The 1st edition of Gaming Startup Retreat has officially begun!

On Monday, March 13th, 9 startups arrived at Colégio dos Jesuítas at the heart of Funchal’s city, which will be their new headquarters for the next 6 weeks.

Hosting the Launch Event was Ricardo Gonçalves, Community Manager at Startup Madeira, who warmly and enthusiastically presented the program.

In this first edition we have 11 different nationalities will be with us (wow!) with a total of 20 participants.

Ivan Barroso – Lead PlayStation® First Project Manager at GameNest® Lisbon – spoke to our entrepreneurs about what building better games dev proposals and what has been done in the market. He explained his path, what made him emerge in the gaming industry and what are the opportunities and main challenges out there.

To properly introduce and welcome Startups from this year’s edition, Carlos Soares Lopes, CEO of Startup Madeira, joined by Micaela Vieira – Project Manager of Startup Madeira – called each startup to the stage and presented them with a symbolic remote controller, which represents the start of a new game, new opportunities, progress and a new chapter for them.

And so, one by one, we welcomed 3Hills (Montenegro), Avagames (Iran), Black Cube Games (Latvia), Dibulo(Switzerland), LaPalmaFC (Argentina), Parampará (Brazil), UINSIDE (Russia), Wildchain (Singapora) and Zapiens (Spain).

After enjoying a coffee-break and meeting the office space, we welcomed Joana Geraldes Barba – Program Manager at NOVA SBE Haddad Entrepreneurship Institute – who guided an interesting and amusing “Speed Dating” activity between the Startups and the Local Hosts.

To end the day in the best way, we walked through some of Funchal’s most emblematic streets and places and ended at Poncharia for a Networking & Poncha Experience, where entrepreneurs got to learn how the regional drink is made and enjoy the rest of the day.

What an amazing way to launch this pioneer project!

Check out all of the photos HERE!