VTEX Retail Tech Award: Demo Day
This is how the Demo Day went in Barcelona
Yesterday we experienced one of those moments that perfectly capture what it means to build within the startup ecosystem.
The Demo Day of the VTEX Retail Tech Award, powered by Bcombinator, brought together at VTEX’s offices some of the most promising startups in the retail-tech vertical, all with a shared goal: to showcase their ability to transform the industry… and compete for the €15,000 prize and the opportunity to become strategic partners.
But beyond the prize, what stood out was ambition, execution, and a strong focus on solving real problems.
A Demo Day with a real focus on business
The format was clear: straightforward pitches, no frills, where each startup had to answer one key question:
How are you truly impacting retail?
From AI-driven eCommerce solutions to logistics optimization, marketing automation, and data intelligence, the level was particularly strong. These weren’t just ideas — they were products already in motion.
Among the participating startups were:
ComexSoft, CIRQUEL, SendingBay, Kanguro Delivery, Datafine AI, Shoptimus AI, STARTTI AI, Epinium, byNeural, Sense, AdMotion.ai, lovi.ai, ZeroPact, Semantico, Cobox Logistic, Logistics WMS, Tinkery y Routal.
Each with different approaches, but with one thing in common: technology applied to improving efficiency, conversion, or the retail experience.
An active jury: going beyond listening to validate
The Demo Day wasn’t just a round of presentations.
The jury, composed of members from VTEX and Bcombinator, played an active role throughout the session: listening closely to each pitch, asking key questions, and diving deeper into the critical aspects of each solution.
This process is no coincidence.
The questions, the debate, and the interaction help build a real scoring system, evaluating not only the quality of the product, but something even more important:
the fit of each startup within the ecosystem and VTEX’s needs.
Because here, it’s not just about innovation—
it’s about the ability to integrate and generate real value for customers.
The sessions continue: the process is still underway
The process doesn’t end here.
Today (April 10), the program continues with online sessions featuring new startups such as: Optifeed, UTRY, Nembol, Druo, and Twintual.
These sessions complement the evaluation process and help identify the finalists who will move on to the next phase.
What comes next?
The Demo Day marks a key milestone in the program’s roadmap—but not the end.
From here, a much more strategic phase begins:
- Selection of finalists (5–10 startups)
- Launch of pilot projects with corporates
- Technical support and connection with real customers
- Build and validation in a real-world environment (April–September)
- Selection of the winner in September
This is the phase where real value is truly created.
Where startups stop presenting… and start integrating into the market.
Beyond the prize: building real partnerships
The VTEX Retail Tech Award isn’t designed just to identify talent.
It’s designed for something more important:
to build lasting relationships between startups and corporates.
Because in retail-tech, real breakthroughs don’t come from technology alone,
but from its ability to integrate, scale, and generate real impact.
And that only happens when there is collaboration.
One more step in building the ecosystem
From Bcombinator, this type of initiative reinforces a key idea:
The future of retail isn’t built by a single player,
but through collaboration between startups, corporates, and investors.
The Demo Day was a clear example of that.
And the most interesting part…
is that this has only just begun.