Press Releases

• Vodafone Power Lab will be present with six of the start-ups it supports, which will have the opportunity to sell their ideas to investors from around the world
• Competitions for start-ups during the event offer prizes of up to 250,000 euros

 Vodafone Power Lab will be present at one of Europe’s biggest events for start-ups, the Arch Summit. The event is sponsored by Tomorrow Street, a project resulting from the Vodafone Group’s partnership with the Luxembourg Government, and will take place tomorrow and Friday in Luxembourg. In addition to its presence with a stand at the event, Vodafone Power Lab is giving six of the 16 start-ups that it supports the opportunity attend the event and have the opportunity to sell their ideas to international investors and participate in various competitions during the event.

The Arch Summit is an event which combines start-ups from around the world, Vodafone Group suppliers, a huge list of keynote speakers, panels taking place on four different stages, technological demonstrations and moments of entertainment. The start-ups present will be able to select one of three competitions held during the event – Disruptive Start-ups, Female Empowerment and Social Impact – and to present their idea to the audience in a three-minute pitch to qualify for prizes of up to 250,000 euros, in addition to the opportunity to meet other start-ups, entrepreneurs and investors.

The main objective is to facilitate interaction and create synergies between the entrepreneurship ecosystem and the international business sector, providing opportunities for their internationalisation and the expansion of their businesses. By bringing these two worlds together and fostering ever closer relationships between them, Tomorrow Street aims to make this event the epicentre of new technological opportunities for 2018.

Francisco Viana, the head of Vodafone Power Lab, will give a presentation on how Vodafone Portugal works and supports the technological entrepreneurship ecosystem and its importance in the company’s strategy. Part of the success of this strategy is an awareness that start-ups and new technologies are not a threat, rather a strategic opportunity. With supervision by experienced mentors and professionals, the most innovative and disruptive ideas can be put into practice in a real environment in Vodafone, aligning even more young entrepreneurs with the market and the business reality of a multinational.

The six Portuguese start-ups which will be present at the Arch Summit are:

• CardioID: is developing a biometric technology based on the electrocardiogram which applies access control and user monitoring processes in advanced of vehicle driving systems (cardio-id.com);
• GOiN: a multi-platform event aggregator with a ticketing system based on Blockchain. Event organisers have tools for creating, managing, promoting and optimising events in a single app (goin.events);
• Rnters: online rental market where users can rent any item for a fraction of the purchase price and also monetise less used items (rnters.pt);
• HotelVoy: global platform aggregating demand for hotels, flights, car rental and activities focused on the customer’s experience (hotelvoy.com);
• Swonkie: social network management platform focused on content creation and sharing, extraction of performance reports and monitoring of competition on social networks (swonkie.com);
• Rotacional: is developing an intelligent eyepiece screen that connects directly to smartphones, tablets or computers to provide augmented reality experiences, for example, as well as other applications (http://rotacional.com).

The Arch Summit will take place tomorrow and Friday at LuxExpo in Luxembourg. For more information about the event visit www.archsummit.lu.

About Vodafone Power Lab

Vodafone Power Lab is a programme designed to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship initiated by Vodafone in 2009. Its aim is to encourage the creation of technology projects in the telecommunications sector through support for incubation, mentoring, workshops and training, creating the essential conditions to enable new companies to develop and succeed in the market. Further information available at powerlab.vodafone.pt.

About Tomorrow Street

Located in the centre of Luxembourg, Tomorrow Street is a joint venture between Technoport, the Luxembourg Government’s incubator, and Vodafone. Tomorrow Street offers unique opportunities for mature start-ups to access investors through its global network of partners, thereby facilitating rapid growth of businesses and customer acquisition. Further information available at www.tomorrowstreet.co.