Betapitch Copenhagen 1st prize winners Bikway went on to the Betapitch Global event in Berlin on July 6 to compete against other ‘local’ winners – and walked away with a prize! Peter Bihr – from the jury has written a wrap up and thoughts on the event , and congratulations to all the winners.
15 startups from the 6 Betapitch local events presented their ideas to compete for a bundle of prizes, from €10k in cash to desk-space, time in the Silicon Valley and incubating environments and workshops, and more. The prize pool was split and distributed between several promising teams, to maximise the benefits of the prizes, with Bulgarian statistical computing startup, StatAce taking first prize, Get2Play working on music learning online, and Diagsum for cheaper diagnosis of retinal diseases, receiving awards. Copenhagen’s Bikway received the Paris prize sponsored by Mailjet, giving them a free trip to Paris to discover its startup ecosystem.
An observation and piece of advice that emerged from the event, fitting since it’s the global pitch, was from angel and entrepreneur Thomas Madsen-Mygdal. He said that founders tend to focus too much on their home market. His advice, ‘Go global from day 1…. don’t make yourself small and aim too low! Chances are your service will still grow more quickly at home then abroad, but don’t artificially restrict it to that market.’
Bikway is an urban mobility start-up with an easy and affordable way to plan, test and implement biking infrastructure. Taking environmental sustainability into consideration, their main product is a recyclable, easy to install product for physical prototyping of bike lanes in cities. They’re aiming to create bike-friendly cities across the world. More Copenhagen style Bikway cycle paths in the streets of Paris, perhaps?
