Axel Springer Plug and Play starts fourth round with international participants
Axel Springer’s Plug and Play accelerator has launched its fourth programme, with seven of the eight companies coming from countries including Israel, Ireland and Austria. The new participants are: Broadsay, Emerald, GetJob, Incend, Room-Me, Shopeat, Vicomi and Zizooboats.
Additional start-ups from previous programmes have received follow-up financing, with the most recent investments being made in Number26 (formerly Papayer), embraase, Jobspotting, Get2play, AdIncon and truffls. Eighty per cent of participants from the first two rounds of the programme have received subsequent financing. The participants in the third round had their demo day at the end of June 2014 and are currently in negotiations with investors.
Jörg Rheinboldt, managing director of Axel Springer Plug and Play, said: “We are pleased to see that the international attractiveness of Axel Springer Plug and Play is continuing to increase. It is particularly exciting for us that a large number of start-ups from Israel, a technophile country, value our accelerator and our contacts to Silicon Valley. This, plus the follow-up financing of previous start-ups, which also come from international investors, show that Berlin is becoming more and more interesting as a location for international start-ups and that we can effectively support our portfolio companies in the long term.”
About Axel Springer Plug and Play
Axel Springer and Plug and Play Tech Center, a startup investor and accelerator based in Silicon Valley, have teamed up to form Axel Springer Plug and Play. The programme comprises seed investment totalling 25,000 euros, comprehensive mentoring, workshops and access to the partner’s international network. All the start-ups spend three months working in office space provided in Berlin-Kreuzberg, which is also used as a temporary studio by artists. The intention is for the start-ups and artists to inspire each other. In return, Axel Springer Plug and Play receives five percent of the shares in the company.
The next round of Axel Springer Plug and Play will be launched at the end of October 2014. Applications should be submitted by August 29, 2014 to www.axelspringerplugandplay.com. The programme targets both international start-ups with digital media-related business models, and this time also start-ups from the connected car sector.
