The company We Circular was announced as the winner of the Argentina National Final of the Entrepreneurship World Cup 2024. The event, organized with the support of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, took place at the Metropolitan Design Center (CMD).
The national winner will now have the opportunity to represent Argentina in the world finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There it will compete with 99 projects from other countries for cash prizes of up to one million dollars, and in-kind support.
We Circular was chosen as the winner of the Cup that pitted 11 projects from different Argentine provinces against each other. Santiago Totaro, representative of the winning venture, explained:
“We are a company that started in 2021. We focus on addressing the problem of single-use plastic pollution through the development and replacement of traditional plastic with water-soluble technologies. We are happy, very happy and very honored with the recognition in this contest and with the possibility of having reached this stage.”
The event was attended by the Minister of Economic Development, Roberto Garcia Moritán; the representative of GEN in Argentina, Jorge Lawson; officials of the Nation and the province of Córdoba, among others.
In addition, three runners-up were chosen who will also be able to compete for the biggest prizes via repechage:
- Apolo Biotech (Santa Fe): modulate plant and pathogen genes using stabilized exogenous RNAs, offering solutions to increase agricultural productivity.
- Avatar Medtech (Buenos Aires): develop medical devices to reconstruct aortic and pulmonary valves using autologous tissue.
- Gisens Biotech (Buenos Aires): revolutionizes the monitoring of patients with chronic diseases through intelligent diagnostic devices.
“It is a joy for us to bring to the City an event that rewards and recognizes the efforts of entrepreneurs. These types of competitions open doors and create opportunities for them. Thousands of Buenos Aires residents carry out entrepreneurship in multiple sectors every day and from the Ministry we work to help them grow and generate quality employment,” said the head of the Economic Development portfolio, Roberto García Moritán.
Jorge Lawson, representative of the Global Entrepreneurship Network in Argentina, said: “I thank the City for its commitment to helping us organize this event, which is world-class and allows our entrepreneurs to compete with the best in the world. Today's winner enters an elite group that, beyond the result at the World Cup, will have their lives changed forever. GEN provides this group with opportunities, training and potential investors.”
The panel of judges in charge of selecting the winners was made up of prominent personalities from the business and government fields, including Silvia Torres Carbonell, Ezequiel Mesquita, Laura Jure, Natalia Yubel, Rodolfo Llanos, Gonzalo Leiva, Pablo Gutierrez Oyhanarte and Paulo Cassinerio.
The rest of the eleven competitors in this Argentine final for the 2024 Entrepreneurship World Cup were:
- Bio Metallum (CABA): biomining startup that designs biomagnetic solutions for the efficient extraction of lithium and critical metals.
- CUX AI (Buenos Aires): AI-powered emotional health assistant that offers support 24 hours a day.
- Diagnose Telemedicine (Rosario): integrates software and hardware to build smart medical offices that democratize access to primary care.
- Innova Space (Mar del Plata): development of satellites to improve access to communications and food supply.
- Limay Bioscience (Buenos Aires): biotechnological diagnostics using CRISPR and LAMP technologies for fast and accurate results.
- Mentalgram (Buenos Aires): mental health platform that offers psychology, psychiatry and nutrition sessions, improving adherence to treatments.
- Ulifeon (Córdoba): mobile application that creates a humanized and personalized health system.