Spain-based telecoms company Telefonica has nominated nine winners for its Munich Wayra program which aims to accelerate growth and provide seed capital for startups.
EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes and Chief Executive of Telefonica Europe María Álvarez-Pallete presented the awards at the end of this years’ Berlin Campus party. The winners will move into Wayra’s new Munich Academy starting this September where they will be able to draw on talent and expertise from Telefonica’s O2 division as well as receive seed funding of up to €50,000.
At the conclusion of the program the startups will present a demo to investors for possible follow up financing. For its part Telefonica will assume a 10% stake via a convertible note.
The winners range from Fabbeo，an online marketplace for 3D print services to Kisibox, which aims to replace conventional house locks and keys with Smartphone technology.
Speaking at the event Pallete said: “The intelligent business ideas I had the chance to listen to by the German Wayra startups thoroughly impressed me. Their solutions are not only at the cutting edge of technology, but also demonstrate an innovative approach that has the potential to benefit our 300 million customers around the world.”
During the event Telefonica also announced who will be running the newly created Munich Academy. Tanja Kufner and Stefanie Poeschl will take over as director and vice director respectively. Kufner is a veteran of corporate venturing, working at luxury goods company LVMH and Germany-based industrial group Siemens, among others. . Her vice director Poeschle hails from Telefonica Germany’s Business Customers division.
The finalists who were selected to join the 6 month mentoring and sponsorship program were:
• Chuisy: Social app for sharing decision-making.
• myNudge: M2M solution for observing and evaluating the fulfillment of personal goals.
• Fabbeo: Online marketplace for 3D print services
• Kisibox: Transforms your smartphone into a house key.
• Cleverlize: Cloud application for creating and sending out e-learning lesson units for smartphones
• Pockets United: Service for groups of friends to record and share their everyday costs.
• ClearKarma: Smartphone app showing ingredients in food items.
• SpotFav: Real-time weather forecasts using HD webcams, meteorological stations and the wisdom of the crowd.
• iFrontdesk: Modular application for tablets that hotels can use to offer their guests personal concierge services.