User:JonathanMayUK/Wayra

Wayra is a Latin-American and European seed-stage startup funding firm, established in April, 2011 as a division of the Spanish telecommuncations provider Telefónica. "Wayra", is a Quechua word which translates as ‘changing wind’. The firm is part of the recently formed Telefónica Digital Unit. It was launched by Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, former Telefónica Latin America CEO and now CEO of Telefónica Europe, in response to the lack of available support for the growing number of innovative start ups in Latin America.

Services
It provides financing, mentoring, access to technology expertise within Telefónica and use of purpose-built Wayra Academies to technology start-ups. Successful projects initially spend six months in a Wayra Academy, receiving help to accelerate their business and technical support to further develop their ideas. In exchange, they take an average of about 10% of the company's equity. To date Wayra has received over 8000 submissions and provided financing to over 100 start ups.

Wayra is present in 13 countries: seven are in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela), and six are in Europe (United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic and two in Spain).

Application process
Start-ups can submit their projects to Wayra on an online form. Successful projects are then invited to attend WayraWeeks, where they pitch to an independent panel.