4YFN returns to the heart of MWC Barcelona

BARCELONA, Feb. 3, 2022 — The GSMA’s leading start-up and innovation platform, 4YFN (Four Years From Now), returns to the heart of MWC Barcelona for a second consecutive year. Located in Hall 6 of Fira Gran Via and now in its eighth edition, the event signifies the importance of the 4YFN community, bringing together start-ups, investors, institutions, corporations, and more.

“The global start-up community is thriving, and we’re excited to bring this positive momentum to Barcelona with 4YFN, where there is a vibrant and bustling local scene for innovation and technology,” said Pere Duran, 4YFN Series Director. “We’re seeing an optimistic investment landscape right now, so there is real opportunity out there. By bringing the worlds of innovation and investment together, we are supporting an inclusive tech ecosystem, which can innovate, collaborate and inspire.”

4YFN’s presence at MWC Barcelona will support networking and learning opportunities for many diverse start-ups, enterprises, and investors, with more than €4 billion of potential investment available at this year’s event.

This year, 4YFN will focus on four key themes:

• Tech Humanism – looking at how innovation is influencing humanity and society;
• Founders – where founders, funders, and experts share their insights and advice;
• Funding & Corporate Venturing – where best practices in designing, implementing and executing programmes are shared; and
• Creative Minds – where creative leaders explore the latest trends in culture and entertainment.

In addition to the new themes, curated programmes will spotlight start-ups and innovation in high growth verticals and strategic areas, including digital health, impact, frontier tech, fintech, sports, investors, communities, and Diversity4Tech. All these topics and more will are in the lineup of more than 300 speakers – including Sasha Michaud, the co-founder of Barcelona-based tech unicorn, Glovo – alongside:

• Francesca Bria – President, Italian National Innovation Fund;
• Judit Carrera – General Director, CCCB;
• Gemma Galdón Clavell – Founder and CEO, Eticas Research and Consulting;
• Zina Jarrahi – President, AMPT;
• Ali Parsadoust – Founder, Babylon Health;
• Zoe Peden – Principal, Ananda Impact Ventures;
• David Siegel – CEO, Meetup;
• Maximilian Tayenthal – Co-Founder, N26;
• Teddy Zee – COO, MintNFT; and more…

Over 500 international start-ups will exhibit their latest products at 4YFN, and over 200 will pitch at the 4YFN Discovery Area Pitching Stage, aiming to secure funding from leading funds, VCs, and CVCs to support the next phase of their journey.

The 4YFN Awards 2022
Part of the GSMA’s Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO Awards), the 4YFN Awards aims to find the best digital start-ups from around the globe. This year’s five finalists are Authena, Nax Solutions, IDUN Technologies, Citibeats, and ROYBI Roboi. Selected by a panel of industry experts and investors, who follow criteria such as impact, innovation, and scalability, these finalists will now have the opportunity to pitch their projects on stage, with the winners receiving a booth at 4YFN MWC Barcelona 2023.

Sponsors at 4YFN
4YFN is supported by platinum sponsor BStartup Banco Sabadell, host sponsors ACCIÓ from the Government of Catalonia, Barcelona Activa (Barcelona City Council), ICEX / red.es from the Government of Spain, and Mobile World Capital Barcelona. The headline sponsors in 2022 are CaixaBank – dayOne, Esade and Wayra, Telefónica Innovation.

About GSMA

The GSMA is a global organization unifying the mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation foundational to positive business environments and societal change. Our vision is to unlock the full power of connectivity so that people, industry, and society thrive. Representing mobile operators and organizations across the mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good, Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach. This activity includes advancing policy, tackling today’s biggest societal challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability that make mobile work, and providing the world’s largest platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and M360 series of events.

We invite you to find out more at gsma.com.

About 4YFN

4YFN is the start-up event of the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry, GSMA MWC. Our goal is to support start-ups, investors, and companies to connect and launch new business ventures together.

SOURCE GSMA

Media Contacts: GSMA Press Office, pressoffice@gsma.com; +44 (0) 7816 129959