Kurzfassung: Selection top twenty teams plus social wild card contest for two day event starts now Amsterdam, 27. February 2012 – Startupbootcamp, the pan-European startup accelerator program, has announced that over 400 start ups from all over the globe ...

[Startupbootcamp - 28.02.2012] Selection top twenty teams plus social wild card contest for two day event starts now

Over 400 start ups apply for Startupbootcamp Amsterdam


Amsterdam, 27. February 2012 – Startupbootcamp, the pan-European startup accelerator program, has announced that over 400 start ups from all over the globe have signed up to participate in the Amsterdam Startupbootcamp initiative. The selection process to filter these applicants down to the ten startups who will take part in the programme, has now begun. At the ‘Startupbootcamp in two days’ event on March 13th and 14th, 21 teams will present their business proposals to the jury. One team will be included as a wild card, based on getting the highest number of votes through social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Following the great success of Startupbootcamp programmes in Madrid, Copenhagen and Dublin, Startupbootcamp Amsterdam has received a large number of registrations. Startup tech entrepreneurs from Brazil to China have signed up to become part of the accelerator project, and hope to be selected for the intensive three month programme which will prepare them for the Demo-day in June, where startups need to find an investor to secure future financing.

The city of Amsterdam provides a great entrepreneurial environment for the Startupbootcamp participants to make their business idea succeed. With its great cultural diversity and rich history, Amsterdam is one of the eight most attractive cities in Europe for innovative startups, according to Richard Florida’s Creative Index.

Startupbootcamp decided to add to the top 20 selected start ups one that will be included based on the buzz the team is able to create through social media. Teams can upload their video’s to http://startupbootcamp.talentschannel.com/information and drive traffic to them. Consequently people can vote for their favorite team and invite others to review the teams and nominate them for a wild card. This set up is unique in regards to accelerator programs and is facilitated by Talents Media. Steven Kraal, Co-founder and CCO of Talents Media says about the Startupbootcamp contest: "We give the teams the opportunity to pitch their idea to a broad audience and give them tools to promote themselves through social media. This way they are in control of their own success. After only a few days we already see that the visitors to the contest are highly involved and spend many minutes on the site”.
Ruud Hendriks and Patrick de Zeeuw, co-founders of Startupbootcamp, are thrilled with the number of applications. "Looking at the number and the level of the applicants we are facing a humongous challenge, yet one we are more than happy to take on,” said de Zeeuw. "The pitching days in February and the upcoming pitching days in March will hopefully provide us with enough information to support us in making the right choices. Besides we’d like to encourage everyone to vote for their favourites so they can compete for the wild card.”
Jennifer Vela Valido, founder of Feudalsquare, Spain, says about applying for Startupbootcamp: "A high reputation and a quality mentor network are two of the key factors in Feudalsquare’s interest in participating in SBC Amsterdam. Reputation is important, because the high standards of the SBC program are well known among European investors, and thus certainly make easier approaching them to finance your startup. Also, its top tier mentor network, provides us with the possibility of getting to know all kinds of movers and shakers in our sectors, which in turn will allow us to develop key market insights.”
Felienne Hermans, founder of Infotron, Netherlands, adds: "We participate in Startupbootcamp Amsterdam, because accelerator programmes allow us to make a lot of new contacts in a short period of time, which might help us expand both our own team and our customer base. Due to the intensive contact with the mentors in the programme, we can run through a number of pivots en make sure we know exactly what our proposition is on the Demo Day of the cycle.”
In the coming months the ten high potential start ups will be selected to participate in Startupbootcamp Amsterdam starting April 9th.

About Startupbootcamp
Startupbootcamp is a pan-European startup accelerator program. The organization currently runs accelerator programmes in Madrid, Copenhagen, Dublin (runs February-May ’12) and Amsterdam (runs April-June ’12) and will soon be expanding to London and Berlin.

Startupbootcamp is all about networking and being part of an international startup eco-system that will help participating startups do more, faster. Not only does Startupbootcamp have a huge network of mentors, sponsors and investors but it also has ambassadors pushing the Startupbootcamp concept all over the world. For more information, visit http://www.startupbootcamp.org or Twitter: @SBootCamp


Contact details
Patrick de Zeeuw – Co-Founder and CEO Startupbootcamp Amsterdam
pdz@startupbootcamp.org
+31 (0)6 8142 9654

Emile Idzenga – Axicom
Emile.Idzenga@axicom.com
+31 (0)6 2042 9460
Detlev Henning – AxiCom
detlev.henning@axicom.com
+49 89 80 09 08 14