Success Connection at Sweden Brazil Startup Matchday 2021

The Sweden Brazil Startup Matchday is a joint initiative by Ignite Sweden and the Brazilian association CISB (Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre), in which Swedish startups are presented to large corporates in Brazil to offer innovative solutions to the industry’s most diverse challenges.

In May 2021, the second edition of the digital matchmaking event saw the participation of 55 Swedish startups, 1 multinational and 9 Brazilian companies, including Ambev, ArcelorMittal, BRF, LelloLab, Natura, Oxiteno, Prevent Senior, Sabesp, Suzano and WEG. 85 matchmaking meetings took place digitally during the event. 

Creating bridges for new collaborations

Our Brazilian counterpart CISB role in the process was to invite large corporates from the South American giant to participate, while Ignite Sweden facilitated the connection with the Swedish startups, scouting the right startups for the corporate challenges and preparing them so they could present their technologies with clarity and quality. This unique cooperation contributed to creating bridges for the emergence of new partnerships and collaborations. 

“Our goal has always been to create long-term value for startups and corporates with our international partners. We definitely reached this milestone with this event. There were many fruitful meetings, a few collaborations have already been initiated and we look forward to hearing about even more collaborative pilot projects in the future,” says Sasan Shaba, Director of International Cooperation at Ignite Sweden.

“CISB was fundamental in the process of bringing us and the entrepreneurs closer, taking care of BRF’s preparation, prioritizing the solutions that would be sought in Sweden,” comments Giovanna Rovella, Open Innovation and New Business specialist at BRF.

Silvio Renato Siqueira, Specialist Engineer at Sabesp, pointed out the continuity after the event as something of immense importance. 

“CISB’s performance was decisive for the event’s success, paving the way, stimulating contacts and providing the support and the necessary elements for a light and productive interaction between the various actors who made up the event from the start, also catalyzing the continuation of post-matchday interactions to achieve common goals,” says Silvio.

Interests aligned

Given the objective of facilitating the startup-corporate connection and the emergence of new projects and businesses, it was necessary that the needs and the offers were aligned. For this, a series of needs assessment workshops were conducted with the large companies to identify their challenges to be supplied by the startups’ innovative solutions.

“The needs assessment was done very intelligently and diligently, which facilitated the process as well,” explains Fabrício Machado, Director of Radiology at Prevent Senior.

This means that, not only in this case but for all participants, the technologies presented already have a degree of maturity that allows for a quick implementation, if the business moves forward.

“In fact, we were able to find different promising technologies that can be applied to solve challenges at numerous parts of BRF’s value chain,” says Giovanna Rovella.

Sabesp also considers the meeting beneficial. “This proximity can be very fertile for both, generating opportunities to improve knowledge about the Brazilian reality, optimizing the prospect of suitable innovative solutions among the available technologies,” comments Silvio Siqueira.

New market opportunities for startups

The connections made during the matchday enable the positioning of startups as international suppliers for the participating corporates and their expansion into the Brazilian market.

For the Swedish startups, participation in international matchmaking sessions like this one is of foremost importance, due to the complexity of the organization and the challenge of breaking territorial and market barriers. 

“This matchmaking helped us to match with an interested party. It made it much easier and faster to initiate a conversation, where we knew both wanted to find a meaningful partnership,” explains Arby Leonian, COO and co-founder of Thermaiscan, one of 55 participating Swedish startups.

The mission of his startup is to solve the problem surrounding the late detection of breast cancer, using artificial intelligence in the analysis of images from thermal cameras.

“We want to be active in Brazil as soon as possible and then continue to other Central and South American countries. This is a must, our passion to save lives is for all women globally,” says Arby.

“Maybe [the soft landing can happen in Brazil]! It depends on the development in the market. This is our first contact,” says Ludvig Emgård, founder of Spotscale. The startup focuses on transforming the real estate industry by providing high resolution three dimensional imaging of their buildings. 

“When we received the positive feedback from the startups and the large corporates, we were sure that we are on the right path, offering a structured approach process through a partnership with Ignite Sweden. This enables a strong connection between startups and companies from both countries, which also enriches the existing ecosystem,” concludes Alessandra Holmo, Managing Director of CISB.