The EmprendedorXXI Awards open the selection process to promote the most forward-thinking companies in Spain and Portugal

• These awards are granted in Spain by CaixaBank, through DayOne, and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, through Enisa, Empresa Nacional de Innovación (National Innovation Company).
• The initiative is intended to acknowledge the work of the most innovative start-ups with the biggest impact on their region.
• The winners can obtain cash prizes and international training programmes in Silicon Valley and at the University of Cambridge.
• Since its inception in 2007, the initiative has invested 5.2 million euros in prizes and support actions for entrepreneurs, benefitting a total of 360 companies.
• The awards will be granted within the framework of the DayOne Innovation Summits, which will bring together the key players of the entrepreneurial, technological and investor ecosystem.

CaixaBank, through DayOne, its division specialised in technological companies and their investors, and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, through Enisa, have opened the EmprendedorXXI Awards, an initiative that aims to contribute to the development of young innovative firms with high growth potential. Since their inception in 2007, these awards have been established as a consolidated recognition in the territory and a benchmark for Spanish start-ups, and starting from 2018 also for Portugal.

Until 4 December, those interested in taking part can submit their candidacies through the website www.emprendedorXXI.es. The prizes are intended for innovative firms from Spain and Portugal that have been active for under three years.

This year, prizes will be awarded to the best companies from the following sectors: AgroFood (agro-food industry), Health (healthcare), Senior (services for the elderly), Mobility (mobility solutions), PropTech (services for the property sector) and Impact (social reaching projects), which will receive an economic prize of 15,000 euros.

The awards feature the support of the CaixaBank divisions specialised in each one of these sectors: AgroBank (agricultural and agro-food sector), CaixaBank Family Sénior (financial products and services for senior citizens), CaixaBank Payments & Consumer (payment methods and consumer financing) and MicroBank (CaixaBank's social bank).

Enisa is also offering all those taking part in these awards the possibility of accessing its financing intended for innovative enterprise, through participatory loans, by way of its various financing facilities: Young Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurs and Growth.

Similarly, a total of 19 prizes will be delivered to the companies with the biggest impact in their area of origin: 17 in Spain (one per autonomous community) and 2 in Portugal (north-centre area and Lisbon-south and Islands), that will receive 5,000 euros.

Trips to Silicon Valley and Cambridge

Besides the economic prize, the winners of both categories (sector and region) and the finalists of the sector category will gain access to an international mentoring programme that will take them, according to their profile, to Silicon Valley, to participate in a programme organised by Esade, in collaboration with the Singularity University, or to the University of Cambridge (the United Kingdom), where a prestigious international course on business growth, Ignite Fast Track, is given to start-ups.

Similarly, the selection process has the backing and collaboration of international entities, such as the Embassy of Israel in Spain, or Portugal's Agência Nacional da Inovaçao which, through the BFK Awards, will give a secondary award for the innovation of a Portuguese start-up.

12 years of history: more than 5 million in prizes and close to 7,000 participants

Since its inception in 2007, Enisa and CaixaBank have invested 5.2 million euros in prizes and support actions, benefitting a total of 360 companies. Over its history, close to 7,000 start-ups have taken part in these selection processes and upwards of 400 business owners, investors and representatives from entrepreneurship support entities have taken part, sitting on the various committees and panels each year.

The EmprendedorXXI Awards will be granted within the framework of the DayOne Innovation Summits, which will bring together the key players of the entrepreneurial, technological and investor ecosystem.

These events will be held throughout the first four months of 2019 in each of the Spanish autonomous communities and in Portugal, and they will blend workshops, master classes, lectures and round table discussions, where explanations will be provided for new sector trends and the specific features of each area, as well as the presentation of successful case studies.  

About CaixaBank

CaixaBank is the leading financial group in retail banking in Spain with 15.6 million customers; the peninsula's largest business network with close to 5,000 branches; and a leader in innovation with the largest digital customer base in Spain (6.3 million).

CaixaBank undertakes a socially-responsible model of universal banking and is considered by Merco as the number one company in corporate responsibility and governance in the Spanish financial sector.

This year, CaixaBank has been named Best Bank in Spain 2019, Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility in Western Europe 2019 and Best Bank Transformation in Western Europe 2019 by British publication Euromoney. These acknowledgements come in addition to those of Best Bank in Spain and Best Bank in Western Europe by the US magazine Global Finance, and Bank of the Year in Spain 2018 by The Banker magazine.

About Enisa

The Empresa Nacional de Innovación (National Innovation Company) is a public company and a subsidiary unit of the Directorate-General of Industry and SMEs (Secretary-General of Industry and SMEs of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism) which, since 1982, has actively taken part in funding viable and innovative projects, championed by SMEs and entrepreneurs.

The variety of companies that attend Enisa in search of funding for their business projects is very large, featuring presence in all the sectors and in all the Autonomous Communities.

Enisa's participatory loans do not require any further guarantees that the business project itself and a creditworthy management team, with amounts ranging from 25,000 euros to one and a half million.

Enisa's historic portfolio exceeds 6,400 loans in over 5,800 companies for a total amount of nearly one billion euros.