EPR Retail News

Techstars METRO Accelerator announces the start-ups taking part in its programme

EPR Retail News Editors

Düsseldorf, Germany, 2015-10-13 — /EPR Retail News/ — Techstars METRO Accelerator opens its doors today and announces the start-ups taking part in its programme. International teams from five countries are moving into the offices of German Tech Entrepreneurship Center in Berlin. For three months, they will benefit from the focused support of mentors as well as financial support to expand their business model internationally. The Accelerator is organised by METRO along with US partners Techstars and the advertising agency R/GA. It will foster the development of innovative solutions for the hospitality industry.

Eleven start-ups made it into the programme. Among them are companies that produce software solutions and apps for restaurant owners, caterers and hoteliers, such as www.1001menus.com, Flowtify or Wynd, travel and restaurant services such as Lunchio or Journy, and webshops such as Gastrozentrale.de. The companies are based in the United States, France, Estonia, Austria and Germany.

“The quality of the start-ups is impressive,” said Olaf Koch, CEO of METRO AG. “The teams have access to mentorship, technical support, help in company planning, sector expertise as well as financial support.” For Koch digitalisation is of great importance: “The Accelerator is a catalyst for value creation. Our customers in the hospitality sector can benefit a lot from new digital solutions. The Accelerator helped us to identify great business concepts. Now our focus will be on supporting them on their way to even more success. In a certain way this is the logical next step on our mission to be “champion for independent business”, both for our core customers and as well for start-up entrepreneurs. We see huge potential for digital solutions in the hospitality industry in Europe. That’s why we’ve developed this programme along with Techstars and R/GA.”

Several hundred start-ups from 20 countries applied for Techstars METRO Accelerator. Jury members who include industry experts selected the companies based on common criteria as well as their experience and knowledge. Starting today, the best start-ups will develop their digital solutions for restaurateurs and hoteliers in a three-month programme, ending with a “Demo Day” at the end of January 2016 when they will present themselves to potential investors.

“METRO is such a great brand in the industry, it has really helped attract great start-ups. The way METRO has contributed to this programme and offered access to the corporation shows real thought leadership,” summarised Managing Partner and Techstars co-founder David Brown.

Alexander Zumdieck, METRO Managing Director of Techstars METRO Accelerator, provided a glimpse into the selection process: “We filtered out the best start-ups from of hundreds of applications. It was not easy, since the quality of applications was very high. We looked at them from many different angles to choose the best teams and the most promising business models that will provide our core customers – independent business owners – with new products and services and make them more competitive.”

Rob Johnson, who runs Techstars METRO Accelerator along with Alexander Zumdieck, appreciates this great potential for development: “Our programme is the first accelerator in the world to be focused on the digital revolution in hotels and restaurants. We look forward to three intense months with these young technology companies. We’ll do our best to support the teams in their work on digital solutions in the food and hotel sector, and to open up any opportunities that we can for them.”

Our Website provides further information on Techstars METRO Accelerator, as does our Blog and newsletter. You can subscribe for free at blog.techstarsmetro.com.

The following companies impressed our expert jury:

Coffee Cloud

Flowtify

Gastrozentrale.de

GroupRaise.com

Journy

Lunchio

Poshpacker

Roomatic

rublys

Wynd

1001menus

METRO GROUP is one of the largest and most important international retailing companies. In the financial year 2013/14 it generated sales of around €63 billion. The company operates more than 2,000 stores in 30 countries and has a headcount of around 230,000 employees. The performance of METRO GROUP is based on the strength of its sales brands that operate independently in their respective market segments: METRO/MAKRO Cash & Carry – the international leader in self-service wholesale – Media Markt and Saturn – the European market leader in consumer electronics retailing and Real hypermarkets.

SOURCE: METRO GROUP

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