Axel Springer’s Uli Schmitz and Fee Beyer of hub:raum are dusting off their handlebars and getting ready to saddle up for the Techbikers challenge. The pair are the VIP participants in the Prague to Berlin cycle ride, which is aimed at promoting relationships between tech scenes in the city as well as raising money for a good cause.
Uli is head of the Axel Springer Plug and Play accelerator while Fee is the program manager of Deutsche Telekom’s equivalent. They will join around 40 startup folk for the ride from July 26-28, which is being sponsored by Google, Ernst&Young and SalesForce, amongst others.
The trip will raise money for dotHIV, which is trying to redefine how you can show your support for charities online – .hiv is the first top-level domain which is purely for good causes.
And it’s not only a great way to help a charity, but it’s also a wonderful chance to get to know some interesting – not to say useful – people and see a side of Europe that you would otherwise miss out on.
Lea Bauer, initiator of Techbikers Germany, said: “We are very excited about our collaboration with dotHIV – basically a Berlin startup with a background in social issues. DotHIV uses technology to do good in an area which has been out of society’s focus since the 1990s. The combination of a technology-oriented approach and a global strategy, which has also impressed the startup scene, makes dotHIV an ideal partner.”
The money raised through Techbikers will go towards funding the dotHIV platform, and specifically, allowing people to decide which other charities it should support.
Michael Trautmann from dotHIV said: “We are thrilled and very, very grateful that Techbikers chose dotHIV. I believe that the two ideas are a perfect match.”
There are still a couple of places available on the ride. You need to have a reasonable level of fitness and be an entrepreneur or part of the startup scene. It costs €280 to take part, which includes transport to the start point in Prague, accommodation, food and technical support for any problems with your bike. Techbikers is a non-profit event; every penny raised will go to the good cause. In addition, each participant commits to raising €750 in donations.
Other sponsors include Giropay, Eventbrite, Bitkom, Navinum, EY, Wimdu, komoot, Wonderpots, CiteeCar, KIA and optimizely. There is still one place up for grabs.