BtoBe Demo Day brings together opinion-makers and designers in Sao Paulo

Young Gabriela Braga very confidently introduced her brand, Gabrie.lab, under the watchful eyes of big name professionals in the fashion world, in an auditorium packed with over 80 people. She kicked off the evening for the 1^st BtoBe Demo Day, a name that comes from Demonstration Day, as used by technology startups. Promoted by Texbrasil – the Brazilian Fashion Industry Internationalization Program, developed by Abit in partnership with Apex-Brasil – the goal of the event is to let companies present their business ideas to investors and other stakeholders  in order to raise funds and find partners.

The event was held at Abit headquarters in Sao Paulo and also included pitches from the Helen Rödel, Japonique Comas, Reptilia and Trendt brands. The brands all underwent a process of acceleration in the last five months that was conducted by Tropos Lab. During this process, entrepreneurs are submitted to a heavy volume of information, consulting and mentorships during a short time span, so that they can develop hypotheses about their companies, products and customers and find an economically sustainable business model. “It was an amazing experience that made me look at many aspects of my brand,” says Helen Rödel, of her eponymous brand. “We were able to grow together and learn from each other’s experiences,” added Gabriela.

The team of mentors included important professionals: Alexandre Bio Veiga (Básico.com), Anaisa Brito (Buscapé), Andrea Bisker (Sparkoff), Camila Yahn (FFW), Carlos Mello (4 Legacy), Karine Liotino (Abit), Marco Oliveira (Google), Mario Viana (M360/Casa de Criadores), Paulo Conegero (Farfetch) and Renata Iwamizu (Moovexx). “I was positively impressed with the brands’ presentations, which proved to be quite mature on both the business side and in creative concepts,” said Andrea Bisker, CEO at Sparkoff.

After the individual presentations, the mentors visited the showroom each brand had set up at the location to exchange ideas and give feedback. The night also included a debate on “Fashion today: a new (dis)order,” with Andrea Bisker, Paulo Conegero, Camila Yahn, Carla Ribeiro and Alexandre Bio Veiga. Texbrasil also announced the new participants for the new stage of the project: the Ocksa (RS), Larsan (DF) and Femman (MG) brands. “I have a lot of questions about the business management side, which is why I’m so anxious to start to go through this process,” says designer and entrepreneur Daniel Larsan. In each cycle, the companies stay with the project for one year, during which the go through countless brand development activities.

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