I’m starting to wonder if Berlin can take any more injection of tech startup activity and whether the proliferation of accelerators has tipped over the top. Will Berlin have enough incoming people to justify so much activity? Will the city run out of cool co-working spaces and espresso machines any time soon? As I noted back in July, the hiring frenzy amongst startups may be having the opposite effect – pushing people away form the city that has become, at least outside London, a gravitational pull for European startups. But the heat doesn’t look like it’s dying down any time soon.
Consider that there is now in the city MakeAStartup, YouIsNow, Founderslink, Berlin Startup Academy, Startupbootcamp, Wayra Berlin, FoundFair, Betahaus, V-Check, Founders Institute Berlin – and that’s not even taking into account that the much anticipated Factory Berlin hasn’t even opened yet.
But amidst this hubbub, there is another new initiative. hub:raum – the incubator started by Deutsche Telekom in the city – may have a new twist on the scene. There are plenty of startups with good ideas and executions but aren’t very well rounded, so to address this, hub:raum has joined forces with tech educators General Assembly and betahaus Berlin, one of the key co-working spaces in Berlin.
The three have put together a course covering financing, design, business modelling, PR, marketing, legal aspects and other subjects. At the end of the eight-week intensive course the entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to a selected group of investors and the hub:raum team, giving them an opportunity to obtain financing or be accepted into hub:arum’s full incubator program.
hub:raum Accelerator is free for the participants, no strings attached. Co-working spaces will be provided in Berlin, where hub:raum Accelerator will take place. But costs for travel and accommodation are not included.
Interested entrepreneurs can apply on the web site at by October 12. The Accelerator program will start on November 19.
First participants of the hub:raum Accelerator program will be announced at the HY Berlin Startup Competition on October 16th.
Let’s hope the city’s broadband links don’t go down any time soon. Or that they run out of coffee.