Starting a business is a daunting task, more so if you don’t have the help and support you need. But if you are based in Andalucia and have an entrepreneurial itch to start something, you are in the right place.
Here are 5 unique reasons why you should start a business in Andalucia.
If you're interested in starting up in Andalucia, the Founder Institute can help. Apply to the Andalucia Founder Institute today.
1. Vibrant Startup and Technology Community
Once you have an idea, the best thing you can do for yourself is to share it with others to get feedback, and meet like-minded people who may end up as your co-founders. Fortunately, there are plenty of startup and technology related events in Andalucia. Here are our best picks:
- DevFest Granada 2014 / GDG DevFest Córdoba 2014 – A conference where developers come together to exchange ideas on Andriod.
- Sevilla Startup Weekend / Córdoba ODB Startup Weekend – Startup Weekend is a 54-hour hackathon designed to create working startups and foster collaboration amongst technical and non-technical entrepreneurs.
- Silicon Drinkabout Sevilla – This is a weekly networking session for entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs to create and innovate new businesses over drinks.
2. Strong Government Support
Apart from private investors in Andalucia, the Government of Andalucia supports entrepreneurship with various schemes.
Here’s a shortlist of what government bodies have funding schemes for entrepreneurship:
- Innovation and Development Agency of Andalucia (IDEA Agency) (Agencia De Innovación Y Desarrollo De Andalucía (Agencia Idea) in Spanish)
- Technological Corporation of Andalucia (Corporación Tecnológica De Andalucía in Spanish)
- Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Job
3. Tech-Savvy, Homogenous Population
Andalucia, home to 8 million people, invests heavily in R&D. In 2012, close to €1.48m have been spent on R&D in both private and government sectors. The huge investment means that Andalucia has a high number of employees in the R&D sector, most of them being researchers who are comfortable with technology.
Coupled with a population size of 8 million, this makes Andalucia a perfect test bed for technology startups to perfect a product before scaling to the rest of Spain.
4. Wide Range Of Incubators And Accelerators
Another thing that stops aspiring founders from getting started is that they do not have the know-how to get started. Fortunately, there are plenty of incubators and accelerators in Andalucia that serves different industries. Some of them include:
- Founder Institute – The Founder Institute is a 4-month, part-time program where you launch a technology company through structured training courses, practical business-building assignments, and expert feedback.
- Impact Accelerator - With a focus on Mobile Internet, Impact Accelerator subsidizes each start-up up to €100,000 euros and provides 6 months of training and mentorship.
- Bolt - Bolt is an early stage mentoring and investment program for startups. They provide up to up to €80k seed capital and a 14-week mentorship program.
You can also find more incubators in the list compiled by Club Malaga Valley, an initiative to solidify Malaga as the most important technological region in Europe
5. Interest from Silicon Valley
According to Angellist, a funding platform widely used in Silicon Valley by venture capitalists and angel investors, Andalucia is of interest to plenty of who's who in Silicon Valley.
A quick search on the city shows that investors who are following the city includes:
- Marissa Mayer (CEO, Yahoo)
- Reid Hoffman (Partner, Greylock Partners)
- Michael Arrington (Partner, CrunchFund)
If you're interested launch a business in Andalucia, apply to the Andalucia Founder Institute today.
