Beta-i and Tetuan Valley come together to “reign” in the Iberian Peninsula – Jornal de Negócios – Portugal

A union that aspires to be a reference in the Iberian Peninsula. Beta-i, a Portuguese organization of entrepreneurship support and that has been an increase in programs of acceleration for start-ups, “joined forces” with the Spanish Tetuan Valley. The news was advanced in the early morning by the Observer. However, in a statement sent to newsrooms, the Beta-i confirms that the purpose of the operation is to “become the major reference in the Iberian Peninsula for programs of innovation and entrepreneurship”.

Pedro Rocha Vieira, co-CEO and founder of Beta-i, in a press release, points out that the two entities “have long resumes in the it comes to working with start-ups and running entrepreneurship programs”. “The Beta-i focused more on the accelerated programs and in projects of corporate innovation, and the Tetuan Valley more focused on programs of pre-acceleration, the phase of ideas and training. To join these two specific structures, the idea is to generate a proposal complimentary, that allows us to take advantage of their 'know-hows', in the iberian market,” he added.

With this merger there are already plans set for the next few months: programs for companies, programs of pre-acceleration and investment in start-ups of Madrid, says the release. “There are already several projects in the pipeline, both in Madrid as in other cities, where they will extend the program of pre-acceleration of the Tetuan Valley”.

THE CEO of Beta-i’ll have a say in the decisions and strategies of the Spanish Tetuan. However, the school of start-ups in Spanish should not participate in the decisions of the Portuguese organization. The Beta-i admit even the possibility, in the future, the two institutions work using a unique brand.

the presence of The Beta-i in Lisbon is, however, to continue. For start-ups, at least for now, there should be no change. With the merging of the two companies, may, in the future, there is more room for synergies.“The Beta-i and the Tetuan Valley’s aim to develop a strategy in the iberian peninsula. Being each one a benchmark in their countries of origin, together can achieve much more, and Tetuan is going to grow much with this input. Both the Beta-i as the Tetuan Valley include the already huge communities of entrepreneurs, and soon here there are a lot of synergies,” stated Karel Escobar, CEO of Tetuan Valley, in a statement.

The values of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Beta-i was born in 2010. There are several years that this organization develops the Lisbon Challenge, an acceleration program for start-ups. Account also with several editions of the Lisbon Investment Summit, a conference that brings together start-ups, entrepreneurs and investors.

The Tetuan Valley was born in 2009 by the hand of three entrepreneurs “when the word start-up evil was heard in Europe,” says the organization on its page. The Tetuan Valley Startup School was born with the mission of helping entrepreneurs to take their first steps, according to the same source. The first edition of the school of start-ups took place in 2009 and after that date, takes place twice a year.

(News updated at 17:05 with the possibility of synergies between the two institutions)