London meets Berlin: at the hubraum 10th anniversary event, a huge announcement was made. The rumors are true! We want to build next-gen tech startups that are smarter, sharper and more innovative than ever before and we’re teaming up with Founders Factory to do so.
Created by serial entrepreneurs Brent Hoberman and Henry Lane Fox, Founders Factory are a British startup accelerator and venture studio. We’re partnering with them because we think that two heads (or two sets of heads) are better than one and that we can complement each other’s skillsets. We have a lot of experience in working with startups, while they have a great network of founders. Our joint project is a venture studio which will build, fund and launch innovative digital businesses.
Which means what, exactly? In short, that we’re going to look for founders and build something incredible together with them. The aim is to create a portfolio of tech startups over the next three years. Normally, we like startups to come to us and to pitch us. This is nothing new: ever since 2015, we’ve been using our hubraum fund to co-invest up to 300,000€ a pop in startups. This time we’re flipping all that on its head.
We’re going to develop ideas for game-changing startups. Then we’re going to look for incredible entrepreneurs, pair them with these ideas and back them financially. Focus areas we’re particularly interested in include the future of commerce and advertising, enterprise IoT, data privacy and digitized telecommunications.
“We believe that together we have a unique opportunity to expand the role of Deutsche Telekom supporting innovation in adjacent fields by building with and investing in brilliant founders from all over the world here in Berlin.”
hubraum’s fund MD, Florian Steger
Nick le Fevre, who is Director of Strategic Partnerships at Founders Factory, has told us he’s particularly excited to be in the Germany’s capital for this because “in this post-Covid world, the city continues to grow and excel in areas like fintech, edtech, mobility and more.” But make no mistake: we don’t just want to impact Germany, but the globe, because this is a truly international project.
“Given how impressed we are with their model of applying the ‘venture’ approach to corporate venture building, we’re thrilled to be working with Founders Factory,” hubraum’s fund MD Florian Steger, told us. “We believe that together we have a unique opportunity to expand the role of Deutsche Telekom supporting innovation in adjacent fields by building with and investing in brilliant founders from all over the world here in Berlin.”
You heard the man: if you’re a brilliant founder, we can’t wait to hear from you.
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