Startup Usawa Care wins 10th edition of Cuatrecasas Acelera

Cuatrecasas Acelera, a program launched in 2016 to offer the firm’s legal expertise to startups with significant legal challenges, has closed its 10th edition, hosting Demo Day from its Barcelona office. This closing event saw seven selected startups (Emogg, Hair Up Laser, Iqana, Moradai, Stamp, Usawa Care, and Zenit Solar) present their respective projects before an expert panel who declared Usawa Care the winner.

Over the course of five intense months, Cuatrecasas offered the seven startups support in all areas of law necessary to boost growth in their respective business models. Professional mentors offered advice tailored and adapted to each project’s characteristics and needs, at a corporate and technological level. This year, the team of legal mentors was formed by the following lawyers: Albert Agustinoy and Ramon Baradat (specialists in intellectual property, technologies and digital media); Elena Cuatrecasas and Joana Silveira Botelho (pharmaceutical and healthcare sector); Ruth Duque (finance and insurance services); Íñigo Egea (digital asset taxation); Roger Freixes (M&A transactions); Félix Plasencia and Ignacio Giner (public law, energy and infrastructure); Miguel Sánchez Monjo (finance and fintech); and Micaela Izbicki (life science).

After the welcome address from Cuatrecasas CIO, Francesc Muñoz, the selected startups presented their projects’ progress before a panel comprising experts from the sector: Cuatrecasas’s honorary chair, Rafael Fontana; Francesc Muñoz; our partners Diana Rivera and Vasco Bivar de Azevedo; Gil Azevedo, executive director of Unicorn Factory Lisboa; Yolanda Pérez, director of BStartup and Hub Empresa at Banco Sabadell; and Carlos Grau, CEO of GIC.

The event included a keynote speech entitled “Lawyers, the first vibe coders,” delivered by Omar Puertas, Cuatrecasas partner and expert in AI implementation. During his speech, he addressed the challenges posed by the transition from generating content with AI to delivering reliable results, and shared what he has learned after several years of “vibe coding” in law.

To select the winning startup, the panel considered key factors such as the project’s value proposition, economic and social impact, its viability and scalability, the team involved in its creation and development, and its progress throughout the program. The final decision was unanimous: Usawa Care was chosen by the panel as the best project from this edition for its economic and social impact, the extensive experience and sector knowledge of the team responsible, the viability of the project, and its value proposition.

Usawa Care is a Portuguese healthtech offering families unlimited access to a pediatrician in under 15 minutes, every day, 24 hours a day. It works through a subscription model, connecting people to specialists through a chat. Its AI-supported system optimizes the efficiency and workload of doctors, guaranteeing security and high-quality care.

Rafael Fontana presented the award to Luís Almeida Fernandes, CEO of Usawa Care, who gave thanks for this recognition: “For us, winning Cuatrecasas Acelera means that what we do has value and it encourages us to keep working. It also opens up the possibility of promoting our project in Spain with greater strength and visibility. Participating in the program has enabled us to receive incredible legal support and establish very important relationships and contacts. We are very happy.”

After congratulating those responsible for the winning project, Francesc Muñoz thanked the event’s attendees and applauded the excellent uptake on this new edition: “After 10 editions, we remain convinced that innovation is built by supporting, listening to, and connecting talent. Cuatrecasas Acelera looks to the future with the same ambition as in its first edition: to help startups grow with legal certainty, sound judgment, and strategic vision.”

Once again, the program highlights the work done to promote open innovation, discover new business proposals, and encourage development and positioning in the market.

About Cuatrecasas Acelera

Cuatrecasas Acelera is an open innovation program through which the law firm Cuatrecasas offers its legal expertise to startups wanting to validate their legal strategy and accelerate their compliance process. Over a five-month period, the accelerator program drives them forward, providing legal assistance and facilitating connections with clients, funds and the innovative ecosystem.

The winning projects from previous years were: Nimble Diagnostics, the first microwave-based medical device (ninth edition); Emily.AI, a medtech that customizes oxygen therapy for respiratory care patients by using AI (eighth edition); Union Avatars, a software startup that creates realistic avatars in the metaverse for any platform (seventh edition); Bia Power, an energy startup that optimizes electric vehicle charging and the healthtech Match Trial that accelerates the inclusion of cancer patients in clinical trials (sixth edition); Menhir Financial, a platform that uses machine learning to help banks, funds and asset managers (fifth edition); TOQIO, a banking and financing startup (fourth edition); BlockTac, a certification app based on blockchain technology, and FuVeX, a startup implementing drones for companies and institutions (third edition); Validated ID, an electronic signature platform (second edition); and TheLogicValue, a fintech platform (first edition).