Carlos Cendra – Scouting & Investment Lead at MAPFRE Open Innovation
Carlos Cendra serves as the Scouting & Investment Lead at MAPFRE Open Innovation (MOi). His role involves overseeing the scouting activities for startups, negotiating and selecting scouting tools, and supporting business units in evaluating and choosing startups and scale-ups for integration into MAPFRE’s innovation initiatives.
Cendra and his team have evaluated over 2,500 startups, integrating nearly 40 into MAPFRE’s fast-track programs to foster innovation within the company.
Under his leadership, MOi has focused on three main areas: collaborating with universities, such as the Insurtech Venture Lab launched with IE; participating as an anchor investor in the Alma Mundi Insurtech venture capital fund; and managing the insur_space program, which supports startups by providing resources and access to MAPFRE’s extensive customer base.
Carlos Cendra’s approach to innovation involves leveraging AI-powered tools like FounderNest to enhance market intelligence and automate the scouting process. This enables his team to efficiently identify and engage with promising startups, maintaining MAPFRE’s competitive edge in the rapidly evolving insurtech landscape.
