TECHICONS 2018: A Celebration of Barcelona’s Thriving Startup Ecosystem

Amidst the madness of Mobile World Congress 2018 which puts Barcelona at the very epicenter of the tech world, a unique and intimate event took place at the award-winning OneCoWork space in Port Vell, Barcelona. TECHICONS 2018 was the second edition of this special event which aimed to unite Europe’s foremost investors and innovators. Barcinno worked with OneCoWork and Harbour.Space university to launch this forward-thinking event, partnering with world leader in automobile innovation SEAT and disruptive venture platform OneRagtime.

Over 300 guests participated in the event, which gave startup founders and co-founders from 17 companies from Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, Copenhagen, Tallinn, London, Moscow and Berlin the opportunity to pitch their concept to esteemed industry leaders. These included representatives from over 20 funds and VCs including OneRagtime (Paris/Barcelona), Kibo Ventures (Madrid), 01Ventures (Amsterdam), Cube (Berlin), Paua Ventures (Berlin), SupplyOn (Munich), Bloomium (London), and SOSV (Shanghai/Taipei). We hosted a number of local institutes too, such as representatives of Barcelona City Hall, Barcelona Activa, Generalitat de Catalunya and the Director of Mobile World Capital, Sonar Music Festival and prestigious media figures too.

During the startup roadshow, we learnt about Eliport’s autonomous robots, Combyne’s fashion-meets-business-intelligence solution, Lobster’s AI-powered media platform, Manzaning’s drive to connect local retailers and consumers, and Sharify’s real-time social map – to name just a few of the game-changing startups that showcased their offering from the 100 that applied to the event. We saw common threads such as leveraging technology to bring communities together, tackling the pressing modern issues of sustainability and global warming via innovative solutions and improving customer experiences using robotics and AI. It was a safe space in which industry leaders could give feedback, ask questions and offer their thoughts on pitches. Against the backdrop of the large-scale, high-paced Mobile World Congress, the unique setting of OneCoWork’s Crew Lounge on the water provided the perfect atmosphere for an open and intimate event for sharing ideas, nurturing talent and forming connections. Fired up by a delicious brunch and some networking, our esteemed guests then headed off for their day’s at Mobile World Congress and Four Years From Now.

As night descended on another busy day in Barcelona during Mobile World week, our guests returned en masse for the TECHICONS VIP cocktail gala, perfect for building networking connections over a well-earned evening drink. In the face of Barcelona’s first touch of snow for some time, guests were met by a SEAT electric automobile to transport them to the party from the port.

When they arrived, guests were treated to an experiential algorithmic art showcase, a photobooth, visual art exhibitions and a DJ set to close the night. We saw new professional relationships formed over champagne, discussions of the day’s talks at Mobile World Congress, and a unique atmosphere of opportunity and innovation.

TECHICONS was a very special event which brought together the ideas of cutting-edge innovators, and the industry leaders able to make those ideas a reality. In a week which put Barcelona on the map once again as the host city for the world’s biggest mobile gathering, this event only reaffirmed the strength and diversity of our city’s startup ecosystem. We’d like to thank everyone that took part and helped to make it such an exciting event. See you next year!

See more footage of TECHICONS 2018 here.