German mobile business incubator Venista Ventures has become the first official investor for the Berlin leg of European startup accelerator Startupbootcamp, set to start this September.
Beginning in 2010, Startupbootcamp is a three-month long business acceleration program aimed at helping the next generation of startups. It has already successfully set up program offices in Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Dublin, and Madrid, while the companies it has helped include social movie community Gruvi, car rental deal provider Rent Mama and software rent-out service Roozz.
SBC co-founder and managing director Alex Farcet said: “We are very happy to have secured this partnership with Venista Ventures, a company that brings in valuable know-how of mobile business models and how to turn mobile ideas into a profitable reality.”
Based in Cologne, Venista Ventures is an incubator specializing in early-stage mobile entertainment and value products. Kai Schmude, COO of Venista Ventures, said that SBC is a natural partner for the company: “Startupbootcamp has proved to be a very result-driven program to advance business ideas, offering young entrepreneurs a far more practical and long-term experience than traditional VC investment.”
SBC is currently completing its Dublin cycle and the program’s organisers claim in the three months, they can take a startup from a development stage to an investment stage – and that over 50 percent of graduates have gone on to receive project funding.
The Berlin leg of the program will feature mentors from a range of German startups, including Edial and Floris Dekker of Gidsy, Eric Wahlforss of SoundCloud, Zoe Adamovicz of Xyologic, Christian Weiss of Project A Ventures, Philipp Moeser of Wooga, and FourSektor‘s Jess Erickson.
For startups looking to take part in the Berlin round of SBC applications are now open until June 17, with the acceleration program starting on September 3.