Speaker Bio
Paloma Castellano is the Managing Director of Wayra Spain, Telefónica’s open innovation hub, established in 2011 and now present in 9 countries with 7 hubs. Wayra Spain is headquartered in Telefónica’s iconic building on Gran Vía.
She has been involved with Wayra since its inception, contributing to its global launch in 2011. She holds a degree in Computer Engineering from the Complutense University of Madrid and an Executive MBA from IE. Paloma started her career at Microsoft, later joining Terra as a Project Manager before moving to Telefónica as a TV Product Owner.
After launching and managing innovative products such as mobile TV, she moved to Telefónica China, working with the CEO of CNC Labs on the company’s strategic plan. Upon returning to Spain, she led the mobile broadband business development.
In 2011, she became part of Wayra's founding team, helping to drive its global expansion. Today, she leads Wayra Spain, having invested in and supported the growth of over 200 startups in fields like cybersecurity, IoT, big data, Enterprise SaaS, gaming, XR, and more. Some of the top startups in Wayra’s portfolio include Shakers, Idoven, Voicemod, Crossmint, Haddock, Genomcore, Rever, Tappx, Omniloy, Ludus, HDIV, Payflow, and Genially.