We weren’t kidding when we said it was the awards season here in Berlin – just hours after nominations for the TNW-inspired German Startup Awards were announced, the shortlists for the Europas have been revealed. A more established award which considers entrants from across the continent, the Europas are being held in Berlin for the first time.
And there is plenty of German interest in the mammoth list of nominations across the 25 different categories. Two of the most prominent startups from these shores are Gidsy and EyeEm, each attracting three nominations.
Gidsy is up for Best Middleweight Startup (less than three years and/or less than €2m) where its competition includes Readmill, as well as Best Transport, Travel or Environmental Startup and Best German Startup. In the latter it will face against EyeEm which is also hoping to win Best Social, Mobile or Apps Startup and Best Product Startup.
The shortlist for Best Lightweight Startup (less than 12 months and/or less than €100,000 in funding) includes Infogr.am, part of HackFwd, as well as Changers.com. Delivery Hero, MyTaxi, Wooga and Zalando, meanwhile, are among those up for the Best Heavyweight Starutp (three plus years and/or €2m+).
SoundCloud missed out on that one – but founders Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss will hope to take home the Best Startup Co-Founders prize.
Nominations for Best Startup Mentor/Advisor of the Year include Alex Farcet, Max Niederhofer, Philipp Moehring, Sitar Teli and, hoping to put his recent court case behind him, Stefan Glaenzer.
Berlin Partner will hope to scoop the Best Service Provider to Startups gong and Paymentwall, which has a swanky office on Unter den Linden, is in the running for Best Startup from Outside Europe.
You can check out the entire shortlist here.
Totaling over 1,000, the nominees were subject to a rigorous judging process incorporating investors, entrepreneurs and even Lady Gaga’s manager, Troy Carter.
Whether or not you think you startup awards are a good thing – and there has been some rumbling that their self-congratulatory manner make them a waste of time and ‘not very Berlin’ – there is no doubt the Europas will help shine a spotlight onto Berlin and Germany. The ceremony will take place at the Postbahnhof in Berlin on January 22 and you can buy tickets now.
TechCrunch’s European Editor Mike Butcher, who is chief adjudicator and co-organiser of the awards, said: “Europe has never seen so much tech startup activity. There’s been a huge surge in the quality and quantity of startups across Europe, spurred by both the fantastic new platforms available allowing even a teenager to create a startup from his bedroom. Even as Europe goes through times economic times, we’re seeing a cultural shift towards entrepreneurship amongst the new generation.”
Fellow organiser and Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave said: “Europe is kicking ass; we’re seeing some really exciting startups from Israel, the UK, Germany, Scandinavia and Ireland. There’ll be names you recognize on the shortlist but also plenty of incredible startups that are just breaking through now.”
January 2020 Update: The link in the above article has been updated to include the correct web address for Postbahnhof.