Ecosystem | Acceleration program

YUZZ evolves to Explorer, Banco Santander’s acceleration program

Explorer
  • The three best projects in the country receive 30,000, 20,000 and 10,000 Euro respectively.
  • With the arrival of its 9th edition, the acceleration program aims to boost the business ideas of more than 1,200 young people in Spain, Argentina and Portugal.
31/05/2019 | Sofia Shahabi

Explorer is the evolution of YUZZ, the program that promotes young talent, entrepreneurship and the creation of innovative initiatives. It is an initiative that was created in 2012 promoted by Banco Santander through Santander Universities and coordinated by the Centro Internacional Santander Emprendimiento (CISE).

The acceleration program is aimed at young people between the ages of 18 and 31 and offers support, training and advice for five months to develop innovative projects through its network of more than 200 expert professionals who provide training and personalized advice.

AWARDS FOR THE INITIATIVES WITH THE GREATEST POTENTIAL

The program, present in Spain, Portugal and Argentina, consists of training and mentoring with physical and virtual spaces in which to work and interact with the rest of the participants and has additional prizes for the initiatives with the greatest potential. Once the training process is finished, the young people with the best project of each Explorer Space make a trip to Silicon Valley where they can access financing forums, advice on internationalization and contact with investors.

Also, the three best projects in the country receive 30,000, 20,000 and 10,000 Euro respectively so that they can accelerate the development of their business, as well as the Woman Explorer Award and Disruptive Technology Explorer Award.

There have already been 8 editions of the program, in which the projects of more than 3500 entrepreneurs have been promoted and more than 500 companies have been created, among which Hawkers, Situm, Psious, Bioo or Nao Therapist stand out.

Thanks to this, Explorer has enjoyed the recognition of several awards, such as the Best European Practices Supporting Youth Self-Employment, granted by the European network ELISAN (European Network for Local Inclusion and Social Action), the Entreps Awards 2015 and the Nexostar 2016.

With the arrival of its 9th edition, the acceleration program aims to boost the business ideas of more than 1,200 young people in Spain, Argentina and Portugal.