• The agreement will allow the Catalan energy and telecommunications company to connect with startups in Barcelona’s entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem.

• ERIA has a budget of 600,000 euros for 2024 and has already launched an equity-free acceleration programme for energy, telecommunications and Smart Home startups.

Barcelona, 10 April 2024. – Estabanell, a historic Catalan energy and telecommunications company, has joined Tech Barcelona as a Corporate Partner through ERIA, its new corporate venturing company created to foster collaboration with the entrepreneurial ecosystem, promote projects with third parties and, beyond internal innovation, reduce the development and time to market of new solutions to a minimum. The agreement will allow Estabanell to connect with startups in Barcelona’s technological and digital ecosystem represented by the association.

ERIA, which has a budget of 600,000 euros for 2024, promotes an equity-free acceleration programme aimed at pre-seed and seed startups in the energy, telecommunications and Smart Home sectors. During the six-month programme, the selected startups will receive business and sector-specific support from professionals from the Estabanell Group and AtticoLab’s network of mentors. In addition, the startups will receive direct support of up to €10,000 non-refundable and access to the infrastructure of the different companies of the Estabanell Group to test concepts and technology aimed at the customer and the responsible and sustainable development of society.

The three challenges posed in the first edition of Eria’s acceleration programme are linked to renewable energy generation, energy distribution and the commercialisation of energy and telecommunications services. The call for startups is open until 29 April.

Josep Solé, director of ERIA, assures that “ERIA is another step forward in Estabanell’s historical commitment to innovation. We want to work side by side with innovation agents, which is why the alliance with Tech Barcelona is fundamental for us to get even more involved with the tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem. We want to be a benchmark platform for startups linked to the energy, telecommunications and Smart Home sectors, which will find a strategic partner in ERIA”.

For Miquel Martí, CEO of Tech Barcelona, “Estabanell is a clear example of how a company with a heritage of more than 100 years is capable of betting on the present and looking to the future. Its open innovation model involves startups to create new disruptive technological solutions and ultimately fosters the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem”.