13 founding teams from Berlin, Barcelona, London, Copenhagen and Tel Aviv met in Berlin this week (11. -13. August 2015) in order to kick off the European Accelerator programs second round. The etventure lead accelerator provides each startup with 175.000 Euro, one of the highest fundings in the accelerator-scene. Several German mediums, including the WirtschaftsWoche, already reported on this year’s kickoff.
About this year’s participants.
During the three-day “Welcome days” (11. – 13. August 2015) all of the contributing participants came to Berlin, where they received an introduction into Lean Startup- and Design- Thinking -methods. Further, participants get to know their coaches and mentors, including representatives from Germany’s biggest venture capitalists, hub:raum, Techstars METRO and many other renowned representatives from the startup scene. During the next 8 months, these will support the founding teams in the topics of concept- and business- model -development, milestone planning, user-testing, team building, marketing, and funding.
Every business receives 174.000 Euro grants -without having to release company shares.
Additionally, every business receives a financial grant of 174.000 Euro, adding up to a total 2,275 million euros for all 13 startups. Companies won’t have to pay back money or give up company shares, as all money received is from public European Union funding. Program participants had to compete against a total of 660 candidates from 45 countries, then later compete against 40 selected startups in front of a jury.
The second rounds participants:
Berlin:
- BEACONinside is an iBeacon and Eddystone-Beacon-management-platform independent of manufacturers. In Germany, Beaconinside is already used by several McDonalds franchise holders, the Deutsche Bahn and the fashion company Esprit.
- The virtual reality startup Viorama developed a mobile app, allowing users to 360° visualize and share locations, making this especially interesting for the travel industry. Founder Michael Ronan originates from Israel and lived in Berlin for over 10years, furthermore he is a theater- and film -director.
- INFARM developed an innovative technology in the field of “City Farming”, allowing private and commercial customers to grow fruit and vegetables all year through. The team already developed specific cultivation systems for customers like Airbnb, Mercedes-Benz, 25h-Hotels or the METRO Group.
- Tracktics developed a data analysis tool to evaluate the performance of football players. This innovative system provides complete insight into performance data thus allowing a detailed evaluation of player fitness and ability. The German startup received financial and developmental help from the team of doctors responsible for the German national team.
Barcelona:
- Watly launched with the mission to develop the world’s most modern solar water treatment plant including a micro-power plant. The projects aim is to provide people all over the world with access to clean water, sanitary facilities together with free energy and connectivity. The television channel Discovery already reported on this startup.
London:
- AudioTube is a digital distribution platform for artists and music. Songs are automatically added to streaming services such as Spotify, Google play or Youtube, significantly increasing the songs reach. The London-based founder himself is an expert in the music industry, previously working as a Manager for Warner Music.
- MYCHOPCHOP is a dynamic and intelligent management tool for the cooking of several-course menus. In the preliminary stage, the tool creates a recipe list and provides opportunities to buy ingredients online. The London-based Founder was previously in a leading position for McKinsey.
- ChangeAlert developed a sensor for diapers, alerting caregivers through a web-portal whenever the diapers of an, for example, incontinence patient have to be changed. The Spanish founder Monica Rodriguez and her team already passed the Telefonica sponsored Wayra Accelerator in London, and are currently already in a pilot project from the National Health Service, the Great Britain health care system.
- DooWapp developed a music-messaging-technology, allowing playable song lyrics to be integrated into messages. The founding team originating from Ghana, recently passed the Telefonica sponsored Wayra Accelerator in London.
Copenhagen:
- RezGuru digitizes restaurants: the startups developed software capable of predicting a restaurant’s capacity, allowing gastronomies to market availability over several online channels, inclusive revenue management strategies through real-time adjustments and a comprehensive analysis function. The startup was founded by Indian siblings who are already active in Silicon Valley.
Tel Aviv:
- Pico offers real-time engagement with fans and customers. Pictures taken at concerts or other events are automatically uploaded to a business’ Facebook-account via. the Pico-technology, significantly increasing virality for the brand or event. The three founders from Tel Aviv already participated in the Startupbootcamp Israel and DreamIT Philadelphia Accelerator programs.
- Lingualy is a learning platform for foreign languages, combining real-time learning sessions with automatic adaptive and teachable tools. German founder Jan Ihmels who moved to Isreal several years ago has been nominated for several awards including “1776 International Challenge Cup”, “App of the Year” or “Israels most promising education-tech-startup”.
- Fitfully is a virtual “Fit-as-a-Service” platform. Using the 3D algorithm developed by the company, customers are able to virtually try on shoes. Thus, founder Batia Mach-Shepard from Isreal solves the shops product-return issue due to wrong or deviating manufacture sizes.
Laura Kohler, managing director EuropeanPioneers: “From over 660 participants we picked 13 extremely promising Startups for the program. The quality of this years startups is extraordinarily high. All teams already passed previous accelerator programs, have a standing customer and co-operation branch or gain support from renowned and successful branch representatives. Contentual the program is differentiated from other FIWARE Accelerators through high investment and ‘Training Weeks’ in Tel Aviv, London and Berlin.