Banco Santander and Oxentia Foundation are seeking startups and scaleups with innovative and scalable solutions using blockchain technology for a new global challenge.
The duo has produced ‘Santander X Global Challenge’, a new global challenge aimed at blockchain startups and scaleups from Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the US, Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Poland, the UK and Uruguay with an innovative and technology-based product.
The aim is to support innovation and improve productivity and employment, as well as to solve problems relevant to society.
Suitable solutions will address issues such as improving user privacy and security in blockchain networks, boosting decentralised finance (DeFi) – without financial intermediaries – and tokenisation (digital representation in the blockchain) and enhancing and expanding digital interactions with users through concepts such as Web3 and the metaverse.
The three winning startups are set to receive €10,000 each and €30,000 for the three best scaleups. They will also have access to ‘Santander X 100‘, Santander X’s global community of start-ups, which connects them to the resources they need to grow. This includes advice and training, capital, customers, talent, networking and other valuable resources.
Coty de Monteverde, head of the crypto and blockchain centre of excellence at Banco Santander, highlights that “blokchain technology has the potential to revolutionise the world.”
She comments: “Increasingly, different sectors see the ability of this technology to redefine and enhance their business models.
“There is still a long way to go before blockchain is definitively installed in the daily life of people and companies, and at Santander Universities we want to give visibility and help startups and scaleups with innovative solutions in the use of this technology.”
A group of international experts will assess the entrepreneurs’ solutions, selecting 20 finalists who will take part in a pitch day to present their projects to a specialised panel. Following which, six winners will be selected, three startups and three scaleups.
Steve Cleverley, CEO of Oxentia Foundation, says that “at Oxentia, helping entrepreneurs address global challenges, provide innovative solutions, and promote adoption of new and disruptive technologies is at the heart of our work.
“The Oxentia Foundation is therefore delighted to be working in partnership with Santander X to launch a new global challenge. We are looking forward to hearing from entrepreneurs across the Santander footprint with the very best cutting-edge technology and transformational solutions and wish all applicants the very best of luck.”
