Bewarket looks for funding at Silicon Valley

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Bewarket is the name of the social trade project created by a group of young Portuguese entrepreneurs. The project was highlighted at the “Portugal Inovador” (Innovative Portugal) pavilion of the “Plug and Play Tech Center”, the largest incubator at Silicon Valley. By the end of the year, the Portuguese team wants to become stronger in California and obtain a North American venture capital investment.

“A shopping mall in Facebook”. Social trade, which places social networks at the service of e-commerce, was the innovative concept which allowed the creators of bewarket to settle, for three months, in the “Portugal Inovador” (Innovative Portugal) pavilion at the “Plug and Play Tech Center”, the largest incubator at Silicon Valley (United States of America). “This is the greatest technology centre in the planet. There we will establish contacts, promote our visibility and contact with people who can give us advice on how to improve our strategy”, explains Marco Barbosa (team leader). At Silicon Valley since 19 October 2012, the team aims at obtaining a North American venture capital investment by the end of the year.

The bewarket app allows people to buy and sell products on Facebook, always guaranteeing a smooth and reliable process. The app’s users can recommend products to friends, see the best offers in different geographical areas, donate percentages of the sales to charity, resell products from other vendors and gain commissions on those products. The project’s creators, all under 30 years of age, have discovered a business opportunity in times of economic crisis. “People are starting to be more selective regarding the objects they no longer use and so they want to make some money from them. Furthermore, those who want to purchase always look for better business deals and for that they consider used objects in good condition”, Marco Barbosa states. And he challenges Portuguese youngsters: “If you want to achieve something, you must try. Take chances, try and fight … I guarantee that in the end it’ll all be worth it!”

In Portugal, the bewarket is receiving support from the TEC-Empreende project, which joined INESC Porto and ANJE as partners. This partnership is funded as part of the Support System for Science and Technology Clusters and Technology-based Incubators, within the Regional Operational Programmes for Mainland Portugal, of the National Strategic Reference Framework 2007-2013 (NSRF).

  Curiosities:

• Webankor, Lda. (the company holding the project) was created on 30 January 2012, at the Instituto Empresarial do Minho (the Minho Business Institute), in Braga, Portugal; 
• The bewarket app was created by former students of the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), all under 30 years of age; 
• The bewarket app won the GSI Accelerators AIDA Startup Challenge 2012; 
• Investment: 70 thousand Euros (equity investment) + 10 thousand Euros (capital put up by investors)

ComputerWorld Online, 27 November 2012