USA Innovation & Entrepreneurship Immersion Program with University of California Riverside
The PremiValor Consulting team and some of the startups enrolled on its innovation HUB programs had the opportunity to participate on site and online on the USA Innovation & Startups Immersion Program with the UCR-University of California Riverside
Prof. Rosibel Ochoa, PhD, Vice Chancellor, and Alexandra Orozco from the University of California, Riverside welcomed PremiValor team, Telmo Vieira, Rita Vasconcelos, André Barata, and the representatives from the Government of Madeira, Dr. Pedro Ramos and Dr. Miguel Pestana.
Participants had the opportunity to obtain a good understanding of the startup ecosystem in California and the various areas of support to help them grow their company when soft-landing in the US.
It was made a visit to the Wetlab Incubator at UC Riverside home to science-based entrepreneurs where they advance their technology and conduct research in a fully equipped laboratory in addition to having access to other campus resources. Eric Gosink, entrepreneur in Residence at UR Riverside, presented in detail the laboratory.
PremiValor team and Startups had also the opportunity to participate in the quarterly “Founder’s Night” at the RIVERSIDE ExCITE incubator which brings together regional entrepreneurs for a fun networking evening. City officials including City Councilors, Office of the Mayor staff, State of California officials, and Private industry leaders joined to welcome the delegation from Portugal.
During the Founder´s Night was presented by the Secretary for Health of Madeira, Dr. Pedro Ramos, the project referent to the new central university hospital in Madeira which aims to be a reference in healthcare and scientific research in Europe.
Telmo Vieira presented the accelerator H-INNOVA - Health Innovation HUB and the DIGITAL HEALTH SUMMIT that will take place in October in Madeira-Portugal.
Also presented the accelerator INNCYBER Innovation HUB.
Some of the startups from USA attending the event asked for support to enter in the European market with a first step in Madeira and Portugal mainland.
Participants attended a session concerning the “Soft-landing and Setting up a company/startup in the US”. The session was delivered by David Ochi and provided participants with a step-by-step understanding of the process to bring their startup to the United States and successfully set up their company for growth.
Excite - University of California Riverside
The participating startups in PremiValor innovation HUBs ecosystem had the opportunity to participate in the pitch session at the Excide - University of California, Riverside that allowed startups to rehearse their best pitch in front of experienced UCR mentors (entrepreneurs-in-residence) and experts in entrepreneurship, investing and commercialization. The feedback from this session helped teams to polish the presentation that they will deliver to other investors in the future.
The following teams from PremiValor innovation hubs ecosystem delivered the pitch:
• PARAHEALTH (H-INNOVA), presentation made by Gonçalo Fonseca and Dolores Gama (Universidade da Beira Interior)
• GLOOMA (H-INNOVA), presentation made by Francisco Neto Nogueira and Frederico Stock (Universidade Católica Portuguesa | Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
• MUSIQUENCE (H-INNOVA), presentation made by Luis Ferreira (Universidade Nova de Lisboa / Universidade da Madeira)
• POSMASWEB (INNCYBER), presentation made by Nuno Mateus-Coelho, PhD. (Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro)
• LOOP (OEIRAS VALLEY), presentation made by Gonçalo Soares, John Ruivos, Guilherme Raposo, Alin Rusu and Francisco Gonçalves coordinated by Prof. Vicente Rodrigues (ISCTE).
• Minewater for Energy Generation presentation by Héctor Álvarez González and Guillermo Domínguez Peláez (Universidad de Oviedo)
Mentors and investors provided in general very good feedback concerning the pitches that were made by the startups.
Nevertheless, empathized the need for:
1) robust business plan
2) detailed financial model with monthly projections for the first two years in terms of revenues, expenses and cash flows and quarterly projections for the 3rd, 4th and 5th years.
3) business development team on the Startups that proves to generate effective sales.
The Mentors and Investors were:
Jay Gilberg, NSF I-Corps Instructor and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at University of California, Riverside.
Scott Brovsky, He scouts, launches & raises capital for deep tech startups from University of California, Riverside & SoCal.
Martin Kleckner III Kleckner, Senior Advisor/EIR at University of California, Riverside Office of Technology Partnerships; La Costa Group LLC.
Doug Kollmyer, EIR at University of California, Riverside mentoring early startups. Steering committee for So. Cal. Energy Innovation Council and Cleantech San Diego.
Eric Gosink, Business Development & Technology Alliance Professional.
PremiValor team and Startups attended a session at University of California, Riverside concerning Government Grants in the US.
The session covered the variety of grants from the US government available to US startups. Presentation was done by Misty Madero.
Another session was related to the Best Practices for Fundraising. It provided participants with insights on investor considerations when evaluating an opportunity. This session was delivered by Gioia Messinger, a serial entrepreneur, investor and mentor.
Partner Organizations
The participation on the Program was done on the scope the PremiValor´s innovation HUBs supported by reference partner organizations. In special we would like to thank:
Regional Secretary of Health and Civil Protection of Madeira, headed by Dr. Pedro Ramos (Secretary of Health) and Dr. Miguel Pestana (Chief of Staff).
Regional Secretary of Economy of Madeira, headed by Dr. Rui Barreto (Secretary of Economy) and Dr. Carlos de Andrade (Chief of Staff).
• Startup Madeira, headed by Carlos Lopes
• Vodafone, headed by Henrique Fonseca, Mário Peres and Mafalda Alves Dias
• Roche, headed by Carlos Catalão and André Barbado
• Celfocus, headed by Bruno Silva-Santos, Tiago Simões and Pedro João Mota
• LG Electronics Portugal, headed by José Pereira, Hugo Jorge and Luís Lameiras
• Future Healthcare Group, headed by José Pina
