Top 7 Startup Accelerators in Berlin
You’ll be able to meet and learn from experts, as well as interact with a large community of startup enthusiasts. It sounds very promising, but how do you choose the right accelerator from among so many? This guide to Berlin’s accelerator programmes will help you pick the best one for your business.
Beyond1435
This open innovation platform brings together Siemens, Bombardier, The Swiss Federal Railways, Deutsche Bahn, Alba and Plug and Play. Their focus is mobility and logistics. Partners share corporate resources and collaborate on business initiatives with startups.
They are looking for startups that will “raise the industry standard in transportation, logistics, and infrastructure” and ones working on smart city, smart mobility or smart logistics projects.
Project Flying Elephant
This is the angel stage investment program of the early-stage venture capital investor WestTech Ventures. Aside from angel investment, they also offer office hours, office space, partner services and other perks. Their focus is on b2b products built by teams that take advantage of technology, and enterprise solutions in particular.
Techstars Berlin
Techstars offer a 3-month programme with emphasis on mentorship. They are a global community of founders, mentors, investors and partners that can become a fantastic support network for your startup. They help with some of the most crucial business areas, such as marketing, business development, customer acquisition, and talent recruitment.
We’ve talked to Jens Lapinsky from Techstars and collected some of his advice in this article.
GTEC Berlin
This is the effect of collaboration between corporations, startups and academia, working as a community and helping each other achieve their goals. For startups, they offer free office space, mentorship, access to their network and a free pass to all their events and workshops. They have another campus in Frankfurt and hope to spread digitalisation across Europe.
Axel Springer Plug&Play
They invest in early-stage companies and offer access to mentors, an extensive business network, workshops, co-working spaces, and more. They are a joint venture between the Plug and Play Tech Center and Axel Springer SE, which gives them the opportunity to work on a global scale. If you’re looking for international opportunities, this might be the programme for you.
Founder Institute
Here’s another global proposition with 2,002 companies launched, 20,000 jobs created and a 72% company survival rate. They help founders work on their business ideas and marketing strategy, create an advisory board, recruit co-founders, improve pitches, launch products, prepare to raise capital, bootstrap and generate revenue. They are based in Silicon Valley and have chapters in 60 different countries.
Startupbootcamp
The many Startupbootcamps help young businesses across various industries, from ones focused on mobility, through healthcare, to energy and commerce. If you apply, you can expect funding, office space, mentorship and a global network of corporate partners and investors. Their 3-months programmes usually accept up to 10 startups from anywhere in the world, so there’s bound to be competition.
Hopefully you’ve found the perfect accelerator programme for you on this list. All of them offer amazing value and are worth checking out, at the very least. Also, if you think I should add a programme to this list, don’t hesitate to let me know!
