Govtech Accelerator II: First Milestones and Finalist
In our previous article, we explored the importance of accelerators in the govtech ecosystem and presented the launch of Gobe Ventures, the first govtech accelerator in Spain.
At Gobe Ventures, the mission is clear: to empower the best Digital SMEs, Startups and Scaleups on their journey as providers of technological innovation to public institutions. We firmly believe in the potential of these public-value solutions to transform services and internal operations in the government environment, even when the Administration has not yet had the opportunity to fully discover them.
Our approach opens up a new and exciting market so that they can truly impact the lives of thousands of people. In a context where approximately 20% of Spanish GDP is linked to public procurement, and with public investment in digitalization of 20 billion euros in the horizon of 2026 thanks to the Digital Spain agenda, we are at a crucial time to promote collaboration between the public sector and these innovative companies.
In this article, we delve into the first steps of this journey, telling some details of our pre-selection event and taking the opportunity to present the 10 startups that have joined the acceleration program.
Pre-selection Event: A Govtech Innovation Meeting
In line with our objective of generating opportunities and articulating the govtech ecosystem, we organized a meeting between innovative agents, public institutions and startups to stage the first milestone that tangibilizes the call and the selection process for the first promotion of the Accelerator.
We received 132 applications from companies from numerous countries, such as Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Chile, of which we selected 25 of them according to criteria of public value, maturity, projection and technical capacity to participate in this event, from which the 10 finalists were chosen.
In this scenario, each of the 25 candidates presented their projects in a process of Matchmaking, which provided them with the opportunity to have between 5 and 7 meetings with prominent leaders of the govtech ecosystem. These meetings not only fostered a promising collaboration, but also gave rise to synergies and business opportunities.
But that wasn't all. In addition, we have the participation of two public innovation leaders in the first round table “Opening the public to entrepreneurial technological innovation”, such as Fernando de Pablo and Ignacio Azorín, Directors of the Digitalization Department of the Madrid City Council and the Community of Madrid respectively. The panel was completed by the CEO of Digitales, César Tello.
“There is a critical piece that has been discussed at this event; and that is that large companies play a fundamental role in allowing startups and scaleups to offer their solutions to Public Administrations,” said Fernando de Pablo during the networking.
The second round table: “Articulating the govtech innovation ecosystem in Spain”, brought together Berger Levrault, AWS and Impact Hub, who provided their knowledge on how innovative technologies are shaping the future of the public sector and how govtech startups can play a crucial role in this evolution.
It was a meeting full of energy and fascinating perspectives that left everyone wanting more. Innovation in the public sector has great personalities with a clear will to continue promoting this sector so that it continues to gain relevance.
The 10 Selected Startups: Driving Innovation | Govtech
After a thorough evaluation process, in which attendees also gave their opinion after face-to-face meetings, it was time to select the 10 startups that would join our govtech acceleration program.
The selected companies access a period of comprehensive support designed to strengthen their collaboration with public institutions. They are offered a comprehensive approach to the B2G (business-to-government) model, providing expertise in crucial areas such as customer segmentation, B2G strategy, use cases and narrative, understanding contract and tender law, and much more.
They will have sessions that will include the participation of experts from the public sector, CTO from government institutions and mentoring sessions that are essential to promote this innovative collaboration between startups and the government sector.
Are you curious who were finally the 10 finalist companies?! Below we discover their innovative solutions and what value they can bring to Public Administrations, focusing mainly on areas such as the environment, healthcare, data management and the optimization of internal processes:
They are specialists in process automation with NLP and IDP, offering a versatile AI platform with customizable use cases and rapid deployment in areas such as document extraction, contract classification, and more, with customized development and monitoring options.
They optimize the use of health facilities, reduce operating costs and improve user satisfaction by reducing absenteeism and waiting lists, with extensive scalability capacity and a solid infrastructure that serves more than 6 million users per month in 8 countries and 3 languages.
They offer AI solutions to help public administrations be more efficient and sustainable in the digital age, reducing costs and improving document processing speed.
Its digitization system in the healthcare sector is having a significant impact, including early detection of heart failure in primary care and standardization of electrocardiogram analysis in 17 countries.
They apply their technology in areas such as sustainability, geographic risk, climate change and planning for innovation, providing geospatial data to address global challenges and facilitate informed decision-making in companies and governments.
They provide their customers with software (SaaS) adapted to each organization for the calculation and management of the environmental and carbon footprint, with support for training, implementation, monitoring, auditing and continuous improvement activities.
They meet the needs of developers and construction companies hired by the administration in the management of construction waste with a purely Circular Economy approach. The information obtained is digital and traceable, in addition, it guarantees the valuation of more than 70% of waste.
They facilitate the energy transition in cities with web tools to help with energy planning and its management and monitoring.
They improve productivity and provide training in the public sector, especially in the current phase of digitalization. Their experience in simplifying complex tools and their ability to adapt to specific needs make their solution valuable and unique to the public sector.
Tucuvi automates clinical telephone consultations in hospitals, reducing costs and time, effectively scaling the service and improving patient health. Its technology is capable of scaling service to thousands of patients per hour and even millions over the course of a month.
These startups represent a very different and in some cases complementary range of govtech solutions, ranging from improving administrative efficiency to providing quality public services and optimizing government decision-making.
Start the program!
As these 10 teams begin this journey of Gobe Ventures' govtech acceleration program, we will see their progress in how they orient their narratives and strategy to the needs of each customer segment in the public sector.
In these first few weeks, teams have had the opportunity to connect virtually with their mentors, specialists in strategy and sales to the public sector, as well as in public procurement. This initial phase has allowed them to lay the foundations to be able to get the most out of the program, their colleagues and training sessions.
Precisely, during the first face-to-face session of the program, these startups had the opportunity to meet prominent leaders from the public and technological sectors. Among the special guests were the CEO of Anjana Data, Mario de Francisco, the CEO of Berger Levrault Spain, Bienvenido Espinosa, and the Director of Digital Services and Innovation of the National Coin and Stamp Factory, Raquel Poncela. These meetings provided an “inside” view of how govtech startups can effectively collaborate with key players in the public and technological sectors.
We are already working with these companies on the future opportunities that may arise and with some of them focusing The 5 challenges of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia which we are currently working on.
If you're a govtech startup with a vision and are interested in joining us in future programs, stay tuned for our updates and don't hesitate to get in touch at hello@gobe.studio.
