Selected Startups that will visit South Florida and Massachusetts between May 20 and 24 after 3 weeks of virtual training
CIC, a global leader in building and operating innovation communities, in partnership with ProColombia, a government entity dedicated to promoting Colombia internationally as a prime destination for tourism, foreign investment, and non-traditional exports, enhancing the nation’s global presence and economic growth, is proud to announce the 10 Colombian startups selected to be part of an upcoming CIC International Soft Landing program. This program will support the startups international expansion goals to enter the U.S. market.
The selected founders will participate in a 3-week online training program, which will culminate with a one week trip to the U.S. with time in South Florida and Massachusetts. Their in-person portion of the program will include meetings with prominent local economic leaders and potential partners, clients, tech entrepreneurs, investors and venture studio firms, accelerator programs, and government agency officials.
“We have a thriving ecosystem of entrepreneurs, arising from the innovation capacity and talent of Colombians. At ProColombia, we are committed to empowering them to grow, creating new opportunities in territories and communities, and promoting their internationalization. Alongside Cambridge Innovation Center – CIC, we have been working to provide entrepreneurs with a strategic market vision that enables them to stand out and showcase their value to future clients, investors, or business partners,” stated Carmen Caballero, President of ProColombia, the promotion agency of the country.
The selected companies and founders include:
- José Erney Ospina, Avenfor: a software development firm that’s using cutting-edge technologies to transform your company, their agile teams can respond to the needs of your organization.
- Juan David Urrea, datapeers: datapeers is a team of AI-driven agents that assist in planning, tracking, and analytics processes in the areas of sales, supply, and project management within companies in the construction sector.
- Daniela Piedrahita, Balay: Balay is a digital property management platform tackling issues related to long-term residential rentals. Their SaaS solution harnesses the potential of AI and Data Analytics to transform property leasing processes and ease the related challenges.
- Jennyfer Mogollon, C4c7us: C4c7us streamlines cloud infrastructure management for various companies, providing a scalable solution to meet complex business needs like IoT and AI integration.
- Santiago Pardo, Procorvus: Procorvus’ digital tools empower construction professionals with the visual and documentary control they need for remote monitoring and technical decision-making of construction projects.
- Roberto Morales Ortega, CERTIKA: CERTIKA’s purpose is the issuance of document, badges, certifications and digital ID powered by blockchain. Their main focus is the guarantee of immutability and authenticity of any digital document.
- Jose Cabello, NETDATA: NETDATA offer a cybersecurity operations service capable of managing, detecting, and responding against cyberattacks. NETDATA is proud to deliver outcomes, not just alerts offering a 90% saving and better efficiency compared to owning a SOC.
- Carlos Salazar, MagicLog: MagicLog is a white-label platform designed to modernize and digitize the end-to-end customer experience of SME logistics providers, reducing operational costs and increasing new and retained sales revenue in weeks.
- Santiago Velez, Tu Cash: TuCash empowers companies to create authentic, sustainable relationships with shoppers and strive in their competitive landscapes using: cashback, technology and data.
- Octavio Torres, Valopes: Valopes is a climate-focused SaaS that accelerates climate and sustainability action through data-driven decision-making. Their cloud-platform enables organizations to leverage, integrate, and analyze real-time operational data to manage climate and circular action while revealing cost-effective mitigation opportunities.
Access to CIC’s Global Network
CIC builds and operates a global network of innovation campuses where startups, scale-ups, corporations and public entities connect, work, and grow. Since it was established in 1999, CIC has served nearly 11,000 companies across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and been recognized as a leader in connecting the global innovation community.
Established in 2019, CIC’s Soft Landing program hosts founders or companies from around the world, enabling them to immerse themselves in CIC’s vibrant innovation communities.Participants not only benefit from preparatory online components and in-person sessions with domain experts but also gain a cultural and practical understanding of business in the U.S. This critical insight allows them to minimize risks associated with entering a new market, save time and resources, and maximize benefits. With streamlined processes, expert mentorship, and an extensive network of contacts, the program fosters additional insights and engagement with the local innovation community, often coupled with focused business development and partnerships.
This comprehensive approach has laid the foundation for overseas expansion for numerous startups and founders. Over the past five years, CIC has successfully executed this program for 250 startup companies across 15 countries.
Alejandra Winter, Director of Soft Landing at CIC, explains: “We provide entrepreneurs with the tools they need to navigate new markets and overcome challenges, accelerating their growth on the international stage. The goal is for startups to envision their internationalization strategies with the aim of becoming transnational companies,” she says.
Winter congratulated the selected startups and highlighted the in-person visit to the U.S.. “We believe South Florida is a great starting point within the U.S. before expanding to other important markets like Boston. That’s why we support startups to generate as many connections as possible and accelerate their growth in both regions” she said.
Program Elements
During the CIC International Soft Landing program, startups have various training sessions and interactions with prominent figures from the global entrepreneurial ecosystem. Among these, the opportunity for founders to practice their pitch presentation skills with Michael Burtov, CEO and Founder of GeoOrbital, stands out.
Additionally, in person, there are scheduled meetings with individuals such as Ivan Montoya, Managing Partner of NuMundo Ventures, Latitud Visiting Partner; Camila Torrente, General Partner of Andes Angels; Jared Schwitzke, Managing Director of Miami Angels; Alexander Montoya, CEO of Sync Capital Inc.; Samuel Urquijo, Founder & CEO of Keybe; Pablo Santos, Founder and CEO of Finaktiva; Angela Sanchez, CEO of Merge-Tek, among many others.
To compliment their itinerary, visits to communities like The Engine, a premier deep tech accelerator and venture hub and MIT Media Lab, will connect startups to high-caliber institutions in the Boston tech ecosystem.
The program’s highlight will be a pitch demo on Thursday, May 23 hosted during Venture Cafe Cambridge, where startups will have the opportunity to showcase their business ideas to a panel of experienced investors and judges, receive feedback, and explore potential investment opportunities.
About CIC
CIC builds and operates a global network of innovation campuses where startups, scale-ups, corporations and public entities connect, work, and grow. Founded in 1999, CIC manages more than 1.5 million square feet of innovation-focused workspace, laboratories, and event space across North America, Europe and Asia. Additionally, CIC develops innovation-related programming, builds and enables industry clusters, and provides world-class innovation consulting.
Learn more about CIC’s innovation campuses featuring workspace & labs, programming, and events at CIC.com. Follow along on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
