New roles within the P18 team, Gen.8’s Demo Day, and more to catch up on!

Change is 2020’s motto. This year has transformed many things. From the way we live our daily lives to the way we work. Though disrupting, these changes have also paved new roads of opportunity. And that premise, transformation, and opportunity, also applies to parallel18.

As announced earlier this month, after serving as parallel18’s Executive Director for the last five years, Sebastian Vidal has transitioned to a role within our parent organization, the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, as its first Chief Innovation Officer, while our former Operations Manager, Eduardo Padial, has assumed the role of Operations Director.

You can read more about the transition here. The P18 team feels thrilled and excited to hop on this new adventure. To Sebastián, whom we admire as a leader that has left a mark in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem: we have all learned so much from your vision and work ethic and we will continue to do so because that’s the culture you’ve left us to work around.

Looking back, in just four years of operations, we reviewed more than 4,000 applications from entrepreneurs from 60 countries; we multiplied early-stage investments on the island; we supported companies that are now generating a combined US $100 mm in annual revenue, and developed projects with Facebook, NASA, and Google.

With Gen.8’s Demo Day around the corner and new generation of #pre18ners, the hard work and achievements continue. We’re as committed as ever to carry on the baton with enthusiasm and passion for parallel18’s mission to provide the very best growth opportunities to all of our program participants and alumni.

It’s going to be an amazingly crazy ride and we’re counting on your continued support to impact our entrepreneurial community. For a start, you can catch up with the latest from our team and our startups by scrolling down.

We’ll see you (virtually) in Gen.8’s Demo Day!

It’s that time of the year again! #P18DemoDay is back on October 2nd from 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm (AST/UTC-4) and this time it’s meant to celebrate our first ever all-Puerto Rican cohort which also happens to be the first generation of the program to run its course in a completely virtual format.

You, of course, are invited to *virtually* join this event which will include three awards; a special talk for founders on How to Engage with an Angel Investor with Gino Villarini, founder and president of aeronet; and of course the chance to get the first-hand experience with innovative startups as they share their biggest milestones from the past five months. Remember this is your chance to support high-impact entrepreneurship in times when we need it the most. See you then!

Meet our new Outreach Manager, Menchu Agueros!

Our team keeps welcoming new talent! After having the position vacant since March, such a crucial role within our organization could only go to a person like Menchu Agueros, whom we’re happy to introduce to our community as our new Outreach Manager.

Menchu has been in the Public Relations and Communications industry since 2001. She served as Account Supervisor for The Big Think Group public relations firm since 2005, after assisting as a business developer and account executive in various special events and advertising agencies such as Milestone Events and PromoAge. She has collaborated in numerous public relations campaigns in the health, telecommunications, entertainment, and food and beverage industry.

She defines herself as a logistical architect responsible for orchestrating many challenging grand scale events and their exposure in local and international media. Among the projects and accounts, she has worked for are T-Mobile, Forward Summit 2018, PR Clinical Research Summit 2018 & 2019, PR Heineken JazzFest, PR Heineken International Regatta, Major League Baseball PR Series Games (Minnesota vs Cleveland), Serie del Caribe 2020, among others. She also was involved with network TV production, working as Contestant Manager Director for Telemundo US and Univision Miami.

Menchu has a bachelor’s degree in Hispanic Studies with a minor in History from the University of Puerto Rico, and a master’s degree in Communications from the University of Sacred Heart.

We’re beyond happy to have her as part of our P18 family and we hope you will all join us in giving her the warmest of welcomes to our network.

More highlights in a nutshell

• Our biggest congratulations to pre18’s newly selected Gen.3: Cuela, Salón Boricua, BASED LLC, Corewell, Remora, BOON AutoParts, Evocare, Löfte Natural Care, VitaRx LLC, Caproni, Seed Law LLC, HALLÒ App, Pintá, Pal Muakiti, A MEDIAS, Zeerez, WindowME, VeoVeo Studios, Materia Madura, Paperwork, Vestigium Environmental, Cacao 360 (Semila), TerraFirma, Vive la Van, RumRatings, Arrecife Beachwear, Maranta Power, 9millones, Patria Tours, VITAL, Little Things, TALE, CRANEeH, Surgical Nutrition Solutions, Poltags, Equal Love, Bana, Pryze Piloto Mail, GearPrices, Don Rifa, and Genzier. FUN FACT: 45% of them are female-led, while industries ranging from e-commerce and biotechnology.
• Last month we held an amazing first-ever event for all of our startups: “Crossover Investments: America’s Overview” served as a panel — in collaboration with Chile Global Ventures — to cross insights about the current interests of investors all over the Americas. The event — of which both Gen.8 as well as #P18Alumni participated — helped answer questions regarding the future of investment and the current panorama. All in order to enrich the founders’ overview on the matter and, in turn, strengthen their fundraising strategies.
• We’d like to thank #P18Mentors Niniane Wang, Board Member to Serena & Lily, and Angela Lee, Chief Innovation Officer at Columbia Business School, for participating in this month’s “A Seat at The Table” sessions. The project consists of sessions that feature female leaders sharing their business wisdom with our female-led #P18Startups and #P18Alumni focused on giving their insights and best practices on how to overcome hurdles that can come along the way for women founders.
• Gen.4 #P18Alumnus BrainHi’s efficient response to the COVID-19 crisis led to a 2X increase in sales on their AI solutions during the pandemic. El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico’s biggest publication has picked up BrainHi’s growth for a feature in its Business section. Read the piece here.
• Gen.4’s #P18Alumnus re:3D was selected as the company of the year by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). The company is being highlighted alongside the “fathers of the Internet” as they are inducted into the association’s Hall of Fame. Learn more about what the award entails here. Plus! The startup’s COVID response work and research continue! For the last couple of months, re:3D’s co-founder Matthew Fiedler has been consulting and printing the NASA JSC low-cost ventilator concept for refinement, which was recently highlighted in this NASA publication.
• Gen.6’s #P18Ventures investee EduSynch announced they officially have over 300,000 registered users in over 200 countries. Loud claps for the team! We can’t wait to see them continue their expansion.
• Gen.7’s Argentinian social venture Nilus keeps growing its network of food providers in Puerto Rico adding B. Fernández & Hnos, Inc. to the list of distributors, a connection made through our Corporate Innovation Program, P18Connect, led by Cristina Tamayo.

YOU’RE ALL SET! A lot has been happening, but this is about it, for now! If you’d like to keep up with us, remember to stay tuned to our social media for further updates as the month passes by or subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

We’ll see you soon. Stay safe! :)