Entrepreneurship
and Innovation
Center

Issue #48

19 February 2026

From the growing strength of the LATAM search fund ecosystem in São Paulo, to frontier AI ventures mentoring through Creative Destruction Lab San Sebastian, our community is building and backing what’s next.

In this issue, we also celebrate MBA wins at the Venture Capital Investment Competition, explore what truly makes corporate venturing squads deliver results, and dive into research on how consumer solidarity can scale social impact. Plus, applications are open for IESE's fully funded PhD in Entrepreneurship.

Let’s get into it.

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center team.

Stories.

search funds.

IESE and Spectra host LATAM Search Fund Conference 2026 in Brazil

Last week, IESE Business School and Spectra Investments brought together the search fund community at IESE’s São Paulo campus for two days of insights, networking, and peer exchange. Bringing together searchers, investors, and practitioners, the Spectra-IESE LATAM Search Fund Conference highlighted the continued evolution of the LATAM ecosystem. 2025 LATAM data shows the ecosystem is maturing: since 2008, 169 funds have initiated fundraising, driving 59 acquisitions and 14 exits, with 69% of concluded searches resulting in an acquisition. Next stop: CEO and Investor summits in Munich in May.

technology transfer.

IESE drives AI deep-tech mentoring through CDL

Last week, Professor Sampsa Samila and IESE’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center delivered the second mentoring session of the Artificial Intelligence Stream of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), engaging early-stage AI ventures with world-class mentors to sharpen goals, prioritize resources, and accelerate growth. IESE's Liinus Hietaniemi and Mihalis Markakis also attended. The AI stream brings together experienced entrepreneurs, leading scientists and active investors to help scale startups built on cutting-edge AI technologies and transform research into commercial impact. With the next sessions scheduled for April at IESE's Barcelona Campus, CDL advances Europe’s frontier tech ecosystem through academic insight, entrepreneurial guidance, and real-world collaboration.

https://latamsfconference.spectrainvest.com/

corporate innovation.

Professor Joaquim Vilà Wins 2025 Innovation Award from Harvard Deusto

Professor Joaquim Vilà has been awarded the Best Innovation Article Award 2025 by Harvard Deusto Business Review for his article “Keys to implementing an impossible strategy: without innovation, only resignation remains.” This marks the second consecutive year he has earned this distinction. In the article, Professor Vilà argues that strategies often appear “impossible” due to analytical limits rather than ambition. Moving beyond traditional SWOT analysis, he highlights how design thinking and integrative approaches can transform constraints into actionable opportunities through structured innovation.

entrepreneurial finance.

Via Aromatum team wins VCIC and Entrepreneur’s Choice Award

The MBA team behind Via Aromatum secured first place at the internal IESE Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC), also earning the Entrepreneur’s Choice Award. VCIC is the world’s largest venture capital competition, with over 120 university and graduate school teams. The event requires participants to assess ventures, defend investment theses, and make decisions under uncertainty, mirroring real-world investor dynamics. Guided by IESE’s David Frodsham, Heinrich Liechtenstein, and Mathieu Carenzo, the team sharpened their investment expertise, earning them first place. Next stop: VCIC European finals at LBS in March!

https://www.iese.edu/es/emprendedores/business-angels-academy/

entrepreneurial finance.

Insurance Revolution Forum with Línea Directa

Last week, Línea Directa Aseguradora, in collaboration with IESE’s Business Angels and Family Offices Network, held the third edition of the Insurance Revolution Forum. Four startups (one of them led by an IESE MBA student) presented technology-driven solutions aimed at simplifying operational processes, improving internal efficiency, and enhancing the customer experience in health insurance. With artificial intelligence at the center of many proposals, the selected ventures pitched directly to Línea Directa’s executive committee, exploring potential pathways for collaboration and implementation between them.

ecosystem.

Applications open: PhD in Entrepreneurship

IESE Business School is currently accepting applications for its PhD in Entrepreneurship and is in the second round for the September 2026 intake, with a deadline of April 20, 2026. The program welcomes motivated candidates eager to pursue rigorous, meaningful research in entrepreneurship, innovation, and new venture creation, with the goal of building strong academic careers at leading business schools. This fully funded, five-year US-style program combines two years of coursework (Master of Research in Management) with three years of full-time research, and comes with no teaching responsibilities throughout. Learn more about our professors' research and apply here.

IESE's Founders Radar

Starting a new venture? Looking to connect with one? Check out IESE's Founders Radar

Insights.

corporate innovation.

FrFre

Corporate Venturing Squads: What works, what doesn’t

Why do some corporate venturing squads create impact while others stall? A study by IESE Business School’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center examines the challenges and coordination mechanisms behind multicorporate execution. Squads are no longer an experiment: 116 squads and 671 organizations have been mapped, and 70% tracked since 2023 remain active. The bottleneck is governance, not innovation. Developed with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, it offers a practical checklist to design, launch, and steer squads across six types. Read the IESE Insight article and discover the research.

corporate innovation.

Consumer solidarity as a catalyst for social impact

In a recent article in the Journal of Business Venturing, Professor Yuliya Snihur and co-authors examine how a French social venture scaled impact by selling fair-priced milk. Beyond commercial success, the initiative reshaped public debate and influenced policy. The study shows how “energized consumer solidarity framing” mobilized media, retailers, competitors, and policymakers, thus enabling widespread adoption beyond the venture’s control. The research highlights how entrepreneurial framing can activate ecosystems and accelerate the scaling of social impact.