At PerformanceIN, we love a good success story. That is why each month we will go from country to country looking for promising new startups that demonstrate originality, innovation and the talent to stand out in our highly competitive industry.
The ‘Ones to Watch’ series provides a brief glimpse into the types of companies that are set to make big waves in the world of performance marketing and, as we make our final preparations for the Performance Marketing Insights: Europe in Berlin this month, it is apt we celebrate the German capital’s rapidly developing tech scene.
Silicon Allee
Now one of the most talked-about startup hubs in Europe, Berlin’s ‘Silicon Allee’ has been a valuable proving ground for global tech heavyweights such as Wooga and SoundCloud among countless other big-name companies.
Low rents on office space and an edgy art-fashion counterculture make the banks of the Spree an ideal home for creative grassroot startups – typically running on few resources but plenty of entrepreneurial spirit.
We’ve compiled a list of the top five tech firms to watch out for. However, if there are any you feel we have missed out, why not leave your top tips for stardom in the comments below?
- Founded: April 1, 2013
- Founders: Thilo Konzok, Eiko Gerten, Nico Kutschenko, Torsten Stuber
- Funding: $732k
Architecture student Thilo Konzok realised it was time to put his studies to one side when he began clocking 30 hours a week on AirBnB’s Munich team. In April last year, 21-year-old Konzok and a multi-talented group of his friends founded Asuum.
The company aims to alleviate some of the pressure on publishers to monetise content, allowing them instead to focus on producing quality copy. Using software that can identify themes within an article, Asuum is able to target adverts relevant to any piece of content.
With personalisation now proving key to driving interest for websites, Asuum ensures that each piece is relevant to a user’s interests by tracking metrics linked to audience behaviour, including exit intent using cursor speed analysis, and prioritises with the best-performing pieces.
- Founded: December, 2011
- Founders: Raphael Pochhammer, Benjamin Brandt
- Funding: $32k
Founded in 2011 with the slogan ‘Turn Fans into Customers’; nextsocial is a Facebook application allowing businesses to integrate deals into their fan page with one click.
The app allows businesses to prepare, share and sell exclusive offers to their Facebook followers directly. Campaign options can be customised including scheduled offers and stock limits.
Nextsocial is now looking to expand further with its ‘all-in-one-solution’, which incorporates the the production of merchandise from a selection of products on sale and its delivery, bringing the benefit of only paying commission on the goods that have been sold.
- Founded: October, 2013
- Founders: Danny Bell, Jan Homann, Simon Staib
- Funding: $34k
While hardened bloggers will know that popular platforms offer at least some form of measuring reader metrics, blogfoster goes a bit further with its analysis.
Still in the beta stages, blogfoster allows its users to monetise their blogs with customisable display advertising. Individual users always have final say over the ad’s positioning and their size on the page. More significantly, users can decide which ad campaigns are most suitable for their page before publishing.
Blogfoster also aims to put everything under one roof by taking care of all payments and communication with their affiliate-ad providers.
- Founded: May, 2013
- Founders: Christian Stanke, Steffan Roemer
- Funding: $856k
The potential saviour to product launch hiccups, embraase is one of the latest firms to offer an A/B testing and personalisation platform for mobile apps.
Still in beta form, the software will allow for the testing of app elements, UI flows and configurations in real time, therefore eradicating the need to rewrite and resubmit to an app store.
As with websites, embraase works on the basis that personalised apps will drive conversions more than default pages. That’s why publishers and developers will have the ability to optimise their programs for different groups of users.
- Founded: January, 2013
- Founders: Frode Jensen, Daniel Butler, Marius Troy
- Funding: N/A
Consumers are increasingly sharing their experiences online via social media, but a lot of this valuable data is not being used effectively.
Socius provides a hub allowing brands to aggregate cross-platform media content, manage, and publish it in real time. With the help of Socius, any brand can combine online presence with content either by embedding the company’s Web Social Hub on their website or through the Live Social Wall for retail or event spaces.
In the upcoming month we will be listening out for the newest, most exciting names emerging in the European mobile startup scene. We would like this to be a collaborative project, so if you have a tip-off, or know a company that deserves a little recognition, please leave a comment below, tweet us, or email us at content@performancein.com.