Berlin & Startups
Berlin is hot & sexy and a bit un-german.
Silicon Valley and their startups have two advantages – the domestic U.S. market that has enough early adopters willing to try new Internet services. This gets the attention of tech media, which in turn allows companies to get more people signing up for their products. That sets off a chain reaction and gets companies the global attention.
The overseas companies are on the opposite end of the spectrum. If a company is based in Berlin (or Paris or London), it doesn’t have the large domestic user base to get similar attention and adoption. That makes it difficult for companies to cross the proverbial borders. This, I sincerely hope, is a short term problem — one that can wither away with continuous emergence of clever ideas and great startups.
Berlin will be the place to be 4 new technology startups.
Alle the mass media Wired, The New York Times, Spiegel Online and several others have discovered the Berlin tech-scene. People come over to say hello to HackFwd entrepreneurs usually they are young or look young and are excited by the prospects of technology, most of them are here from across Germany, Poland, the Baltics and other countries east of Germany. In fact, the Pitch in Berlin contest organized by HackFwd attracted 100 applicants of which ten were selected. Three of them were from Poland, including MyGuidie, a start-up that “brings together people looking for a local guide, and locals willing to guide,” co-founded by three women, won the contest.
The lack of classical German industries means it is a city with fewer jobs than other parts of Germany. It also means the city has lower wages compared to the rest of Germany and much of Europe. The sprawling nature of the city means that Berlin has lots of real estate. And that means low rents – catnip for artists, musicians and yes, the start-up community.
The entrepreneurship is rampant in this city. Some say there are somewhere between 100 to 400 startups in Berlin.
It is no surprise that young people from across Germany (and Europe) are making a beeline for Berlin. There are a lot of Americans, Australians and Kiwis too. This confluence of fashion, art, music and technology reminds me of NY/Brooklyn and the San Francisco of yore.
SoundCloud’s co-founders are two such transplants. Ljung and Eric Wahlfross are both Swedish by birth, and music lovers. They started SoundCloud as a platform for DJs to remix and share tunes. It has now become a major audio sharing platform and has raised money from uber-VC, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures. Its success has turned SoundCloud into a poster child of the Berlin startup scene. Ljung, who travels to San Francisco, London and New York almost every month has become Berlin’s informal ambassador.
The success of SoundCloud has helped attract larger (and non German venture capitalists) to take Berlin with seriousness. Atomico, the venture fund started by Skype co-founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis has invested in collaboration and productivity startup, 6Wunderkinder, that has so far released one popular app, Wunderlist. Index Ventures are plowed in money into Felix Peterson and his co-founders’ newest startup, Amen.
SoundCloud got 50 millions US$ recently, keep goin Berlin…