Today Next09 opens up. The Next Conference is one of the most important happenings in the european tech scene. Started in 2005 it is now a 1500-participants conference.
The theme for this year will be: Share Economy, inspired by the following idea: “The more we share our success with others, the more we profit ourselves.” of Martin Weitzman.
The conference, organised by SinnerSchrader, will take place at Kampnagel in Hamburg today and tomorrow.
Expect a recap from us soon!
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) has invested EUR 500,000 into software prototyping company RapidRabb GmbH in a first round of financing.
The startup, a finalist at the Red Herring 100 Europe Award, provides an interesting product that gives business and developers the tools for rapid prototyping of software interfaces and easy-to-lear graphic specifications, early-stage testing and efficient communication.
RapidRabb was founded in 2008 by a young group of designers, developers and economists. It is based in Berlin, Germany.
The High-Tech Gruunderfonds invests venture capital in young and promising technology companies who turn scientific results into economic success, they have a volume of about 272 Milion Euros available. Investors of this Public Private Partnership are the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology of Germany, the KfW Bankengruppe, as well as the combinations BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch, Daimler, and Carl Zeiss.
Scoreloop, a Munich startup, announced today with a press release a free SDK that allows iPhone developers to build social features into their games.
Social gaming is the direction that online and mobile gaming is inevitably taking. Developers now have an easy way of implementing this strategy, while gaining other sources of income.
Scoreloop works in any game that results in a score. With each win, the gamer is awarded coins and points. Coins allow for playing new challenges. Points express skill and ranking. When gamers run out of coins, they repurchase them for more challenge play.
“Nothing is better at motivating gamers to play more than seeing someone out there with a better score. And the only thing that comes close to that is the ability to brag about it on social media like Facebook,” said Scoreloop’s CEO, Marc Gumpinger. “We’re bringing that level of play and functionality to the mobile device in your pocket now.”
I think this can be a nice way for small developers to implement social gaming technologies while not having to develop it. We all know that apart from the big hitters, making a living out of the AppStore is pretty hard, with this solution there are no extra costs as Scoreloop handles all server operations/costs and implementing typically takes less than one day and does not require dedicated skills.
In 2008, the German based venture capital company Target Partners invested in the company, but Gumpinger said that he might seek a further round of investing to finance the company development. While partnerships with some of the world’s largest game publishers/portals and independents will be announced in the coming months we will update you on their business model.
We wish Scoreloop the best of luck.
You can watch a 15 minutes introductory video here:
Berlin based SoundCloud, a professional music sharing service, raised €2.5 million in a round led by european VC Doughty Hanson Technology.
Founded in 2007 and now counting 100,000 registered users, SoundCloud is one of the most promising european startups. At the moment their business model is based on pro accounts, but we do not have any real income information.
We will update you once we know what their future plans are, having secured that amount of cash.
To learn more about the service you can read the official press release:
SoundCloud Raises €2.5m from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures
SoundCloud, the internet audio platform which enables music professionals to send, receive and distribute music, today announced that it has received an investment of €2.5 million from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, a leading European venture capital investor, in its first institutional round of equity financing.
SoundCloud provides a simple and efficient platform for music professionals to privately exchange music, allowing for easy collaboration and communication prior to a public release. With SoundCloud, musicians can easily send and receive studio-quality tracks without cluttering up their email inbox, needing to make use of generic file sending services or having any specialist technical expertise.
SoundCloud was founded in 2007 and raised seed financing from business angels including music producer Chris Zippel, internet entrepreneurs Christophe Maire, Peter Schüpbach, Tariq Krim and Felix Petersen and the founders of music production software company Ableton AG. The Company launched its service in October 2008 and since then has attracted more than 100,000 registered users.
Stefan Tirtey, Partner at Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures who joins the Board of SoundCloud, commented: “SoundCloud has all the qualities we look for in a business: a solid product solving a real problem, a proven business model, and a capable and ambitious founder team. We believe that Soundcloud has the potential to revolutionize the production and distribution process for digital music and this funding will enable the company to build on its success to date.”
Alexander Ljung, Co-Founder and CEO of SoundCloud, added: “SoundCloud’s business proposition is based on bringing web innovation to the music industry and empowering those who create and promote music globally. Doughty Hanson demonstrated early on a clear understanding both of our business proposition and of the music industry, and already has a strong track record in backing internet- companies. This funding, combined with the strong operational and strategic experience they bring to the business, supports our ambitious expansion plans and positions us well for the next stage in the company’s development.”
Watch SoundCloud’s video tour:
