Rockstart is one of Europe’s first multi-vertical startup accelerators. Last week, they’ve announced its latest batch of startups entering the Web & Mobile program. This edition, only two fresh Dutch startups have been drafted to join the intense 150-day accelerator program.
Trends: AI and machine learning
“We see some trends in the startups that we select,” said the Program Director Rutger van Waveren. “First, there are startups with clear traction, six of the ten already make (serious) revenue, for example. Their challenge is to turn that momentum into increasing growth. Second, we see AI and Machine Learning everywhere, from understanding ambiguous data to interpreting languages. And lastly, the entrepreneurial spirit of the founders is better than ever. It is the people that define the success of a startup, and I’m very confident about the teams that are in the current accelerator program.”
Investment and perks
The Web & Mobile program kicked off last week and will run until the beginning of August, with a Demo Day scheduled on June 8. The ten participating startups get a €15,000 investment in cash, more than €500,000 worth of perks and discounts from the program partners, access to a network of over 200 investors, and office space in the heart of Amsterdam. They are also backed by a team of over 100 mentors. In return, Rockstart gets an 8 percent equity stake per startup.
Group of partners
The program of 2017 is launched together with a group of partners committed to strengthening the startup ecosystem by bringing in skills, expertise, and resources, among them Rabobank, which provides the startups with financial advice and guidance as well as access to their extensive network. The 150-day long program seeks to help startups fine-tune their businesses and help them scale quickly.
Two Dutch startuos
The teams of this year’s Web & Mobile batch come from Turkey, Lithuania, Germany, Spain, India, Iran, Egypt, Kuwait, and merely two from the Netherlands. Here are the two Dutch ones.
BOTBOYS
The team has spent the last year making chatbots for big Dutch corporates (NOS, the national broadcasting service, a big theme park, a big logistics company, the National Lottery, etc), smaller firms (e-commerce, law firms) and startups. While serving its clients, BotBoys has gradually built its own bot infrastructure (including applied language technology and AI tools and a custom DSL) from scratch. The startup has joined Rockstart Accelerator in order to productize this offering as a platform.
BOUW7
Bouw7 is a new generation construction management software, which optimizes the administration, planning, and project management of construction companies. The in-house developed SaaS solution helps customers immediately save costs thanks to an increased productivity and reducing of risks. With the software of bouw7, construction companies of any size are able to prepare themselves for the next era of construction. The product gives them access to drone technology, automatic bidding, advanced reporting and mobile registration.
Sixth edition
This year marks the sixth edition of the Rockstart Web & Mobile program, which has already seen 50 startups go through it. Recently one of the Web & Mobile alumni, Undeveloped, was acquired by Epik.com, one of the top players on the domain names market. Here’s the full list of startups.