News
First Public Showing of Cloud-Based Process Automation System
WALTHAM, MA, Feb 07, 2012 Kenesto will demonstrate its business process automation system publicly for the first time at SolidWorks(R) World 2012, booth 226, in San Diego, CA from February 12 through February 15, 2012.
Kenesto(TM), now in beta testing, is a completely new, 100% cloud-based system that allows users in all departments of the manufacturing enterprise to create processes and manage work easily. Until Kenesto, users outside of engineering departments have resisted legacy systems like PLM because these systems are simultaneously complex, inflexible and expensive.
Kenesto overcomes users' reluctance to use previous-generation process systems by using computing concepts users already understand. By coupling an attractive design with sophisticated inference technology, Kenesto "learns" processes as users simply attach data and route it to the next person or organization in the process. There is no need to model a process in advance, deploy it to a process execution engine or install any client software. Kenesto runs in any HTML5-capable browser, including mobile devices running Android(R) and iOS(R).
"We are excited to introduce Kenesto to the Dassault Systemes community at SolidWorks World 2012," said Michael Payne, CEO, Kenesto. "We believe there is an affinity among SolidWorks customers and partners and Kenesto users. This community has always been among the first to adopt new products that are cost-effective, easy to use and which make their products more competitive. SolidWorks users who have seen Kenesto so far have confirmed that the product delivers these benefits. Now, we are pleased to share Kenesto with the wider Dassault Systemes community."
Read the full article here
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Berlin-based game deals provider Hitfox has purchased Chili Entertainment, thus adding the latter’s game advertising network ad2games to its own game marketing portfolio.
Chili Entertainment was previously majority-owned by Gameforge, but the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
According to the press release that landed in our inbox, ad2games is Germany’s largest game advertising network with more than 75 million clicks on ads from games suppliers generated in 2011.
For HitFox, which launched in mid 2011, the acquisition is a way to get closer to becoming a fully integrated game distributor.
The startup was founded by experienced entrepreneurs and tinkerers Jan Beckers, Tim Koschella, Ruben Haas and Team Europe. Its investors include Holtzbrinck Ventures, Hasso Plattner Ventures, the Tengelmann Group, Kite Ventures and Digital Pioneers.
Find the article here
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Gruenderszene interviewed Peter Gorges from UJAM. You can watch the video here!
"Wenn die beiden weltbekannten Komponisten Pharrel Williams (arbeitete unter anderem für Snoop Dogg, Madonna, Britney Spears) und Hans Zimmer (komponierte unter anderen Soundtrack von “König der Löwen”, “Inception”, “The Dark Knight”) ein Startup gründen und dabei von Investor Hasso Plattner Ventures (hp-ventures.com) unterstützt werden, ist eine Berichterstattung über dieses reine Formsache. Zusammen mit dem deutschen Pionier für digitale Musik, Peter Gorges, arbeiten die drei bereits seit 2009 an UJam (ujam.com)...."
Als Kind vertickte Lawrence Leuschner die defekten Hängematten aus dem Geschäft seines Stiefvaters. Heute ist er Geschäftsführer der An- und Verkaufsplattform reBuy. Die Angewohnheit, Dinge immer anders und besser machen zu wollen, kostete ihn früher so manch einen Schüler- und Studentenjob – heute profitiert er von dieser Eigenschaft. Als Geschäftsführer von reBuy buhlt er mit Mitbewerber momox um die Vormachtstellung der zahlreichen Re-Commerce-Plattformen – alles über das Trendthema in unserem Special RE-Commerce. Dies ist aber nur der Anfang: Langfristig soll das Start-up zur größten Gebrauchtwarenplattform der Welt werden.
Für seine nicht gerade bescheidenen Pläne hat der vielbeschäftigte Halb-Syrer sogar sein Studium abgebrochen. Leuschner kommt aus einer Unternehmerfamilie: Sein syrischer Vater ist selbstständig, seine Mutter machte noch mit 60 eine Kita auf. Und sein Stiefvater ist Im- und Export-Händler von lateinamerikanischer Handwerkskunst. Schon als Zehnjähriger spaziert Leuschner durch die Lagerhalle und schaut, was sich zu Geld machen lässt. Er versucht es mit defekten Hängematten, die er auf dem Flohmarkt verkauft. „Ich habe früh gemerkt, wie Handel funktioniert – das liegt mir im Blut“, erklärt der in Hofheim aufgewachsene Unternehmer. Nur bei seinen anderen Nebenjobs kommt er nie so ganz klar, weil er ständig was verändern will.
“Macht erstmal die Schule fertig!”
Die heiß ersehnte Geschäftsidee kommt in Form eines Kiosks zu ihm, zu der Zeit macht Leuschner gerade Abitur. In dem kleinen Laden tauschen Jugendliche ihre Spiele: altes Spiel abgeben, neues Spiel gegen eine Tauschgebühr von 15 D-Mark mitnehmen. Die Idee gefällt ihm und zusammen mit Marcus Börner, einem Freund der damals in die elfte Klasse geht, will er ebenfalls einen Tausch-Shop aufmachen. Aber der Betrieb eines stationären Geschäftes ist mit den Verpflichtungen eines Schülers nicht vereinbar; die Lösung ist ein Onlineshop. Ein Geschäftsmodell, das nicht überall gut ankommt: „Die Bankberater sagten nur: ‘Macht erst mal die Schule fertig’ und ‘Internet ist wirklich sehr schwierig’.“ Stattdessen erkennt jemand anderes das Potential des Konzepts. Der Vater einer Freundin lädt das Duo kurzerhand ins Tradingcenter der Commerzbank ein, wo die Schüler vor sechs Investmentbankern ihre erste Präsentation halten – und drei Business Angels gewinnen, die jeweils 16.000 Euro investieren wollen. „Damit haben wir unseren ersten Bestand an Spielen und Arbeitsgeräten gekauft, Anwalts- und Marketingkosten gedeckt und 2004 Trade-a-game gegründet“, erinnert sich Leuschner. Ein paar Jahre später soll aus dem Unternehmen reBuy werden.
Read the full article here
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Es summt. Ein leichter Druck, das Tor ist offen. Dahinter liegt ein Weg, der zu Reichtum führt, wenn nur der richtige Bewerber ihn beschreitet. Links und rechts an gepflegtem Rasen vorbei, hoch zu einem Anwesen mit Treppenaufgang und Säulen.
Hier, am Griebnitzsee in Potsdam, liegt die Welt von Hasso Plattner, der vor 40 Jahren SAP gründete und Milliarden mit Software verdiente. Die Anlage, die aussieht wie die Kulisse einer US-Fernsehserie, ist sein Technologie-Institut.
Das SAP-Quartier am Griebnitzsee ist Anfang und Ende einer Geschichte über Erfolg, wie sie sich mehr Internettalente denn je in Berlin erträumen: eine Firma zu starten, deren Gewinne in die Höhe schießen wie eine Rakete. Mit der Luftschlösser zu Stein werden.
Heute investiert Hasso Plattner auch in neue Unternehmen. Seine Firma HP Ventures ist spezialisiert auf Risikokapital. Manager ist Eran Davidson. Er trägt ein offenes Hemd und lächelt wie ein Jetpilot, der sich auf den Start freut. "Von dem Geld, das wir manchmal in einem Monat verbrennen, könnte man zwei Luxus-Apartments in Mitte kaufen", sagt der 52-Jährige. Er kann so reden, weil es trotzdem gut für ihn läuft.
Viel hat sich geändert in Berlin, seit Eran Davidson vor sieben Jahren aus Tel Aviv in die Hauptstadtregion kam. Damals sei diese aus unternehmerischer Sicht "eine Wüste" gewesen. Die Deutschen bräuchten eben länger, sagt Davidson. Inzwischen wetteifern internationale Investoren um die besten Start-ups in Berlin. 150 Millionen Euro Risikokapital, darüber verfügt allein HP Ventures. Sie haben in 25 Firmen investiert und hoffen, dass es einige von ihnen schaffen, sich zu behaupten. Start-ups sind keine mittelständischen Unternehmen. Sie kosten Millionen Euro in der Gründung und bringen Cash - oder sie krepieren.
Zurzeit, so scheint es, warten die Gründer darauf, dass ein Berliner Unternehmen mit mehr als einer Milliarde Euro bewertet wird. Das wäre der Durchbruch in eine Liga, die von Facebook und Google angeführt wird. In Zeiten der Schuldenkrise melden Berliner Start-ups nahezu wöchentlich Millionen-Investitionen, dahinter stehen Geldgeber wie der US-Schauspieler Ashton Kutcher. Im Jahr 2011 registrierte die Industrie- und Handelskammer in Berlin 509 neue Firmen im Computerbereich. Das britische Magazin "The Economist" schrieb: "Berlin ist die Zukunft."
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BERLIN, Germany – SponsorPay, the leading cross-platform in-game advertising company, announced today that it achieved 125% YoY revenue increase in 2011. This growth was fueled by deepened relationships with key clients as well as the launch of two new products: BrandEngage, tapping into the fast-growing video advertising and brand engagement market, as well as a mobile CPA (mCPA) and Android pay-per-install network. SponsorPay is on track for equally strong growth in 2012.
SponsorPay expanded last year to over 110+ employees in seven locations, including new offices in New York, Tokyo and Istanbul to support operations in Berlin (HQ), London, Paris and San Francisco. As a testament to its commitment to localization, the company established subsidiaries in the US and Japan.
“We are extremely pleased with what we accomplished in 2011 and are continuing our 100% growth trajectory into the new year. As we look to 2012, we are very eager to harness the full potential of our mobile product suite as well as expand upon our advertiser relationships with BrandEngage,” said Andreas Bodczek, CEO and co-founder of SponsorPay. “Our ambition is to become the largest platform for brand and performance advertising in games, globally.”
BrandEngage SponsorPay’s innovative social video and brand engagement platform that enables users to interact with brands in online and social games by watching, ‘liking’ and sharing video ads and other branded content as well as completing short polls. “SponsorPay’s advertising platform is a powerful instrument to boost brand awareness and take advantage of the tremendous potential presented by social media,” said Patrick Stärz, Cooperations Marketing Manager at EOL Intermedia who have been working with SponsorPay on engagement campaigns for brands such as Vodafone. “SponsorPay is a valued partner for effective video distribution to engaged social audiences,” agreed Steve Dorey, Media Director at Unruly.
Read the full press release here
WALLDORF, Germany - January 16, 2012 - SAP AG http://www.sap.com/(NYSE: SAP) today announced its intention to acquire software and relevant assets fromhttp://www.datango.com/en/index.php datango AG, a leading provider of workforce performance support software.The transaction, scheduled to close during the first quarter of 2012, will broaden the SAP® software portfolio in the education space, providing customers with powerful, easy-to-use software tools to help address their end-to-end user training, knowledge management and performance support challenges.
The datango solution provides powerful content development, translation and deployment capabilities for electronic training, documentation, and user support. SAP ownership of this asset will enable the company to develop valuable integration with other SAP tools, leading to additional value for SAP customers. Features of datango's Electronic Performance Support (EPSS), including superior object recognition, true re-recording, extensive media support and modest IT requirements, along with existing SAP offerings in the education software space, will help SAP customers to lower their total cost of ownership (TCO), significantly facilitate end-user enablement in a scalable way and accelerate end-useradoption.
Headquartered in Berlin, datango was founded in 1999 and holds a long-standing and productive relationship with SAP. In recent years, the datango software has been successfully deployed in the SAP® Business ByDesign™ solution.Together, SAP and datango will capitalize on a trend in education software toward creating applications that contain tools for authors, such as e-collaboration, along with self-help scenarios and auto-teaching functions.
"The workforce performance tools market has become increasingly strategic and critical to our customers' success, and datango is a proven leader in this space," said Markus Schwarz, senior vice president and global head of SAP Education. "By having its own product in this market, SAP can now deliver and accelerate innovations and produce robust content for our customers in the future."
The transaction is subject to the usual regulatory approvals.
To learn about the SAP Education organization, watch a video, "SAP Education - Driving Quality and Value," or visit the Training & Education page on sap.com. For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom.
Read the full press release at sap.com
WALTHAM, MA--(Marketwire -01/04/12)- Kenesto, developer of a process automation system designed to deliver unprecedented ease of use and immediate productivity, announced today the opening of its beta program for customers and value-added resellers (VARs) in the manufacturing industry.
Kenesto is a completely new, 100% cloud-based system that allows users in all departments of the manufacturing enterprise to create processes and manage work easily. With Kenesto, users create processes graphically by simply naming participants and attaching documents, drawings, bills-of-materials (BOMs) and any other required information. Kenesto then manages the flow of that process through the enterprise, keeping information secure and delivering enhanced visibility across the business.
Kenesto automates common manufacturing processes including engineering change proposals, requests for quotation and new product introductions. Processes like these share attributes with many common tasks in an enterprise, including the need to securely share intellectual property, the requirement to involve people outside the R&D group and the desire to include vendors and suppliers in the process. These processes also involve a company's product and/or service, making them vital to the success of the business. Through its intuitive understanding of what users want to do, Kenesto brings new productivity to a company's crucial work processes.
"Until Kenesto, users wishing to automate their work were caught in a bind between simple but inadequate tools or very complicated, inflexible and pre-programmed PLM processes," said Michael Payne, CEO, Kenesto. "Our 'big idea' in Kenesto is to use cloud technologies to deliver a system that is as universal as email or spreadsheets without the difficulty, delays and costs of using legacy PLM systems. The customers and VARs who have seen Kenesto during our pre-beta demonstrations have all been excited by Kenesto's potential. Now, we are ready to bring this new way of working to more customers by means of our beta program."
Read the full article here
November 21, 2011 – Berlin, Germany – Award winning music start-up wahwah.fm has announced today it completed a new round of funding led by Hasso Plattner Ventures. It will enable the Berlin based company to further improve its product and expand internationally.
wahwah.fm has excited industry spectators and the media across the globe since arriving on the scene in July 2011. The app allows for every iPhone holder to create their own radio station and broadcast their music wherever they are in the world, whilst at the same time allowing for other users to tune in, in real time.
Founded in October 2010, wahwah.fm went through a successful pre-version phase that allowed people to source music from SoundCloud. The full version coming out within the following weeks will enable music fans to source music from their own local iPhone libraries. This is a huge step forward as it allows for a much more enhanced experience.
Recently announced as one of the top ten most promising start-ups in the country by Zehn.de wahwah.fm is intent on creating a revolutionary new way of socializing around music. The company has already secured all the necessary licensing agreements so that the user experience is assured to be 100% legal.
"We welcome HPV and are very happy to have them on board with us," said CEO & Founder of wahwah.fm Philipp Eibach. "Their experience is invaluable and we are confident that together we can take wahwah.fm to the next level." HPV, based in the Berlin outskirts, will be hand in hand helping wahwah.fm both in terms of providing know-how and consulting in order to move forward developing the app.
“HPV strongly believes in the unique value proposition of wahwah.fm in the highly competitive music start up scene, and continues to support innovative start-up companies in the Berlin Brandenburg area. We are excited about collaborating with Philipp and the wahwah.fm team and will help them in becoming a global success” says Managing Partner Eran Davidson.
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Read the full press relaese (see below)
wahwah.fm_press_release.pdf (Filesize:231 K)
Even without the typical industrial infrastructure that other high tech regions show, Berlin is now at the center of media focus for being the new center for European start-ups. The article in Computerwoche shows examples for this development and highlights the strong start-up climate in Potsdam.
Read the article on Computerwoche (in German).
