Telefónica on Thursday launched Wayra X, a global innovation hub to hyper-scale B2C products via users and corporate partners.
Wayra X is Wayra’s (the start-up incubation and accelerator platform of Telefónica) first 100% digital hub designed to invest globally in 100% digital startups. These startups will all work remotely on the development of a mass consumer digital product that can reach millions of users, regardless of the geographical area.
Telefónica has also launched a second initiative, Wayra Builder. This is a Corporate Venture builder whose aim is to capitalize on Telefónica’s internal talent and technology to create innovative startups in partnership with external investors.
Wayra X seeks to invest in startups anywhere in the world, beyond the countries in which Telefónica operates, in order to improve people’s lives through the latest technology. Wayra X will be home to projects aimed at mass markets in areas such as 5G, e-health, e-learning, the digital home, entertainment, mobility, and the future of work, and which have a product prototype on the market that can be offered to Telefónica’s customers all around the world.
This new digital hub is born with two startups in its portfolio, and plans to invest in another 10 by the end of 2021:
BlaBla (Shanghai) is an online education platform supported by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technology which, by means of short videos, helps students of English to connect with content produced by native speakers.
Peoople (Madrid) is an app for discovering recommendations of friends and popular influencers on different topics, including books, restaurants, music and all kinds of experiences.
Andrés Saborido, Global Director of Wayra
In the entrepreneurial world, the most successful companies are capable of solving a specific problem brilliantly, in other words, those capable of clearing an X. At Wayra X we look for companies focused on mass markets that are able to provide technological solutions for problems affecting millions of people.
