- Alliance seeks start-ups with market-ready solutions in Consumer Experience Artificial Intelligence, Connected Homes, and Internet-of-Things Security
Following the success of its inaugural global call for start-ups last year, Go Ignite, an alliance of four leading telcos, has launched its second global call at the Four Years From Now (4YFN) technology and start-up event at the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona.
Go Ignite comprises hub:raum, Orange Fab, Singtel Innov8 and Telefonica Open Future, the open innovation arms of Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Singtel, and Telefonica.
The Go Ignite Second Global Call is seeking growth stage start-ups that have market-ready solutions in Consumer Experience Artificial Intelligence (AI), Connected Homes, or Internet-of-Things (IoT) Security. Consumer Experience AI refers to the use of new technology to provide personalised customer support or new forms of customer interaction. Connected Homes are solutions that use software or hardware to enhance smart living or connectivity, while IoT Security leverages new technologies to keep vehicles, industries, smart homes and smart cities safe.
Axel Menneking, Head of hub:raum explains, “We are very happy to announce the second call for the Go Ignite program. In the telco industry this program creates an unmatched win-win-situation. The participating teams can gain exclusive knowledge and fast access to new markets and we get insights into innovative solutions and can create new business opportunities.”
The application window is open from 1 March 2017 to 30 April 2017 for up to five winners to be selected. The alliance members will provide the winners with mentoring expertise, contacts, office space, event support and access to a combined market of more than 1.2 billion customers across Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, South East Asia and Australia. The alliance members will provide them with a two-day training session with experts in telco innovation, technologies and investments practices, to help them refine their solutions and sharpen their strategies.
Through exclusive meetings, the winners will be given the opportunity to form business partnerships with the four telcos. They will also be introduced to the telcos’ key decision makers and’ venture capital teams where successful start-ups will receive funding to grow their business.
For German start-up Contiamo, its participation in the inaugural Go Ignite global call last year was extremely positive. Its cloud-based data analytics proposal was selected as one of the five winners. Dr Tilmann Doll, Contiamo’s Chief Operating Officer said, “Participating in Go Ignite has been a huge success for us at Contiamo. We have been able to close contracts with multiple teams within Deutsche Telekom and Singtel and are still in active discussions with teams from Orange and Telefonica. In addition, we received very valuable feedback that helped us shape our product and bring it to the next level.”
"Joining the Go Ignite programme has helped Blueliv a great deal - we have opened or re-opened discussions with established Cyber Security teams from some of the largest telecom operators in the world and received very positive feedback on ‘Threat Intelligence’. At Orange for example, after two successful ‘proof of concepts’, we are now about to work directly with several international clients of Orange Cyberdefense, and are confident to find more business opportunities in the near future.”
To find out more about the Go Ignite Second Global Call, please visit go-ignite.com/.
About Deutsche Telekom: Deutsche Telekom at a glance
About hub:raum (hubraum.com)
hub:raum connects the digital startup ecosystem with Deutsche Telekom, linking tech entrepreneurs and high growth startup companies with the expert network, capital, and business opportunities of Deutsche Telekom. hub:raum offers various programs out of three locations in Berlin, Krakow and Tel-Aviv.. Start-ups can benefit from seed financing, co-working space, mentoring, networking events and connections to Deutsche Telekom business units as well as access to customers.
About Orange (orange.com)
Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 40 billion euros in 2015 and 155,000 employees worldwide at 31 March 2016, including 96,000 employees in France. Present in 28 countries, the Group has a total customer base of 252 million customers worldwide at 31 March 2016, including 191 million mobile customers and 18 million fixed broadband customers. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In March 2015, the Group presented its new strategic plan “Essentials2020” which places customer experience at the heart of its strategy with the aim of allowing them to benefit fully from the digital universe and the power of its new generation networks.Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).
For more information on the internet and on your mobile: www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com, www.livetv.orange.com or to follow us on Twitter: @orangegrouppr.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.
About Orange Fab (fab.orange.com)
Orange Fab is a start-up accelerator programme launched by Orange that aims to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship. Born in Silicon Valley in 2013, the programme is now present in 12 countries in Europe, Africa, the USA, the Middle East and Asia. Orange Fab has accelerated or is currently accelerating 220 start-ups since its launch.
Orange Fab offers selected start-ups three months of support to allow them to develop their products and services. They also receive valuable advice from Orange innovators and experts as well as a number of entrepreneurs.
Supporting start-ups is one of the pillars of Orange's open innovation approach to accelerate the marketing of innovations that will benefit its customers. The Group aims to support 500 start-ups across the world by 2020 with a focus on the rapid realisation of commercial partnerships, or in some cases, joint ventures, via Orange Digital Ventures, its investment fund for early age start-ups.
About Singtel (singtel.com)
Singtel is Asia's leading communications and ICT solutions group, providing a portfolio of services from next-generation communication, technology services to infotainment to both consumers and businesses. For consumers, Singtel delivers a complete and integrated suite of services, including mobile, broadband and TV. For businesses, Singtel offers a complementary array of workforce mobility solutions, data hosting, cloud, network infrastructure, analytics and cyber-security capabilities. The Group has presence in Asia, Australia and Africa and reaches over 640 million mobile customers in 23 countries. Its infrastructure and technology services for businesses span 21 countries, with more than 370 direct points of presence in 325 cities.
For more information, visit www.singtel.com
Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SingtelNews
About Singtel Innov8 and Innov8 Sparks (innov8.singtel.com)
Singtel Innov8, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Singtel Group, is a venture capital fund, with its own set of decision making, approval and funding processes. It has a fund size of US$250 million with offices in Singapore, Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv and Beijing. Singtel Innov8 focuses its investments on technologies and solutions that lead to quantum changes in network capabilities, next generation devices, digital content services and enablers to enhance customer experience. It works closely with the ecosystem of leading innovators, developers, government agencies, R&D and capital providers to bring cutting-edge technologies and solutions to the various markets the Singtel Group operates in.
Innov8 Sparks is a network of start-up support and funding initiatives across Southeast Asia, founded by members of the Singtel Group. Founding members include Singtel Innov8 (Singapore), AIS The Startup (Thailand), Kickstart Ventures by Globe Telecom (the Philippines), Optus-Innov8 Seed (Australia), and Teman Dev by Telkomsel (Indonesia).
About Telefónica (telefonica.com)
Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world by market capitalization and number of customers with a comprehensive offering and quality of connectivity that is delivered over world class fixed, mobile and broadband networks. As a growing company it prides itself on providing a differential experience based both on its corporate values and a public position that defends customer interests.
The company has a significant presence in 21 countries and 322 million accesses around the world. Telefónica has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America, where the company focuses an important part of its growth strategy.
Telefónica is a 100% listed company, with more than 1.5 million direct shareholders. Its share capital currently comprises 4,975,199,197 ordinary shares traded on the Spanish Stock Market and on those in London, New York, Lima, and Buenos Aires.
About Telefónica Open Future (openfuture.org)
Telefónica Open Future is Telefonica´s global platform designed to connect her to entrepreneurs, startups, investors and public and private partners around the world to capture innovation and business opportunities. Its goal is to support talent at all stages of growth through a comprehensive model for acceleration that is designed to connect talent with organisations, investors and companies. The programme incorporates all of Telefónica Group's open innovation, entrepreneurship and investment initiatives (Think Big, Talentum, Crowdworking, Wayra, Amérigo and Telefónica Ventures) through a global network that is open to participation by external partners that wish to develop their own entrepreneurial and investment strategies, and connect to large corporates. To date, more than 50,000 proposals have been analysed, over 1,500 startups have been accelerated and 690, invested. Telefónica Open Future_ is present in 17 countries and has committed to investment, with its partners, a total of 445 million euros. More info: www.openfuture.org/en
For further information: www.openfuture.org.
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