4YFN wraps up its first edition after attracting 2,300 participants from 55 countries

February 26, 2014

4 Years From Now (4YFN), Mobile World Capital Barcelona’s event for entrepreneurs, drew 2,300 participants, incubators, and accelerators from 55 different countries. In its first edition 4YFN, which wraps up its lineup of events at the Fira de Barcelona – Montjuïc convention facility, and which tomorrow invites entrepreneurs to the Mobile World Congress, has already established itself as a major event on the entrepreneurial scene.

4YFN featured more than 50 talks, including remarks by professionals from WhatsApp, Waze, Chartboost, Doodle, and investors Yossi Vardi and Morten Lund. It also organized 60 hours of workshops at which attendees addressed concepts like Big Data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and augmented reality.

4YFN, a platform for growth

Some 50 venture capital companies from around the world showed their support for entrepreneurship. At 4YFN Mobile World Capital Barcelona also benefitted from the collaboration of acceleration programs such as Wayra, with which it celebrated a special edition of Wayra Demo Day, Startupbootcamp, and the Swell Innovation Awards.

In conjunction with 4YFN, a startup competition was also held in which nearly 200 companies from 50 countries participated. The company Cellbuddy, out of Israel, was the winner of the contest. In addition to a financial reward of €20,000 worth of different services, it will receive a trip to Silicon Valley and access to several acceleration projects. Cellbuddy has developed wireless technology that allows mobile service providers to verify their users’ identities. In this way, users can move from country to country without having to worry about changing SIM cards and using the same one when switching from one operator to another.

Second place went to Spain’s Infantium, a platform offering a personalized learning system that may be adapted to meet the needs of each child through the appropriate applications and hardware.

France’s Alima came in third. This company has designed an intelligent device capable of monitoring and analyzing the quality of the air in any habitable space, providing alerts, recommendations, and forecasts to facilitate improved conditions.

The top three companies in the Startup Competition, in addition to the different economic rewards they received, will proceed directly to the second round of the Banc Sabadell BStartup program.

Mobile World Capital Barcelona’s commitment to entrepreneurship

The first edition of 4YFN surpassed Mobile World Capital Barcelona’s expectations in terms of attendance by entrepreneurs and by mentors and investment companies. The event’s success bolsters the Foundation’s commitment to programs focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation, as it will continue to work to promote them as assets to transform industry and promote economic development.