accessories. Offemily lets customers discover new trendy children’s fashion brands without queuing or travelling to find them, personalise products, get discounts for large families, and earn discounts by putting together the best combinations of brands.
6. PlaytoRun
A platform that brings together a passion for cycling, game mechanics (gamification) and social networks. The aim is to create a meeting point on the internet with maximum engagement, where users can keep track of their bike rides, earn prizes and direct discounts by collecting points, and share information about multi-day routes.
7. Roomtab
A tablet device placed in the guest’s room that brings together all the services and content the hotel offers, so guests can find information and request any service, from the hotel or the city, quickly, attractively and in their own language. Fierce competition in the hotel industry calls for new ways of attracting and keeping customers. Roomtab™ has officially launched this innovative system for managing services and content in the hotel and tourism sector, which acts as a channel of interaction between the guest, the hotel and the city.
Featured image: Yusuke Kawasaki, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
