Menorca Millennials Brought 20 Startups To A Tiny Island In The Mediterranean

It’s not Ibiza, and it’s definitely not Mallorca. The peaceful island of Menorca was host to some of the biggest names of the global tech ecosystem for the last 20 days to bring a unique style of mentoring to 20 of the most promising startups from around the world. The founders of Menorca Millennials, Ricard Garriga and Marcos Martin, wanted to give entrepreneurs a chance to escape their day-to-day grind and focus on their next big idea while living on a secluded Mediterranean island. “We don’t pretend to be another accelerator program, in fact we are a decelerator”, says Garriga.

More than 300 startups applied to enter the June 2015 program, and only 20 were selected. They aimed to invite entrepreneurs who had a successful exit with a previous company, had a technical background, built a ‘disruptive’ business model and were ‘sustainably-minded.’

“I have seen all types of accelerators. What is DIFFERENT about MM is not just the location, but the combination of work, play, relaxation and cultural exchange that is BUILT INTO the program. It is integral to the value proposition for the entrepreneurs and the great ‘’faculty” we have attracted from around the world,” said Jerry Engel, venture investor, founder of the Entrepreneurship programs at the Haas School of Business, and also advisor at MM.

“MM has been really worth it since you have access to many brilliant people, not only investors and speakers, but the other startups’ teams as well. Being 20 days together with them is very inspiring and worth any minute,” Julio Izquierdo, CEO & co-founder of Packagepeer, that is solving the problems of people who are not at home to take delivery of online purchase.

Combined, the Menorca Millennials companies have an overall valuation of $136 million and are seeking to raise $27 million. Some of the investors in the island were Martin Varsavsky (Jazztel, Fon), Manel Adell (pervious CEO, Desigual), Sam Friend (Wotif group), Di-Ann Eisnor (Waze), Dan Hoffman (M5 Networks) and Elías Campo (Whatsapp).

At the end of the program, entrepeneurs were asked

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to give a 3-minute presentation in front of the investors, without the crutch of a PowerPoint presentation. They were encouraged to tell personal stories and convince investors why they were worthy of their time and investment. Among the participating startups there is the UK-based Babelverse, a cross-cultural communication enabling platform, which will soon launch its new website and API; Eyetok (Barcelona), a real-time video streaming app, or Bitcoin startup BTCPoint, which developed an API to support Bitcoin operations from standard ATMs (also from Barcelona). For the full lineup of participating startups in the inaugural Menorca Millennials event, check out the complete list here.