Success connection: Sweden Brazil Startup Matchday 2021

Sweden Brazil Startup Matchday is a joint initiative by CISB and Ignite Sweden, in which Swedish startups are presented to large corporates in Brazil to offer innovative solutions to the industry’s most diverse challenges. In May 2021, the second edition of the online event had the participation of 55 Swedish startups, 1 multinational and 9 Brazilian companies, including Ambev, ArcelorMittal, BRF, LelloLab, Natura, Oxiteno, Prevent Senior, Sabesp, Suzano and WEG.

CISB's role in the process was to invite large corporates and facilitate the connection with the Swedish startups involved, creating bridges for the emergence of new partnerships and collaborations. For BRF's Open Innovation and New Business specialist, Giovanna Rovella, these goals were achieved. “CISB was fundamental in the process of bringing us and the entrepreneurs closer, taking care of BRF’s preparation, prioritizing the solutions that would be sought in Sweden, as well as the preparation of startups so they could present their technologies with clarity and quality,” she commented.

The opinion is shared by Silvio Renato Siqueira, Specialist Engineer at Sabesp, who pointed out the continuity after the event as something of immense importance. “CISB's performance was decisive for the event's success, paving the way, stimulating contacts and providing the support and the necessary elements for a light and productive interaction between the various actors who made up the event from the start, also catalyzing the continuation of post-Matchday interactions to achieve common goals,” he said.

For startups, the invitation to an event like this is of foremost importance, due to the complexity of the organization and the challenge of breaking territorial and market barriers. “This matchmaking helped us to match with an interested party. It made it much easier and faster to initiate a conversation, where we knew both wanted to find a meaningful partnership” enthralled Arby Leonian, COO and co-founder of Thermaiscan, one of the participating Swedish startups.

Interests aligned

Given the objective of facilitating the startup-corporate connection and the emergence of new projects and businesses, it was necessary for the needs and offers to be aligned. For this, the CISB and Ignite Sweden conducted needs assessment meetings with the companies to identify the challenges to be supplied by the startups’ innovative solutions. "The needs assessment was done very intelligently and diligently, which facilitated the process as well” explained Fabrício Machado, Director of Radiology at Prevent Senior. This means that, not only in this case, but for all participants, the technologies presented already have a degree of maturity that allow for a quick implementation, if the business moves forward.

“In fact, we were able to find different promising technologies that can be applied to solve challenges at numerous parts of BRF's value chain,” said Giovanna Rovella. Sabesp also considered the meeting beneficial. “This proximity can be very fertile for both, generating opportunities to improve knowledge about the Brazilian reality, optimizing the prospect of suitable innovative solutions among the available technologies,” commented Silvio Siqueira.

From Sweden to Brazil

The connections made on Matchday enable the positioning of startups as international suppliers for the participating corporates, and their expansion into the Brazilian market. “Maybe [the soft landing can happen in Brazil]! Depends on the development in the market. This is our first contact.” said Ludvig Emgård, founder of Spotscale.

Arby Leonian, from Thermaiscan, has more ambitious plans. “We want to be active in Brazil as soon as possible and then continue to other Central and South American countries. This is a must, our passion to save lives is for all women globally.” The company's mission is to solve the problem surrounding the late detection of breast cancer, using artificial intelligence in the analysis of images from thermal cameras.

And when faced with the positive results of the event, the organizers celebrate the success. “Our goal has always been to create long-term value for startups and corporates with our international partners. We definitely reached this milestone with this event. There were many fruitful meetings and we are really looking forward to hearing about future collaborative pilot projects” says Sasan Shaba, Director of International Cooperation at Ignite Sweden.

“When we received the positive feedback from the startups and the large corporates, we were sure that we are on the right path, offering a structured approach process through a partnership with Ignite Sweden. This enables a strong connection between startups and companies from both countries, which also enriches the existing ecosystem,” concluded Alessandra Holmo, Managing Director of CISB.