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On October 12th, around 10 in the morning, Bogotá was ready to place its best entrepreneurs in the ring, for them to create new fans and battle for a place in the Global Final. After a thrilling fight, LentesPlus finally delivered the knockout pitch and here’s how it went.
The atmosphere felt tense as the 6 opponents, who were selected to pitch on stage, prepared for battle. These 6 entrepreneurs already left almost 50 startups behind them, after a thorough pitch training and selection round. After the venue has been filled with visitors, David Luna – Minister of Information and Communications Technology (Ministry of ICT) rang the bell to start the live battles, but not before he reminded the entrepreneurs of their ferocity, courage and ingenuity.
The first two entrepreneurs put on their gloves and entered the ring under a standing ovation. The first battle started with Diego Jaramillo from LentesPlus, a company that distributes contact lenses and glasses all over the country (including inaccessible regions), as well as providing medical and visual services through a mobile application. Up against Lentesplus was Duván Mejia from Biveomakers, a startup from Barranquilla that helps you find the best video makers and provides advice on any type of audiovisual production. Biveomakers however couldn’t take the blows from LentesPlus, who claimed the first victory of the day, thanks to its social commitment.
The second battle was starring Julian Melo from Ubits – the ‘Netflix’ of personal training in Latin America, and Felipe Suarez from ListaEnCasa.com – an e-commerce website with all books that children need to buy for school. For this battle the decision was divided, but the winner was Ubits for its growth potential and market presence over the years.
There were still two competitors: in the right corner, Diego de la Ossa from GoCargo. This project aims to help more than 250,000 carriers in the country selling their inputs at prices below the market through transportation optimization. On the left was DrillApp, an innovative application for the major oil companies, providing them with an opportunity to easily make their financial reports. After five intense rounds, GoCargo took the victory despite the hard blows by drillApp.
The final battle was between the winners of the first rounds: LentesPlus, Ubits and GoCargo. For this stage, they pitched in three final rounds: the first 30 seconds on their startup, the second on answering a question of the Champion jury members and the last 30 seconds were about the final punch on why they should win and the other two had to lose. The intensity of combat was growing, as each of the startups was giving its all. Blow after blow, the benefits seemed nil. Everything depended on the decision of the Champion jury members.
Who they were? Juan Sebastian Rozo, vice minister of ICT; Carlos Castaneda, Director at Wayra Colombia; Camilo Montes, Manager Branch Bogotá, Cundinamarca and Boyaca ANDI; and Alejandro Delgado, Consultant in economics and digital transformation in the CRC. After a final deliberation, LentesPlus took the prize and was crowned as the best startup of more than 47 that were presented to Get in the Ring Apps.co to participate. Diego Jaramillo can’t hide his happiness:
“This is only a beginning of what we’ll achieve. Now the next challenge is to represent Bogotá at the Global Final of Get in the Ring”.
Tags: lentesplus