News week 18 - 2024

Signicat expands portfolio with Polish "mojeID". Partnership between SiteMinder and Trip.com. Swytch Technology and FasterBikes launch partnership for e-bike retrofit systems. NOAH conference in London. BeammWave strengthens board. stylink acquires 'getnano'. i-ways INNOVATION AWARD 2024 winner. Raw Ventures launches public call with up to USD 1 million for startups. Jimdo back in founding hands. keleya and Kinderheldin merge.

Events & Awards

NOAH Conference 2024 on June 3 and 4, 2024 in London

The NOAH Conference 2024 will take place on June 3 and 4 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, returning to the UK's financial capital. The event will bring together around 150 leading growth companies pitching for funding of up to 20 billion US dollars. In addition to renowned speakers such as unicorn founders and top investors from across Europe, the conference offers a platform for investors to hold relevant discussions with an average of 28 companies per day. Networking opportunities are also facilitated by a powerful event app and an investor concierge service.

Winner of the "i-ways INNOVATION AWARD 2024"

i-ways sales solutions GmbH has announced the winners of the "i-ways INNOVATION AWARD 2024", a competition with a total prize pool of €50,000. The jury, consisting of representatives from SIBB e.V., Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH, BIFI - Berliner Institut für Innovationsforschung GmbH and Der Mittelstand, BVMW e.V., made the following decisions after carefully examining numerous submissions: WIANCO OTT Robotics GmbH was awarded first place for their cognitive AI EMMA, followed by Polysecure GmbH for their sustainable technologies. In addition, 12minutes GmbH, Politik zum Anfassen e.V. and GigaSysTec & MH2-Development were recognized for their pioneering projects. Silvio von Krüchten, founder and CEO of i-ways, praised the diversity of the award-winning approaches, which show how companies can use digital technologies creatively.

Raw Ventures launches public call with up to USD 1 million for start-ups

Raw Ventures has launched a public call for its annual mediatech investment program, providing up to USD 1 million in investment for mediatech startups. The venture capital fund plans to vet 400 startups, of which 8 finalists will have the opportunity to meet leading mediatech accelerators, investors and industry leaders at the Global Mediatech Pitch Day and potentially receive up to EUR 1 million in capital. The program includes pitch training in online sessions as well as a final event at the MediaTech Hub Conference in Potsdam, where the selected startups can present their projects. Raw Ventures aims to invest in 20-30% of participants to address fundraising challenges, especially given the decline in global startup funding in the previous year. Interested companies can apply until May 31, with a second deadline of July 14.

Personnel

BeammWave strengthens board with industry experts

BeammWave strengthens its board with expertise from the semiconductor industry by nominating Svein-Egil Nielsen, former CTO of Nordic Semiconductor, and Pelle Wijk, an industry veteran, as new board members. With the successful demonstration of cost-efficient digital beam forming technology and recent milestones such as the launch of a development platform and the acquisition of its first customer, Molex LLC, BeammWave underlines the importance of its sales focus. Svein-Egil Nielsen and Pelle Wijk are proposed as independent experts to bring valuable experience and strategic insight to drive BeammWave forward.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Signicat expands portfolio with Polish "mojeID"

Signicat has expanded its digital identity offering by adding the Polish "mojeID" to its portfolio, making it the first international aggregator to directly integrate this solution. The decision follows the success of the integration of the Italian digital identity SPID in September 2023. mojeID now allows companies to expand into Poland securely and protected from fraud, with the authentication of Polish people's identity via their bank details. The expansion of the portfolio enables companies to quickly and efficiently verify the identities of their users and offers seamless integration of 35 digital identities across Europe.

Partnership between SiteMinder and Trip.com

SiteMinder and Trip.com have further expanded their existing partnership to provide hotels with better access to the Chinese overseas market. Trip.com has joined SiteMinder's new "Channels Plus" program, which simplifies the distribution of hotels through various channels. Bookings from China for the 41,000 hotels that are customers of SiteMinder have increased by 75% year-on-year, with German hotels experiencing even greater growth. This partnership is in response to increasing demand from Chinese travelers, who often book their accommodation through platforms such as Trip.com.

Jimdo buys back shares: Founders take back full control

The founders of Jimdo have caused a stir with their latest move to buy back shares from external investors. This strategic move returns full ownership of the company to the co-founders Christian Springub, Matthias Henze and Fridtjof Detzner. In a company statement, the buyback is presented as proof of the founders' and management team's unwavering belief in Jimdo's growth potential and success. The action underscores Jimdo's confidence in its viability and its commitment to empowering the self-employed and small business owners. It recognizes the critical role played by external investors Spectrum Equity and Global Founders Capital, who have been involved with Jimdo for nearly a decade and over seventeen years respectively.

Swytch Technology and FasterBikes launch partnership for e-bike retrofit systems

Swytch Technology, the UK market leader in retrofit systems, has launched a partnership with Austrian e-bike retrofit specialist FasterBikes. Customers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland now have the opportunity to order the Swytch kit, which turns almost any bike into an e-bike, directly from FasterBikes. The collaboration also includes the integration of the new Swytch GO system, which is due to be launched at the end of May 2024. This partnership aims to accelerate Swytch Technology's growth in German-speaking countries by offering price-conscious customers another option to electrify their bikes. Oliver Montague, CEO of Swytch Technology, was positive about the collaboration and emphasized the smooth negotiations and the prospect of a fruitful partnership. Daniel Fili, Managing Director of FasterBikes, emphasized that the cooperation with Swytch offers another opportunity to extend the life of bicycles and thus make a positive contribution to environmental protection.

keleya and Kinderheldin merge

The two German FemTech platforms keleya and Kinderheldin have decided to merge and will operate under the joint brand name keleya in the future. This merger aims to expand the offering and improve the user experience for pregnant women and mothers by bundling the products of both platforms and developing new solutions such as an AI-based 24/7 midwife consultation. The merger will leverage the expertise of both companies to address the shortage of midwives in Germany. Julia Neumann, former CEO of keleya, and Philipp Dräger, CEO of Kinderheldin, will jointly take the lead to strengthen the digital offering and facilitate access to support services for pregnant women and mothers.

stylink has acquired 'getnano'

The Münster-based company stylink has acquired the UGC platform 'getnano', which opens up new perspectives for content creators, brands and agencies. The acquisition offers nano accounts the chance to earn attractive rewards and gives brands and agencies access to authentic content. The integration of 'getnano' aims to expand monetization opportunities for creators and open up new avenues for advertising. Stylink plans to combine its data-driven approach with UGC to create synergy effects.