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Archives for March 2020

Blog Post #1: Coronavirus: A new experience – internationalizing your startup from home

March 19, 2020

It sounds like the script of a scary science fiction movie. The world is coming to a halt. People are obliged to stay in their homes. Children can’t go to school or child care centers. A dangerous virus floating around. Everybody may catch it…

Simple things like grocery shopping feel like a visit to the moon. Empty shelves. People fighting over the last pack of toilet paper. In supermarkets it’s that distrustful expression on many people’s faces that gets fiercer as soon as somebody comes too close or even coughs.

For most of us this is a totally new experience – or, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel puts it „The biggest challenge we have been confronted with since World War II”.

What seem to be silent times outside of the home, are fulminant times within.

Young children develop unknown amounts of energy that need to be discharged, while not being able to leave the house or play with their friends. We worry about our jobs, how to pay bills and how not to panic when everybody around us starts a buying frenzy.

For startups this is very challenging time as well. Being young and vulnerable, many of them are in the midst of their internationalization phase, trying to access new markets and introduce their products overseas.

With all that craziness around us, how can we stay focused and productive?

First of all, this Coronavirus wave is serious, definitively. So, we better stick to the rules put forth by governments and ruling institutions. The bad news is: This is just the beginning of a longer development that might go on for months. The good news is: the more we stick to the rules now and respect others by staying away from them, the sooner we will get through this.

Stay calm:

We need to stay at home and create new concepts to get through this crisis.

So here is some helpful advice on how to succeed with your internationalization strategy while working from home:

  • Create a strong pitch deck that follows US standards:
    Keep it short, comprehensible and relevant. I recommend a pitch deck that is not longer than 7 slides:
  1. Introduction of company
  2. The problem you solve
  3. Size of market of problem
  4. The solution you offer
  5. Traction (if you have any)
  6. Team (optional)
  7. The “ask”: money and / or introductions
  • Research your relevant community on LinkedIn, Xing or Twitter
  • Identify your target group (VCs/clients/other startups)
  • Identify your competition abroad – who are they? What differentiates you? How does their marketing work? Who is invested in them?
  • Build your contact lists based on your research
  • Reach out to the identified contacts by asking for a phone or video call. Remember that almost all of us are sitting at home at the moment… Be sure to send them your pitch deck and follow up with them. And one clear word here: With regards to U.S. – VC investors, you have to be REALLY persistent. So, contact them until you hear from them.

Crisis means turning point. Things that have worked well in the past may not be functioning now anymore. However, this phase of falling back on ourselves and experiencing quiet reclusiveness gives us the opportunity to come up with new inventions, products and even routines.

Besides all the negative aspects, let’s also focus on what can be done.

Stay positive!

Talk to you soon, Andrea

Filed Under: Uncategorized

STEP alumna PerAGraft in 12th place on Germany’s 2020 Top 50 Startup!

March 9, 2020

PerAGraft develops patient-specific implants for the treatment of complex aortic aneurysms.

This novel manufacturing process consists of a continuous digital process chain and an innovative textile manufacturing method. The automated production process enables the delivery of individualized implants in the shortest possible time. The PerAGraft platform technology will be successively extended to further fields of application. For example, the customized implants enable precise therapy that is specifically tailored to the patient.

Click here for the original article in German.

STEP USA alumni company German american chamber of commerce NY

Filed Under: Success Stories

Stuttgart based Porsche Ventures & California based NeueCapital Partners invest in STEP alumnus “Nitrobox”

March 9, 2020

Hamburg software start-up concludes financing round in the single-digit million range

Hamburg, 4 February, 2020 | The software start-up Nitrobox GmbH has concluded a financing round in the single-digit million euro range: The “NeueCapital Partners” fund from Silicon Valley and Porsche Ventures, the venture capital unit of the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer, took a stake in the Hamburg-based company. Nitrobox has developed a cloud platform which can be used for automatic monetization and billing of digital business models. The company intends to use the funds from the financing round primarily to further expand its market position in Germany and to prepare for its entry to the US market.

Click here to read more.

Filed Under: Success Stories, Uncategorized

AI-enabled tech startup “Scoutbee” raises 60 million euros to bring the total investment to 76 million euros

March 9, 2020

STEP Alumnus Scoutbee collects $60 million!

The company, which was founded in 2015 by Gregor Stühler, Lee Galbraith, Christian Heinrich and Fabian Heinrich, creates transparent supplier networks and facilitates the search for suppliers in strategic purchasing with its AI-based technology. Companies such as Audi, Airbus, Caterpillar and Bosch, as well as over 75 other companies, already use Scoutbee for
their procurement.

Click here to read the original article in German.

Filed Under: Success Stories, Uncategorized

STEP Alumni “Just Spices” raises a total of 13 million euros in its Series B funding round

March 9, 2020

Strikingly colorful tins are the trademark of Just Spices. The start-up sells spices and powder mixtures for ready meals. In order to roll out its business to North America and get on more supermarket shelves, Just Spices has concluded a financing round for 13 million euros.

The French food VC Five Season Ventures, Bitburger Ventures and the New York early-stage investor Coefficient Capital have financed the Series B. Previous investors included Döhler Ventures and Trivago shareholder Howzat Partners.

Düsseldorf-based Florian Falk, Ole Strohschnieder and Bela Seebach founded the spice start-up in 2014. Just Spices was profitable for the first time in 2017 and currently has more than 70 employees.

Click here to read the original article in German.

 

Filed Under: Success Stories, Uncategorized

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