New opportunities for local startups together with ENISA
In collaboration with the National Innovation Company (ENISA), Fomento San Sebastián organized (on june 27th) an information day at Talent House to explain some of the key existing financial and administrative tools to foster entrepreneurship at a national level. ENISA is a national public entity whose objective is mostly to promote the development of innovative businesses projects in Spain, through different services (financial funding included). ENISA offers various financial support lines to support start-ups and innovative companies at different stages of their development in the context of the new Startup Law. During the session, the entrepreneurial fabric of the city had the opportunity to discover those different financial lines and services offered by the institution.
The session began with a welcome introduced by the Head of the Innovation and Competitiveness Area of Fomento San Sebastián, Ainhoa Aldasoro, who highlighted the organization's commitment to innovative entrepreneurship and the aim of fostering the growth of the projects. Carolina Rodríguez, responsible for Institutional Relations at ENISA, followed presenting in detail the characteristics of the institution´s participating loans and its requirements, as well as the application process. As one of the main actors involved in the generation of the new Startup Law, she also showed its most significant lines.
After that, a round table took place in which the particularities of this type of financing and the potential it offers to start-ups were discussed. Two local startups, previously linked to ENISA, presented as case studies their experiences, lessons learnt, etc. Martín Zozaya, co-founder of I2U, and Miren Estéfano, Financial and Human Resources Controller of Naru Intelligence, shared their respective approaches. Besides, Iñigo Aristi, mentor of the Ekin+ program (Fomento San Sebastian´s acceleration programme) and expert in startup development, was present to share his experience regarding the advantages of collaborating with ENISA. The round table offered the opportunity to learn about the experience of these companies both from the practical point of view of accessing to this type of financing, as well as understanding what it meant for them to be able to reach certain milestones in the development of their projects, with the ENISA official certification as an innovative startup.
The day ended with the official closure and a networking coffee, thus providing the opportunity to establish contacts and foster synergies between entrepreneurs, mentors and experts in the sector. The conference was a valuable opportunity and complementary tool for the acceleration, growth and connection of startups in our city, and remains as part of the strategy to position the city as a national an international hub for innovative entrepreneurship.