From Zero to Now

I know. You may think this is a weird heading, but it might have been just the reason why you actually clicked to see what I wanted to share… so let me come back to this later.

I should have probably written this a couple of weeks back (when people usually write previous years achievements and new years resolutions), but I guess its better late than never!

 2018: Our year in review #WhatARide

 We started off in January with the humbleness of a small team who had only one portfolio company (just yet), but the excitement and motivation that being able to create an impact and innovate in a big corporate wields. We didn’t know back then what we would actually achieve, the amount of incredible entrepreneurs we would meet along the way, the learnings we would capture, and probably also the amount of hours this would imply (not going to lie there…)

In these twelve months we have invested in a voice biometric solution, BiometricVox that is revolutionizing biometric identification and digital advanced signature. We penetrated the Mexican ecosystem with our first investment (more to come...) in UnDosTres, one of the fastest growing payments startup in that geography.

 We have also participated in two venture capital funds in two geographies of strategic interest for InnoCells, that represent key technological hubs: We invested in Cardumen Capital in Israel and Base10 partners in Silicon Valley. We have made invaluable relationships in these markets since our investment as well as gaining outstanding dealflow (hence, meeting exceptional entrepreneurs and ideas).

 We invested in Spain’s top Venture Builder Antai with startups of the likes of Wallapop or Glovo in their portfolio (what’s more to say?).

We have materialized two acquisitions during this year: InstantCredit, an online consumer lending platform and PayTPV, a technology provider for advanced payments solutions (IPSP). We have been able to learn significantly from these entrepreneurs and their businesses and we are very happy to welcome them aboard.

 Needless to say this wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing team behind the Strategic Investment vehicle of InnoCells (which, by the way, also grew during 2018).  To them I am utterly grateful for their efforts during this year. Thank you @Dani @Maria @Jaime @Manu and thanks also to our CEO of InnoCells @Julio, for all your support

 We have learned a lot in 2018, from the entrepreneurs we have met, our VC partners, co-investors and friends, and our colleagues at InnoCells and Banco Sabadell, and we are eager to continue learning and sharing with them during this 2019.

  We step into this new year as a new challenge. One to continue growing and thriving, with the same humbleness and motivation, but at least with some track record, right? ;)

 Coming back to how I started this post, "From Zero to Now": Maybe you have picked up on the "From Zero to One" reference, or maybe not (if not, there you have a good title to read). What I wanted to convey with this, is that while I look back at 2018 and see many achievements, I face 2019 with huge expectations and energy to outshine the year we leave behind:

Back to square one, back to 0, or back to “now”