The second edition of the SIM Conference (Startups & Investment Matching) organised and hosted by Startup Portugal kicked off today, again held in the beautiful and vibrant city of Porto.
Building on the success of the inaugural event last year, guests were welcomed by António Dias Martins, Executive Director of Startup Portugal. António, who recently joined the Liberty on the Line Podcast to preview SIM, told returning and first time attendees that the main goal of the event is to create the right conditions for meaningful interactions and conversations between founders and investors.
Dias also confirmed that over the next two days some 3,500 attendees including 400 startups, 200 investors, 200 speakers and 50 incubators would walk the halls of the Alfândega do Porto Congress Center. This represents significant growth from the first edition of the event last year, which attracted more than 2,000 attendees.
The Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, was then welcomed onto stage and he explained the importance of Porto as a city in the innovation ecosystem, saying there had been over €2bn invested into 600 projects in the last decade, creating 28,000 jobs.
While investors, startups, founders, entrepreneurs, dignitaries, government ministers and media had their pick of a busy day one agenda, here is a snapshot of some of the highlights from various sessions:
The Road to Raising Capital: The Power of PR
Led expertly by well-respected freelance journalist Michael Dempsey who writes regularly for the BBC, this session on the main SIM Stage explored the power of PR in building credibility, trust and validation.
Liberty’s CEO Elena Davidson was joined on stage by Christian Rocas, CEO & Co-Founder, Flint, to discuss the crucial role PR and social media can play in amplifying brand awareness for companies seeking the attention of investors.
One of the key messages reiterated by the panel was the importance of people – and that a strong news story has to have a human element to it. Too often companies are guilty of trying to sell and talk product rather than focusing on the human aspect of a story that will make it resonate with a journalist and their audience.
We were also reminded that while the proliferation of media in recent times has undoubtedly resulted in some challenges, we shouldn’t forget or overlook the fact that people still do read newspapers and listen to the radio. All channels should therefore be considered on merit as a channel for delivering your message.
Next Gen Defense: Tech Innovations Shaping the Future of Security
At this dedicated panel exploring the defence tech landscape, Bruno Pica, Senior Manager at the Portuguese Ministry of National Defence, highlighted the exponential growth and investment in defence tech technologies in the country.
He pointed towards the EU’s Digital Europe Programme covering 2021-2027 standing at €7.5bn, with the next cycle between 2028-2034 yet to be announced but with indications it will have a budget of over €100bn.
Pica also expressed his pride at the fact that Portugal recently welcomed its first defence tech unicorn following a new funding round for TEKEVER, which has also announced a £400m programme to transform the UK’s defence industry.
Smoke, mirrors, and models: Rethinking how we spot strong tech
In this session, experienced tech journalist Nick Huber spoke with Pedro Bizarro, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer at Feedzai, about Technical Depth and the stages a company needs to go through before they’ve ‘cracked it’.
Bizarro explained the at times gruelling process a startup looking to attract investment has to go through when VCs conduct Technical Due Diligence, a process that can range from a few days to as long as several months.
Reflecting on the biggest challenge for companies looking to scale however, Bizarro identified hiring and retaining top talent in terms of technical people as number one. It’s for this reason that Feedzai has invested in collaborations with universities and university programmes to identify the next generation of young talent.
Looking forward to tomorrow and what day 2 has in store!
