A unicorn is a startup that has reached a valuation of one billion dollars or more. Who wouldn’t want to become a unicorn? Increased recognition and credibility, attraction of capital and talent, and greater market competitiveness are just some of the advantages a startup achieves with this valuation.
Therefore, at Startup Valencia, we aim to bring all possible experiences and learnings to the Valencian ecosystem to facilitate the scaling of our startups to reach this goal. To achieve this, we have launched the ‘Unicorn Experiences‘ series, where national and international unicorns will share knowledge and advice from their journeys.
The first session of the series took place yesterday at La Harinera and focused on scaling in sales and team. Two leading unicorns, Qonto and Remote, shared their experiences in these areas and answered attendees’ questions.
Karina Virrueta, Head of Innovation Ecosystem at Startup Valencia, and Lucía Calabria, Deputy Director of Entrepreneurship at Las Naves, were responsible for welcoming the event.
Pol Bernat, Sales Director of Qonto Spain, explained the company’s history, which was founded in 2017 to operate in the French market and started its expansion across Europe two years later, becoming the European leader in digital banking for SMEs and freelancers. In 2020, it reached 100,000 clients; in 2021, it was included in the Next40, the French index of scale-ups poised to become the major companies of the future; in 2022, it closed a record investment round of 486 million euros and acquired Penta, its main competitor in Germany. Recently, it acquired Regate, the French solution specialized in accounting firms, and today it has over 450,000 clients and more than 1,400 employees.
For Bernat, the key for Qonto to scale in sales is to make Sales the central department of the company, feeding the rest with real market feedback. He also emphasized the importance of company culture, which at Qonto is “working with passion.”
Beatriz Iborra, Territory Manager Iberia at Remote, presented this global human resources platform that helps companies find, hire, manage, and pay their entire team, adapting human resources to the current global economy. The company was founded in 2019 and currently has a workforce of over 2,000 employees and a presence in more than 100 countries. Its investment rounds total more than 500 million dollars, with a valuation of over 3 billion dollars.
Iborra pointed out that to scale, the team must be very flexible at the beginning and then more specialized. She also highlighted three fundamental pillars in the growth of human resources: the ability to attract talent, agility in onboarding through automation, and company values, where kindness is key.
After these presentations, Pol Bernat and Beatriz Iborra sat down to chat with José J. Burgos from Fresh People and María Luke from Uelz, members of the Startup Valencia Seed Committee; and Vicent Martí from Streamloots, from the Growth Committee, to further delve into the most important aspects of scaling a startup.
The event concluded with a networking session where attendees could converse with the speakers and exchange experiences and advice.
