Wayra UK

Airtime in Ireland 🇮🇪 🎉 Thrilled to announce Airtime is LIVE in Ireland 🇮🇪 in partnership with Three! 🎉 Fantastic launch event this week in Dublin at The Leinster, bringing together retail leaders to explore how brands can connect with today's mobile-first shoppers. A special thanks to our longstanding client Tesco for sharing how Airtime is helping them to grow high value, hard to reach audiences in the UK, how loyalty is evolving, and what that means for retailers in the Irish market. We want to also thank Brian Dunne FCMA, FIH, CPIM, MBA,Fellow IMA, Josh Graham, Annika Fuchs, Peter Jenkinson and Siobhan Lynch, CLMP™, PMP for helping lead a brilliant afternoon of insight and discussion. And thank you to our guests who joined us! We're excited to build something great with our partners in Ireland and help drive retail sales. If you're looking to connect with Irish shoppers, reach out to our team! 🚀 #AirtimeIreland #RetailMarketing #IrishRetail #MobileFirst #RetailGrowth

🎉 Congratulations to Kyle Tsai on being named one of Global Corporate Venturing'(GCV) Top 50 Rising Stars 2025!   Each year, GCV recognizes the top 2% of professionals in corporate venturing worldwide, highlighting those who are making meaningful contributions to innovation and investment. We’re pleased to see Kyle’s work acknowledged on this list.   At Wayra UK, Kyle has been actively involved in advancing Telefónica’s venture investment strategy, supporting investments and identifying opportunities that drive long-term value. His contributions continue to strengthen our role in the global venture ecosystem.   We look forward to seeing his continued impact at Wayra & Telefónica.   📢 Full list of GCV Rising Stars 2025: https://lnkd.in/dxQTjgWf #CorporateVentureCapital #VentureCapital #CVC  

Join Remus this Thursday in a conversation on how to use partnerships to scale at South Summit Scale-Up Series Tour in London. He will share some of our bread and butter: how startups and corporations can drive partnerships that deliver mutual value and ultimately help startups scale. #CVC #CorporateVentureCapital #WeAreWayra #WeAreInvestors

Another year, another amazing 4YFN conference dedicated to the startup ecosystem within the MWC in Barcelona. Who is coming? #Wayra #CVC #4YFN #MWC2025

I am super proud to see one of my first investments at Wayra UK getting strategic investment from Wa'ed Ventures, the venture arm of aramco. The new investment will help Ori accelerate its expansion to Saudi Arabia and wider MENA region by launching a subsidiary in Riyadh. In this fast-growing AI market, their high-performance AI cloud solutions will help innovators and enterprises from the region advance their AI endeavours. Congrats Mahdi, Melissa and the brilliant team behind Ori.  #corporateventurecapital #CVC #AIInfrastructure

🚀 Excited to share that Wayra is hosting an exclusive roundtable at 4YFN, part of #MWC2025! 💡 Topic: "Corporate Venture Capital: Choosing the Right Investment Model for Growth" 📅 4 March | 12:15 - 13:00 In the realm of corporations investing in startups for innovation, the choice of investment model holds immense importance. Should companies invest directly from their balance sheet or establish a dedicated fund? Is a structured CVC team more effective than ad-hoc corporate investments? How can ROI be measured beyond financial gains? Join Wayra's interactive roundtable to delve into these crucial questions with top CVC leaders and corporates contemplating CVC initiatives. 🗣️ Thrilled to moderate this discussion with exceptional participants: ✅ Tamara Steffens – Managing Director, Thomson Reuters Ventures ✅ Marta Antunez – Investment Director, Wayra ✅ Juan Rubio Plumed – Investment Director, SC Net Zero Ventures ✅ Max Vogt – Investment Analyst, Swisscom Ventures ✅ Oliver Schmäschke Schmaschke – COO, T.Capital ✅ Enrique Dupuy de Lome Corchado – Director Venture Capital& Open Innovation, Hijos de Rivera, S.A.U. ✅ Vik Li – Investment Director, Ericsson Ventures ✅ Alberto Izquierdo – Head of MutuaVentures & Corporate Development, Mutua Madrileña ✅ Gabriel Cuervo – Innovation Director, SACYR Group ...and more to come! 🔹 Calling all corporate investors and companies eyeing startup investments to join us for invaluable insights and networking opportunities. ❗ Limited capacity for this session, exclusively for participants of the 4YFN Investors Programme. Looking forward to an enriching discussion on the future of AI-driven investments in Barcelona! #MWC2025 #4YFN #VentureCapital #CVC #InvestmentInnovation 🔗 Register

🌟 We’re excited to announce our participation alongside 190 VCs in the Europe-wide Female Founder Office Hours on April 3rd 2025, led by Playfair in collaboration with Microsoft for Startups. To date, this initiative has brought together over 2,800 founders for 12,000 one-on-one investor meetings across 12 editions! 🚀 If you're a female founder eager to connect with investors for pitching or mentorship, you can register here: https://lnkd.in/ehGJxktF Curious to learn more? Check out all the details about the event here: https://lnkd.in/ev7D-aE2 #officehours #femalefounders #diversity #inclusion #founders #vc #technology

🚀 Corporate Venture Capital is gaining momentum in Latin America 🚀 I’m excited to share a study on the state of Corporate Venturing in LatAm 2024, developed by Wayra in collaboration with Global Corporate Venturing. The report highlights how CVC is playing an increasingly important role in the region's innovation and startup ecosystem. 📊 Key insights from the report: 🌟 CVC is gaining influence: Its share of VC deals in the region grew from 10% (2020) to 15% in 2023. 📈 Rapid growth: The number of active CVC funds has doubled since 2020, reflecting a vibrant and expanding community. 🎯 Strategic focus: 74% of funds prioritize investments beyond their core business to prepare for future disruptions. 🌍 Global reach: While investing locally, 63% of funds invest in the U.S. and 50% in Europe, driving global innovation. 📎 You can find the full report attached to explore the rest of the insights and conclusions in depth. As professionals in Corporate Venture Capital, our mission is to build bridges between corporations and startups, identify opportunities, innovate in strategic sectors, and generate a positive impact. 🌟 📥 If you'd like to learn more, feel free to reach out or make a comment #CorporateVentureCapital #OpenInnovation #Wayra #CVC #LatAm #Innovation

🚀 Funding Alert: LetsData Secures $1.6M Seed Round! 💰 We are thrilled to announce that LetsData has raised $1.6M in a seed funding round, with investment from SMOK Ventures, Tilia Impact Ventures (supported by the InvestEU Fund), 1991 Ventures, Google for Startups Startups Ukraine Support Fund, Startup Wise Guys, Wayra (CVC arm of Telefonca) and a group of angel investors! This significant milestone will empower LetsData to continue revolutionizing InfoOps detection, combat misinformation, and tackle synthetic identity threats across major social media platforms like X, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. ⚡️ 💡 With their cutting-edge AI technology, LetsData is already trusted by leading organizations including the FCDO, British Embassies, NATO member armed forces, and top corporations across the U.S., UK, and Europe and has achieved over $1M in ARR—a testament to the trust and impact they've built in information operations management. 👫LetsData’s incredible founders, Ksenia Iliuk and Andriy Kusyy, embody resilience and determination, building and growing this venture amid the ongoing war in #Ukraine. Their collaboration and drive are making the digital world a safer, smarter, and more secure place for everyone. 🌍💪 I’m incredibly proud of the LetsData team and all they’ve accomplished! 🙌 👏 Huge congratulations to the LetsData team! I’m excited about what the future holds and look forward to continuing to work together to create meaningful change in the digital space. 🌟 Read more about this exciting journey: https://lnkd.in/dtedja-q Gonzalo 🚀 Pérez #LetsData #Wayra #WayraUK #AI #InfoOps #Misinformation #SeedFunding #Cybersecurity #TechInnovation #Ukraine #DigitalSecurity 🚀

This week, we hosted our Founders Day. At Wayra, we don't just back startups for their strategic fit; we back founders for their vision, grit, and capacity to reshape industries. Founders Day was all about creating a space to connect, listen, challenge and inspire. We designed this gathering to level up our portfolio founders as they navigate the incredible challenge of scaling their businesses. Big thanks to our speakers: - Bruno Moraes, Wayra UK Managing Director, for sharing how founders can leverage CVCs more in their strategies to scale. - Ann Hiatt, who worked closely with Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, for giving us a unique set of leadership principles from Silicon Valley scaling playbooks. - Tamara McMillen, reputable CRO executive, for taking our founders through your sales operations playbook and your insights on scaling sales operations.  - Sergio Budkin, our Wayra friend and former Telefonica and Virgin Media O2 executive, for your openness and practical advice on navigating enterprise sales. Events like this go beyond the metrics—they reinforce that success is as much about building communities as it is about building companies. To our founders: You are the heart of what we do. Your ambition inspires us every day. Telness Tech Ohalo Honest Mobile Aura Vision GiveVision minicabit Valerann Sensing Feeling Medwise AI Strawberry energy Red Sift Hubbub Fundraising Just Move In Backtrack - AI Booth Sales Assistant Policy in Practice Lucida Medical Ltd Rap Tech Studios Ltd. (Rap Fame app) Night Zookeeper We Are Group #CorporateVentureCapital #CVC #startups #scalingup #leadership #sales #founders #Wayra #WayraUK #FoundersDay