Barranquilla Startup Demo Day

Five One Labs’ is proud to announce the success of their first Demo Day in Colombia in Barranquilla on October 11th. This Demo Day was attended by well over 100 people and included pitches from 17 entrepreneurs. The Demo Day was the concluding event of their Incubator program cycle, which offered more than a two-week boot camp called Ignite, followed by our three-month flagship incubator for 17 of the top start-ups from the Ignite boot camps.

The startups pitching at this Demo Day reflect the diversity of entrepreneurial talent in Colombia. 52% were led by entrepreneurs who have been displaced or affected by conflict, which includes both Colombian internally displaced persons, Venezuelan migrant entrepreneurs, and returnees. The cohort included an equal number of men and women, multi-time founders and first-time founders. With representation from idea and early-stage businesses, the entire cohort benefitted from peer learning and mentorship to add critical technology and innovation elements to their ventures.

During the event, each start-up had three minutes to pitch on stage, the first public pitch for many participants. Start-ups highlighted throughout the event include:

Oshana, a fitness and wellbeing business led by a Venezuelan entrepreneur who is rolling out her online wellness, community and booking platform
Quchara, an app connecting busy professionals with on-time, healthy lunch delivery, is announcing their beta version going live
Los Chiquinquireños talking about their mission to bring Venezuelan snack food as a cultural connection experience to every region of Colombia through a “click and brick” model
Vasu, the founder of an online platform connecting individuals to holistic, functional medical professionals and products, shows her first product and network of professionals already on her site
SportersIQ explains how they use AI and data analytics to provide real-time support to football (soccer) players and scouts

While there were several competitive pitches throughout the event, the top winners of the seed funding include:

Transforma-tex, a sustainable textile company, came in the first place. The founder, Adriana, who spoke about how she has been “incubating” two babies during the program (her startup and her first child, who is due in December), gave a very emotional speech about the program and the opportunities it provided.
Hopest, an app connecting non-local students to room rentals during university, won second place. The founders of Hopest, a young team of individuals who had been internally displaced, were extremely emotional about the prize; they were able to gain their first customers during the incubator and impressed all of the judges who watched their pitch.
In third place came FOMO, an app supporting event planners with all of the vendor relationships and SaaS tools needed to launch a successful event.

Even those participants who did not take home the big winners still had valuable experiences to share from the event. The founder of Chiqui Technology, a migrant-led e-commerce platform, explained, “Even if I didn’t win the seed funding, I am the true winner of Five One Labs. I have received an education, opportunities, and an incredible mentor, and now I finally see that my work is a real business, not just a project.”

Attendees at Demo Day included members of the Innovation and Competitiveness Office of the Mayor’s Office, investors, ecosystem actors, and partners such as HIAS, ProBarranquilla, Endeavor, and universities. The event also featured a keynote address by Henry Sanchez, the founder of Apparta and a former team member of Rappi, an online delivery app that has been valued at over USD $5B with $220M in annual revenue (2022).

About Five One Labs

Five One Labs is a startup incubator that empowers a new generation of refugee and conflict-affected entrepreneurs to create sustainable livelihoods. Five One Labs participants enter a three-month-long incubation program that includes training, mentorship, an inclusive community, and the opportunity to compete for seed funding at the end of the program. Visit the Five One Labs website for more information.