Sasha Ivanova and Valeria Panina, the founders of this Chilean project, believe that the most important thing when forming a team is to compensate the weaknesses of one team member with the strengths of another. El Referente magazine spoke to the two women about their plans to set up in Spain. They are doing this with the support of the Rising UP in Spain programme run by ICEX-Invest in Spain, which focuses specifically on attracting foreign entrepreneurs who want to establish themselves and grow in this country. The selected start-ups receive resources to help them develop their business project in Spain.

What has your experience with Rising UP in Spain been like?
The truth is we couldn't be happier. When we found out that ours was one of the 15 projects chosen from 350 entries - we quite literally cried tears of joy.

Firstly, the programme team helped us so much with the visa application process, preparing the documents and submitting them to the consulates.

They’re really good communicators, they always answer quickly and provide full information. We felt very well supported throughout the whole process.

They also helped us to understand the market in Spain, the tax system, how to set up and run the company and how to open the bank account, as well as explaining about other things that are important when expanding.

Why do you think there’s a need for this type of internationalisation support project?
For us it was very important to take a good look at our assumptions and project them onto the European market. In Latin America we were already strong, we had media clout and certain achievements behind us, but the European market was a complete unknown to us. That’s why taking part in this type of programme is such a great opportunity for start-ups to expand into overseas markets.

How are your plans going in Spain?
Our idea is to establish ourselves in three locations: Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante. The Intellectual Property Office is in Alicante, so it’s important for us to be in contact with them.

In which other countries or regions do you have a presence, and in which ones would you like to have one? What are your strategies?
We have a strong presence in Chile and Argentina. And we have various pilot schemes in the US and Russia. Our strategy is to always build around client needs. That means that if we have interesting clients who we can help, we go for it.

Where are you in terms of turnover, investment and growth? What support have you had so far?
We won the StartUp Chile programme twice, and raised a seed round from NEM Ventures. Our turnover is around $10,000 a month at the moment.

Source: El Referente
Read the full interview: SharpShark is a blockchain-powered SaaS that helps content creators to protect their intellectual property. (elreferente.es)

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