This week in European events
With the summer approaching, Europe is a busy place with lots of events to enjoy. Here’s our pick of three this week that you may find interesting or useful. Read more »
How Germany’s Pirate Party is hacking politics
Founded on an agenda of copyfighting and radical transparency, Pirate parties are making political ground across Europe. Now its possible that the German offshoot could become the third party in the nation’s politics. So what do the pirates really want? Read more »
Telefónica set to launch Wayra accelerator in Germany
After similar launches in the UK and Ireland, mobile giant Telefónica is bringing its Wayra accelerator program to Germany later this year — with a six-month scheme for tech startups that comes with up to €50,000 in seed funding. Read more »
Instagram rival EyeEm expands to WinPhone and web
It may be smaller than its Facebook-owned rival, but EyeEm is rapidly building up support for its discovery-focused photo-sharing service — and hopes to continue with a newly released Windows Phone app and a heavily revamped web service. Read more »
Mobile ad firm Madvertise buys Turkey’s Mobilike
Most Berlin startups are looking to get acquired, but here’s one that’s doing the buying: Madvertise, which has just picked up Turkey’s top mobile advertising company Mobilike for an undisclosed sum. Madvertise is already the leading mobile ad firm in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Globally, it’s […] Read more »
Let’s make a deal: ExploreB2B social network goes global
Ever find LinkedIn too noisy to be useful? Siblings Jonathan and Susanna Gebauer say their ExploreB2B — launching in English for the first time — offers a service tailored to establishing category experts, solving problems and making new business leads. Read more »
Now Samwer brothers look set to clone Square
German clone factory Rocket Internet, the incubator run by the controversy-courting Samwer brothers, has reportedly chosen its next target: white hot payment service Square. Read more »
Phonedeck puts your Android phone in the cloud
The mobile communications management platform takes almost all the functionality of the phone and puts it, along with a scary amount of insights data, into a desktop or tablet’s HTML5 browser. Read more »
Earlybird’s $100m will fund Berlin’s ‘antisocial’ movement
VC firm Earlybird has raised a $100m fund that will be largely focused on Berlin — and partner Ciarán O’Leary says the German capital could become as important as Silicon Valley by playing to its single-minded strengths. Read more »
Wooga’s Diamond Dash game tops 11 million downloads
Berlin-based developer Wooga, whose gem-clearing game has already made it one of the most successful Facebook app-makers, says the linked-up iOS version has seen 11 million downloads so far. Read more »
Revealed: the reason hyped startup Amen ditched the web
Changes brought in by much-hyped Berlin startup Amen were partially intended to stop the opinion service being used as a messaging platform — ironic, given that the CTO was a key early developer at Twitter. Read more »
Amen gets major feature boost and new investors
Hot Berlin startup Amen has got plenty of hype for building a simple app that lets you say if things are good or bad. But fresh money and major new additions — including deep integration with Facebook and iTunes — could make it a whole lot more useful. Read more »
BonusBox hopes to beat Amazon on loyalty data
The company, which has just closed a seven-figure funding round and is aiming for expansion into the U.S., aggregates various e-tailers’ loyalty schemes into a Facebook app that also takes account of customers’ profile data Read more »
What does Twitter want with Germany?
Germany may be Europe’s biggest economy, but Twitter has relatively low take-up there. So why does the company appear to be preparing to set up shop in Berlin? Read more »
Rocket clones Amazon in Indonesia
A new Rocket company has just popped up in Indonesia, offering a suspiciously similar service and look to the world’s most prominent e-tailer Read more »
With Airbnb expanding in Europe, Wimdu cranks it up
A year ago Airbnb clone Wimdu was getting ready to launch. Now CEO Arne Bleckwenn is presiding over hockey stick growth and international expansion, just as the peer-to-peer travel sector starts to heat up. Read more »
Tweek.tv’s social TV guide comes to the iPad
Tweek’s ‘next-generation TV guide’ unites different islands of online film and TV content with curation provided by Facebook’s social graph. Now it’s launching an iPad app for European users to try and convince more people to pick it up. Read more »
Transfer files inside Facebook, thanks to Pipe
A new Facebook app called Pipe will let users transfer large files to their friends, through a peer-to-peer service that makes novel use of Adobe’s AIR technology Read more »
Meet Somewhere: a recruitment site with no job listings
Recruitment is a painful process that often deals nasty surprises to companies and applicants alike. Somewhere, a new service in early beta, wants to stop that happening with its About.me-style take on the hiring process. Read more »
Tape.tv, a Pandora for video, targets British launch
Berlin’s Tape.tv has teamed up with Spotify to help fill the void left by the old, music-oriented MTV. But underneath the hood, its approach could be another interesting example of how onerous music rights in Germany have sparked a different kind of music startup. Read more »
Does Germany need its own Kickstarter or AngelList?
A prominent local VC has called for German venture capitalists to band together and create a seed platform, but others say the likes of Kickstarter and AngelList need to appear naturally and organically if they are to work Read more »
Rocket lieutenant jumps to clone-free rival incubator
Florian Heinemann, long-time marketing chief for the infamous Samwer brothers, has joined other ex-Rocketeers at Project A Ventures — an incubator that has been explicitly set up as a move away from Rocket’s copycat model. Read more »
Would you give 20% equity for three days at an incubator?
Germany’s IdeaCamp, a short mentoring program for budding entrepreneurs, is causing concern among Berlin’s startup community. Why? Because it asks attendees to give up a fifth of any business developed as a result of its three-day workshops. Read more »
Facebook hasn’t fixed Friend Finder, says German group
Facebook has been slapped down again by the German authorities over privacy problems with its Friend Finder feature — but while reports suggest the social network has fixed the problem, the consumer group that launched the complaint says it is still not happy. Read more »
Exclusive: Wrapp CEO goes toe to toe with Samwer bros.
Social gifts startup Wrapp says it is massively speeding up its expansion plans as a direct response to a copycat funded by the notorious German Samwer brothers — and the company’s CEO is warning retailers that doing business with the clone could prove costly. Read more »
The Samwer brothers suddenly lose their shyness
It’s become almost cliche to say that the Samwer brothers, Europe’s most successful — and notorious — internet entrepreneurs are publicity shy. A series of exits to the likes of eBay and Groupon have made them millions, but they have tended to keep away from the […] Read more »
Ezeep offers new portal to printing in the cloud
We lift the lid on stealth startup Ezeep, which wants to reinvent printing for the mobile generation by using a cloud portal that gives businesses a simple and secure way to let guests carry out one of life’s mundane but necessary tasks Read more »
A glimpse inside Rocket’s copy shop, courtesy of HelloFresh
Germany’s Rocket Internet — an incubator notorious for its habit of copying other businesses — rarely opens its doors. But we got a rare peek inside one of its new projects, the kitchen service HelloFresh. So what is it like working for the Samwer brothers? Read more »
Gidsy goes to Hollywood with its Airbnb for activities
Hot Berlin startup Gidsy, which lets people find and book tours, lessons and other offline experiences, is opening the doors on a service in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Read more »
Monoqi see, Monoqi do: Another European Fab launches
Monoqi, the European competitor to design flash sales site Fab.com, launches this week. What makes it different? CEO Simon Fabich says it’s a “curated design platform” that sports a less commercial taste than its American rival. Read more »
Wunderbar! Why millions are flocking to Wunderlist
Om has called 6wunderkinder “one of his favorite new companies”, and there’s good reason. The startup is one of the leading lights in the burgeoning Berlin scene, and impressive take-up claims for its first app could spell good news for its second, more fully-featured offering. Despite […] Read more »
How ResearchGate plans to turn science upside down
The tools that have revolutionized the way we live are only just starting to have an impact on scientific research. Now ResearchGate — the “Facebook of science” — is hoping to speed up the change, with a new round of investment from Founders Fund to make it work. Read more »
Wahwah.fm offers a social take on pirate radio
Berlin is famous for its thriving music scene — and now local startup wahwah.fm is taking on the idea of pirate radio with a social, mobile app that lets you broadcast to your friends. Read more »
Samwers clone Wrapp: Have they gone too far this time?
Europe’s most notorious cloners have built their reputation by copying big American companies. But now they appear to be readying a new rival to small Swedish startup Wrapp — a change of tactics that has ‘surprised’ Wrapp CEO Hjalmar Winbladh. Read more »
SoundCloud gets $50 million in new funding
SoundCloud, a web audio startup, has raised $50 million in new funding from investors led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. GGV Capital also participated. Previous investors in the company include Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures and Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures. Read more »
Why Berlin is poised to be Europe’s new tech hub
Berlin is the most un-German of German cities. It is relatively new in its latest & post-unification incarnation. It is cheap and it has no major industry – for now. But that could soon change. My impression from a visit to what could become Europe’s biggest tech-hub. Read more »
SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung on why Berlin is hot
I visited Berlin in December 2011 to better understand the German capital’s blossoming startup scene. In these two videos SoundCloud co-founder and CEO Alex Ljung shared his impressions of Berlin and its sudden rise as a startup hub, along with his company’s plans. Read more »
Tweek.tv wants to be your social TV guide
Tweek.tv wants to become your social TV guide and recommend interesting movies, TV shows and web content based on the things your friends have liked on Facebook. The German startup is emerging from stealth mode today and also announcing a first round of funding. Read more »
Graffiti movie published online to evade legal threats
Berlin’s transit authority didn’t like a documentary that shows dozens of its subway trains being repurposed as moving canvases by graffiti artists. The movie’s filmmakers responded to a cease-and-desist letter by publishing the entire movie online, freely available to anyone. Read more »
For Amazon Web Services, Berlin is calling
Berlin is fast becoming the destination of choice for entrepreneurs, thanks to the emergence of hot startups such as SoundCloud, Amen, EyeEm, Phonedeck, Txtr and Wunderlist. And thanks to this burgeoning startup scene, Amazon Web Services is looking to establish its operations in Berlin. Read more »
