Conector’s Startup Accelerator arrives in Madrid hand in hand with R. Franco Group
- The accelerator founded by Carlos Blanco, Gerard Olivé, Marc Ros, Marc Vidal, Miguel Vicente, Risto Mejide, Xavier Verdaguer, and led by Elisabeth Martínez, has arrived in Madrid following the success achieved by its remote acceleration programmes.
- The first acceleration process in Madrid shall specialise in startups engaged in the digital gaming industry.
Madrid/Barcelona, January 20th 2015. The startups accelerator founded by some of the most important digital entrepreneurs in Spain and headed by Carlos Blanco (Best Entrepreneur and Best Business Angel in Spain 2014), launches its first acceleration programme in Madrid after having closed an agreement with R. Franco Group as sponsor. In this case, Conector will launch a vertical Games acceleration to accompany the online gaming startups and turn them into successful businesses.
Aware of the importance of specialising in the startup accelerator programmes to focus on specific projects and achieve optimal results, Conector and R. Franco Group have joined forces to launch in Madrid the first vertical acceleration programme specialised in digital gaming, and hence coordinate Conector’s mentors’ knowledge of online media with the expertise of one of the major gaming companies in Spain.
The call for projects shall be open until February 23rd on Conector’s web. The projects received will be shortlisted to take part in a four-month acceleration programme. The projects selected will have specialised online gaming mentors, such as Fernando Piquer (BitcoonGames), Sacha Michaud (Jdigital), Liam Patton (Appstowin), Jaime Ferré (Geenapp), Raul Otaolea (WiMi5), Alejandro Casanova (R.Franco Group) or Carlos Blanco (Akamon Entertainment). When the programme is over, the startup entrepreneurs who successfully complete the acceleration programme will take part in the Demoday, a private event where they will be able to present their projects to a private investors and investment funds forum.
According to Elisabeth Martínez, Conector’s Manager: “This was a major step for Conector to follow its process of growth. Furthermore, going hand in hand with one of the most important companies in the gaming industry in Spain will provide greater impetus to this vertical acceleration.”
In addition, Alejandro Casanova, Director of New Business Development, R. Franco Group, explains that “gaming is an ever-changing business and offline companies like ours need to renew themselves in order to be at the forefront of this industry. The New Business Development area within the R. Franco Group perceived this as a great opportunity to get together and launch Conector’s programme in Madrid, as it is led by Carlos Blanco, one of the references of online social gaming in Europe. This will provide greater strength to our move into the digital industry.”
About Conector’s Startup Accelerator
Conector is a startup accelerator created in October 2013 and promoted by some of the most relevant entrepreneurs in the technological sphere in Barcelona. Its partners are Carlos Blanco, founder of Akamon and winner of the Best Entrepreneur and Best Business Angel award in Spain 2014, Gerard Olivé, founder of BeRepublic, Marc Ros, founder of d’AftershareTV and 60dB, Marc Vidal, founder of Openshopen e Idodi, Miguel Vicente, founder of LetsBonus, Risto Mejide, and Xavier Verdaguer, founder of d’Imagine.
Managed by Elisabeth Martínez, Conector was born with a vocation to promote and help the entrepreneurial ecosystem by supporting projects and entrepreneurs engaged in the digital industry (Internet, mobile and new technologies). Conector has more than 80 mentors throughout Spain who are experts in the different areas of the digital industry. Conector is positioning itself as one of the first accelerators in the Spanish State.
For further information, please contact:
Georgina Cirera | + 34 657 083 235 | georgina@conector.com | www.conector.com
About the R. Franco Group
- Franco Group is a company whose share capital is 100% Spanish and which, with a 50-year history, retains the spirit and vocation to remain at the forefront of the gaming industry. Incorporated in 1965 by Joaquín and Jesús Franco as a gaming manufacturer and developer in all its strands –the hotel and catering industry, arcades, bingos and casinos– it has a large portfolio of games, many of which have become milestones in the entertaining industry.
At present, and within the framework of the strategy led by its New Business Development Manager, Alejandro Casanova, R. Franco Group is immersed in an intense process of convergence of its expertise and know-how with the online gaming universe, an experience started with the recent application for seven online gaming licences and which continues with its active involvement in innovating and pioneering projects, added to by the Sponsorship Agreement executed with Conector’s Startup Accelerator in the first vertical gaming acceleration programme in Spain.
For further information, please contact:
Alicia de Benito | + 34 699 775 614 | abenito@rfranco.com | www.rfranco.com