Innovation Centre Denmark in Munich completed its first Go B2B camp for ten Danish start-ups in the fall of 2018
The first chapter has been written: October 3rd we completed our first GOB2B startup program here in Munich – and it was a great success! Ten B2B-ready, deeply technology-driven start-ups visited us for nearly a week. Together, they went through each activity as a group, observing each other’s development in the process. The finale was three days at Bavaria’s largest founders’ festival, Bits & Pretzels, of which one was at the Octoberfest.
The week was an opportunity for the start-ups to learn about the local business landscape, perfect their story, and get to pitch in front of industry corporates and investors. The first days were spent at UnternehmerTUM, the start-up hub of Munich Technical University, one of the top 3 most innovative in Europe, adapting their pitch and receiving professional feedback. In the evenings, the group went out together “It was great to meet other likeminded Danish high-tech start-ups who are trying to internationalize to Germany. In Denmark we were at the top of our game, here we are actually being challenged,” says the CEO of Inniti, Malthe Muff.
During the weekend, the program continued at Mantro, where the teams had one-on-one advisory sit-downs with focus on their financial- and overall business plan in order to be fully prepared for questions by potential investors and strategic partners at Bits & Pretzels. On the last day, still at the conference hall, one remark quite well captures the general feedback: “we were overwhelmed by how interested everyone was, how thorough the questions were.” Having prepared finally paid off, and all teams made meaningful contacts for future use, mixing with top industry representatives for several days.
From here on it is up to the start-ups themselves to figure out the best way to crystallize the partnerships – they have been equipped with best practice on follow-ups, and we offer the last bits of good advice over the phone. “It was good to understand what the German investors are after, both in theory and when speaking with them. We now know it’s too early for us to seek major investment and need to focus on some more soft-landings in order to get our product out for testing. That’s what they want to see here, application” was one concluding remark. For each team the experience will have meant something different; some even learned they were on the right track altogether.
Innovation Centre Denmark Silicon Valley has run the ‘Scale it’ program, we have now successfully concluded our ‘GOB2B Startup Program’ for the first time, ICDK Soul and Tel Aviv have plans to follow through on something similar, and we have a comparable HealthTech program on the drawing board. It seems as though the format is evolving, and all awhile, we are learning from each other. With the local sponsorships and institutional appreciation we receive, the aim is to have a recognized standard format, which in future can be adapted to accommodate a wide sector focus.