Menorca Millennials (MM), a 20-day programme for selected startups which was led by a group of international serial entrepreneurs, recently took place on the Spanish island of Menorca. The focused programme helped the teams develop, build, and scale their global ideas. After the programme, the MM startups presented to a group of investors and journalists last weekend – and a few of them jumped into the sea for a deep dive right after their presentations from the cool stage!
The MM startups were selected from over 300 applicants across the world and represent countries like the UK, Chile, Spain, the US, Denmark, Taiwan, Brazil, and Argentina. MM is a new take on startup programmes, giving second-time entrepreneurs the chance to escape their day-to-day and focus on their next big idea. “We don’t pretend to be another accelerator programme, we are a deaccelerator”, said Ricard Garriga, co-founder of Menorca Millennials.
MM’s founding partners include include Di-Ann Eisnor (VP at Waze, and Co-Founder at Menorca Millennials), Jerome Engel (Berkeley, Entrepreneurship), Martin Varasavsky (Fon,Jazztel), or Sam O’Keefe (TechCrunch).
“As a professor at Berkeley who established and lead our entrepreneurship programmes at the Haas School of Business [top 10 ranked globally for many years], and personally as a venture investor in Silicon Valley where I am a GP at Monitor Ventures, I have seem all flavors of accelerators. What is different about MM is not just the location, but the combination of work, play, relaxation and cultural exchange that is built into the programme. It is integral to the value proposition for the entrepreneurs and the great ‘’faculty” we have attracted from around the world,” Jerome Engel told me.
“MM is an invaluable life experience, where we serial entrepreneurs are not the crazy exception, but rather the accepted rule,” Colby Self, Managing Director of Carbon Checkout, one of the participants told me. Carbon Checkout is addressing climate change through collective action , or your ‘Crowdfund for Climate Change’. The company pools micro-contributions from the likes of many, and invests in renewable energy infrastructure to accelerate our transition to a low carbon economy.
“MM has been really worth it since you have access to many brilliant people, not only investors and speakers, but the other startups’ teams as well. Being 20 days together with them is very inspiring and worth any minute,” Julio Izquierdo, CEO and co-founder of Packagepeer, which is solving problem of people who are not at home to accept the delivery of their online purchases (Update – July 2023: The startup seems to be no longer in business under this website, and we therefore deactivated the original link).
Watly was built by combining hybrid technologies: thermal solar and photovoltaic (Update – July 2023: The startup seems to be no longer in business under this website, and we therefore deactivated the original link). Watly purifies water from any source of pollution, bacteriological, physical or chemical, and also desalinates ocean water by converting it into perfect drinkable water. It does all this without the need for filters or membranes, requires a low level of maintenance and is very easy to use. “We generate electricity ‘off the grid’ which means simply ‘everywhere'”, said their team member. Watly can recharge external devises such as mobile phones, computers, portable batteries or LED lamps.
Combined, the MM companies have an overall valuation of $136 million and are seeking to raise $27 million. To apply, startups have to have received funding for a previous venture and demonstrated that their current company is working on a product capable of reaching a billion people.
This was the first MM, and organisers expect to hold the same programme in June 2016. Participating startups paid €4K for food, lodging, and activities, in return for the top quality mentoring. MM did not take any equity from participants. “MM now has the right to invest in the startups with a discount,” MM spokesperson Andrea Rodes told me. Here is the full list of this year’s MM participants (Update – July 2023: The website seems to be out of use, and we therefore deactivated the original link).
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