9 years ago

“People move to Berlin for the quality of life”

Said Felix Petersen (Clip), serial entrepreneur (Amen) (Plazes), active angel and investor at the Startup Europe Summit (pop-up conference for European startups), that took place on February 12 and 13th at Simon Schaefer’s Factory building in Berlin. 2014 was a killer year for the Berlin startup scene. According to the New York Times (who also sourced their data from CB Insights), Berlin tech startups raised a combined $1.1 billion in 2014, a 140% increase compared with 2013. Berlin also saw 24 acquisitions and two of the largest European IPO’s, Zalando and Rocket Internet. The Factory in Berlin, an initiative from Simon Schaefer and Google (Factory Opening: Eric Schmidt) hosts 23 startups on the campus, connects with 31 startups in their community and provides 50 global mentors. It works like a magnet and created hundreds of new jobs. About 40% of the people who work there are female and they all raised about 83 million in funds since the opening in June last year. The Summit was attended by Günther Öttinger, Head of Digital EU Commission, Andrus Ansip VP EU Commission, Cornelia Yzer Senator for Economics & Tech (LIST) and Dutch power women – “Nickel Neelie” – former European Commissioner for Digital Agenda and now Netherlands Special Envoy for Startups, Neelie Kroes (Startup Delta) (Forbes’ The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women). Kroes said: “We need to address the Startup State of Mind in everyone.” (CLIP) (Closing Remarks). Can’t agree more with Kroes and Petersen’s both statements at the Summit. Petersen’s statement about the fact that people move to Berlin for the quality of life first, and then look for a job, is truly an unique benchmark for the city. Have a look (WATCH HERE) at the brilliant and energetic session (photo) (yes, Jens Redmer, it should really become a Montly Berlin Tech Show) with Petersen and other great Berlin startup and tech entrepreneurs – Berlin: Walls,Techno & Startups #SES15 moderated by David Knight from Silicon Allee. It had Florian Meissner: Co-Founder and CEO, EyeEm, Felix Petersen: CEO and Founder, Amen, Simon Schaefer: CEO and Founder, Factory Conrad Fritsch: CEO, Tape.tv, Marley Fabisiewicz: Founder, Upnext on the couch. Did you miss out on ‪#‎SES15‬ Have a look at more sessions here. What’s next The Factory, Rotterdam or Amsterdam? Read Neelie’s Kroes STARTUP STATE OF MIND article here. Let’s accelerate!  Sharing=Caring folks! Photo Credit: Factory Berlin.