October 1, 2020
September: The Dust Settles
Before we get into this month’s highlights, we’d like to extend a warm welcome to our newest startup members from Bolt who just joined the community!
Also a shoutout to the community members from our Future of Work Circle (formerly known as the Wellbeing at Work Circle). They’ve opened the focus of their sub-community to encompass the multiple challenges and topics of work culture – remote work, purpose and values in the workplace, wellbeing, the future of leadership and many other topics will enter their scope of conversation. You can discover more from our community Circles here.
Gatherings of our Creative Community & Network
Artists from our community have been all over the virtual festival & conference scene this year. As part of the Sónar+D CCCB 2020 event program, digital artist and Artist in Residence alumni, Maotik, collaborated with ProtoPixel on a Collaborative Lighting Design Workshop between Barcelona and Berlin in our Creators Lab.
Also in the Sónar+D CCCB program, artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst had Richie Hawtin as a guest on the special video episode of their Interdependence podcast series, filmed in Factory Berlin Görlitzer Park. They shared another part of their conversation on “AI for Humans” held at Ars Electronica, where another Artist in Residence alumni, Portrait XO, moderated the “Artificial Stupidity” Panel with our new residency artist, Moisés Horta Valenzuela as a speaker.
Most recently we’ve welcomed the next 10 artists and collectives to the Factory Berlin x Sónar+D Artist in Residence program powered by Beats by Dr. Dre. Get to know them here, and stay tuned to our social media channels to follow their work in the program.
Tales of success
There have been many notable successes from our community startups and members this month. DialogShift won the Travel Industry Club’s Best Travel Technology Award 2020, Plan A won the VINCI green challenge, securing them a pilot project with companies in the VINCI Family, and Circular Tree won the Innovation Award from Startup Autobahn powered by Plug and Play.
Textile waste recycling startup, Kleiderly, won the Most Inspiring Startup Award at the Lafayette Plug and Play Accelerator and their founder Alina Bassi was also featured in WIRED UK. Phantasma Labs, born at Factory Berlin as part of partner Entrepreneur First, raised a 7-figure seed round with APEX Ventures, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, signals Venture Capital, Entrepreneur First, Wi Venture & others.
And our very own Chief Relationship Officer, Catherine Bischoff, spoke to BBC tech correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones for an episode of his show, Tech Tent, on the BBC World Service. You can listen to the interview with Catherine and community startup founders Matthew from Vyking, and Lubomila from Plan A, or read his blogpost summary.
A Bite into Foodtech
We migrated what was initially planned as an in-person conference, into an exciting new online interactive format, called The Next Bite Show.
The event held in partnership with KitchenTown Berlin invited 16 leaders and experts from brands like Infarm, Motatos, Katjesgreenfood, beets&roots, Planted, Peace of Meat, Vly Foods, Die Gemeinschaft, Frischepost and more to the table to discuss the future of the food and beverage industry.
Join the other 8000 viewers over on Factory Berlin TV and catch up on the show, or you can read our top 4 Foodtech Insights from the Next Bite Show.
Stay tuned for more from Factory Berlin TV, and reach out if you’re interested in hosting your very own live event.
Entering Stealth Mode
We welcomed 10 founders onto the Stealth Mode program powered by Google for Startups at the very beginning of the month with a kick-off event. Mentees were introduced to their mentors and workshop hosts, and all the program participants get to know each other in a relaxed setting.
As well as regular accountability sessions that bring the founders together to share their progress, challenges and goals, there has also been a series of workshops hosted by some of our program partners, McKinsey & Company, and W Lounge.
Get to know the Stealth Mode founders, and keep an eye on social media to get the latest highlights from the program workshops from our other partners.
Things to get excited for in October
The weather may have already taken a turn for the worse, but there’s plenty of things to look forward to in the coming month.
On The Red Couch powered by Beats by Dr. Dre is back. World-renowned artist Jen Stark will be interviewed by Tabitha Swanson, an artist from our first residency, on the inspiration behind her vivid technicolor works on October 21st. Get your ticket!
Catherine Bischoff sits down with Young Sohn, Samsung Electronics’ President and Chief Strategy Officer, for the next episode of their interview series, The Next Wave. Tune in on October 8th to hear her talk about the work we’re doing supporting female founders with Stealth Mode, and discuss the future of community.
We’re returning to our Founder Focus interview series on Facebook LIVE with Alina Bassi, Founder of Kleiderly, so follow us and mark your calendars for 15th October. And if you’re still looking for some viewing material, you should check out the fresh installments of WAVES Episode 2 on Factory Berlin TV.
Stay tuned to our social media for events, programs and updates from the heart of Berlin’s tech ecosystem, and subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page.
