Intel, Tripadvisor, Datalex, Mastercard, Cartrawler and Hostelworld provided strategic development advice to sixteen start-ups from the travel and hardware tech sector.
Startup Europe is connecting European startups with international industry leaders for Cross Border Mentorship 2016, a week-long series which took place at DCU Ryan Academy in Dublin from 11th – 15th April. This week is part of the Welcome Project which is funded by the EU Commission through the Startup Europe initiative.
The sixteen startups came from Berlin, Dublin, Milan, Madrid and Salamanca.
Corporates in attendance included Intel, Tripadvisor, Datalex, Mastercard, Cartrawler and Hostelworldwho provided strategic development advice to sixteen start-ups from the travel and hardware tech sector.
Activities during Cross Border Mentorship Week included:
- Pitching to Italian VC, GianlucaDettori
- Talks from prominent corporates & entrepreneurs including Declan Ryan, Ryanair; Bobby Healy, CarTrawler; Jack Phelan, Drop; John McQuillan, OpenJaw
- One-to-one mentoring from corporates including Tripadvisor, Datalex, Mastercard and Hostelworld
- Pitching to mentoring panels comprised of corporates, entrepreneurs and key players in Dublin’s startup ecosystem
- Product design workshops & mentoring from Dolmen Creative Design
- Workshops and training in areas including marketing, financials and manufacturing
- Factory tour of Intel and meeting with senior Intel executives
Speaking about the event CEO of the Ryan Academy, Eoghan Stack said:
“Cross Border Mentorship week is about bringing entrepreneur and start-up ecosystems together and this week in Dublin, we will have the best early start-ups from Europe and Ireland collaborating and availing of the advice and experience of world class industry leaders.
The DCU Ryan Academy is proud to be at the forefront of connecting industry and start-ups and of facilitating an environment of shared knowledge, expertise and support in order to enable our Irish start-ups to flourish on a European and international level
We are also particularly pleased to have significant input from world-leading companies who are investing their time, energy and resources into Cross Border Mentorship.”
Ana Lopez, co-founder of OrionSky based in Madrid said:
“This experience has been for us mind blowing. Getting to know people with similar problems as yours on your same knowledge field has been really great and meeting with successful entrepreneurs, founders, startups… really appreciated, gives you a completely different view of your business and how to improve it.
If I could only say one thing it would be: “Thanks”
This year’s Irish representatives included SimpliFly, a global airport shopping smartphone app and delivery service; Dynamic Res, a platform which makes travel agents more efficient by organising supplier requests and allowing them to build a package; VisitorMworks with airports to improve passenger experience and partner performance to increase passenger revenue. The fourth startup is Exerwise, an activity tracker for children, helping them to discover a new fun approach to physical activity.
The Milan based start-ups included Waynaut, a multimodal travel platform that enables people worldwide to travel seamlessly; BidToTrip, is an app for luxury hotel rooms, allowing customers to access top quality rooms at an affordable price; Noon provides a platform to customers enabling them to manage and control dedicated hybrid mobile devices while 4storm aims at evolving the field of action-cam and lifestyle hi-tech products bringing high-tech usability and flexibility into the market.
The Berlin based quartet were TourSnapp, bringing smart-city to the cultural sphere;Seeusoon, a travel search engine which builds and compares unique travel packages;Miito which provide tea drinkers with the perfect solution to brew their cup of tea and VaiKai which brings toys alive by creating a multi-sensory experience for children.
The remaining European start-ups were from Madrid/Salamanca and include LandMeFar, a travel outlet exclusively for young people aged 18-30; DaniRebollo which harnesses the power of Embedded GPU; Imprimaker is an online 3D design and manufacturing service and OrionSky which monitors the status of your pet from your smartphone.
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