Wednesday, 3 April 2019 – The online travel agency Exoticca received the Best Startup of the Year Award, given by ESADE Alumni and Banco Sabadell’s BStartup, at this year’s edition of ESADE Alumni Startup Day. The emerging company is leading the digital transformation of the major holiday market through its technological platform, which allows users to purchase multi-component trips entirely online and at the best prices. Based in Barcelona, Exoticca is currently present in Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the United States and Canada. Amongst the reasons cited for the award, particular emphasis was placed on the company’s unique approach, the optimisation of its marketing investment, and the professionalisation of its team. Previous winners of the award have included companies such as Wuaki.tv, Visualnet, Kantox, Wallapop, Red Points, Signaturit and Glovo.

‘At Exoticca, we want to lead, from Barcelona, the digital transformation of the major holiday market, making such trips accessible and affordable to the general public. This award is an important recognition of our growth and international expansion strategy, which has brought us to such important markets as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany’, said Exoticca CEO Pere Vallès, who accepted the award from Xavier Sanchez, Director of ESADE Alumni, and Carlos Ventura, General Manager of Banco Sabadell.

Artificial intelligence and the importance of the team

ESADE Alumni Start-Up Day also included a panel discussion on the use of artificial intelligence in business growth featuring FACTIC founder and CEO Adrià Quintana, IOMED co-founder and CEO Javier de Oca, and Datumize founder and CEO Nacho Lafuente. The panellists emphasised the need for regulatory frameworks. Speaking about the challenges the industry is facing, Lafuente highlighted his concern for the ‘ethical aspects of data’. In contrast, De Oca pointed to the challenge of ‘transferring the potential benefits of artificial intelligence to people’. ‘In our case, where we are dealing with health data, there is a major concern’, the IOMED CEO said. According to Quintana, ‘Artificial intelligence is not a product that you buy today and get immediate results; it is a learning process.’ Regina Llopis, President of the AIA Group and co-founder of WA4STEAM also participated in the panel.                                                                                                            

Marc Elena, founder and CEO of Adsmurai, Maria Santos, Human Resources Director at Marfeel, María Martin, founder and CEO of Tiendeo, and Yolanda Pérez, BStartup Director at Banco Sabadell, discussed the importance of the entrepreneurial team and agreed on the need to transform the education model and prepare for the professions of the future. Elena underscored the ‘need for business leadership’, whilst Martin noted that ‘it is necessary to educate people on the existence of different types of companies and to demystify certain industries’.

Red Points, an established startup

The day began with a Matins ESADE session, sponsored by Bluecap, featuring Laura Urquizu, CEO of Red Points, a company offering ‘software as a service’ to detect and remove pirated and counterfeit products on the Internet. The CEO reviewed the history of Red Points, a ‘global company with offices in Barcelona and New York that was founded with the aim of operating worldwide’. In this regard, she announced that ‘the next action will be to open an operational office in China’. ‘Red Points aims to be the benchmark in three years’, she added. Urquizu also shared her views on the entrepreneurship sector, noting that ‘today’s entrepreneurs are more prepared’ and stressing ‘the importance of choosing the right partners in each investment round’.

ESADE Alumni Start-Up Day ended with a talk by José Ignacio Latorre, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Barcelona, who asked whether we are ready for a quantum future.