For our 4th interview at EU-Startups, we just had the chance to talk to Heiko Hubertz, the founder and CEO of Bigpoint, which is one of the biggest internet successes coming out of Germany. Heiko Hubertz’s company develops and operates browser games. As well as being a publisher, content provider and developer, Bigpoint is setting…
Recap of LeWeb 2010 – Great speakers and +2000 guests
Snow, expensive tickets and great speakers. If you had to describe this year’s LeWeb in one sentence you might have described it this way, but of course there is a lot more to say about one of Europe’s greatest web conferences. If you missed this year’s LeWeb in Paris, here are some interesting resources to…
Swiss startup Paper.li, a curated content tool, launches its new Facebook functionality
Paper.li, a free service that turns Twitter feeds into an easy readable online newspaper, was featured in EU-Startups last month for launching in German and French. Now they launched a new feature that integrates with Facebook, too. Almost 100,000 registered users are using the paper.li service already in English, with more international users expected to…
Austrian fashion shop YOUTAILOR enters the French market
The online shop for tailored clothing YOUTAILOR has just entered the French market (Update – December 2022: The startup seems to be no longer in business and we therefore deactivated the link). Recently the young company also expanded to the UK, too. Martin Zapart, Managing Director of YOUTAILER said: “The French are recognized internationally as…
The Ryanair family funds Irish tech startups
It’s been reported recently that Ireland’s economy is facing some challenges at this point in time. That said, there are also some positive aspects to the situation right now. With 12.5% company tax, and wages pushed down alongside the cost of living, Ireland seems to be a cheaper place now to do business. For entrepreneurs…
The second month of EU-Startups.com: What’s next?
Wow! The last two months have flown by, as the first nascent activity of EU-Startups. In this short time, we already had the chance to do three exciting interviews with some top European entrepreneurs and wrote over 60 articles. Our plans for the coming months? EU-Startups.com will be professionalized step by step, with more website…
Budding founders! Will you join Startup Weekend Marseilles?
Have you heard of Startup Weekend? These events, all over Europe, are 54-hour entrepreneurship educational competitive events, where groups of participants form teams around ideas on the Friday evening, and work during the weekend to develop a working prototype, demo, and venture capital pitch presentation by Sunday evening. If you live in France, then you’re…
Irish network RendesVous353 just launched in the UK
It’s not uncommon to find Irish professionals uprooting and moving elsewhere, due to a number of reasons, such as the financial crisis for example RendesVous353 makes it easy for these expats to stay in touch with their Irish friends and other people with Irish roots from all over the world (Update – December 2022: The…
The EU Commission has started an investigation into Google
The governing body of the European Union, the European Commission, announced today that it just has begun investigating allegations that Google has abused its dominance as a search engine. In more detail, the European Commission is going to investigate whether Google has purposely lowered the search rankings of the price comparison sites Ciao, the French legal search…
German startup Simfy partners with StudiVZ (Germany’s largest social network)
The German startup Simfy, which is similar to the music platform Spotify, just announced it’s partnership with the German social media platform StudiVZ (Update – December 2022: The startup seems to be no longer in business and we therefore deactivated the link). Simfy is an online music platform, based in Cologne, which was founded in…
German shoe shop Zalando just announced another round of financing
This month the shoe-shop Zalando has registered a further capital increase into the commercial register. Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is a German-based but European online fashion platform that offers a wide assortment of shoes for men, women and children. According to German the press, the Swedish investment company Investment AB Kinnevik has evaluated Zalando…
Check out this funny viral startup video!
Did you know that most startups fail? Have you ever met a startup founder who seemed to be so convinced of their idea, but with no concrete plan to execute the product, marketing or any other area of the business? Here is a funny video about creating the next Google or Facebook, that we just…
Will France introduce its so-called ‘Google tax’ in 2011?
Do you work in online advertising in the French market? Then this news could be relevant for you or your partners. French President Sarközy has announced a 1% tax for revenues from internet advertising. Starting in 2011 this change will applied to all companies based in France. The country hopes it will bring in extra…
German marketplace startup DaWanda lands undisclosed amount of funding
DaWanda’s shareholder’s list has changed a little bit these past few days, thanks to a fresh batch of shares being sold to well-known players in the European startup scene (Update – December 2022: The startup seems to be no longer operating under the name DaWanda and we therefore deactivated the link). Founded by Claudia Helming…
Madrid-based language learning platform busuu launches campaign to save the near-extinct language of Busuu!
Right before our interview with busuu’s co-founder Bernhard Niesner, the young company launched a video campaign to save the Busuu language. The Busuu language, which is near-extinct, is spoken in Cameroon. According to an ethnological study conducted in the eighties, apparently only eight people are able to speak the language. The ‘Save Busuu’ campaign comes with…
German review site Qype secures €6.5 million from Vodafone Ventures
Popular review site Qype just won Vodafone Ventures as a new shareholder (Update – December 2022: The startup seems to be no longer in business and we therefore deactivated the link). Vodafone Ventures is investing €3.5 million in the Hamburg-based company. Another €3 million is coming from existing investors Partech International, Wellington Partners and Advent…
“Go put it live, even when it’s still an early prototype”: Interview with fits.me co-founder, Heikki Haldre
We just interviewed Heikki Haldre, the co-founder and CEO of fits.me (Update – December 2022: The startup seems to be no longer in business and we therefore deactivated the link). After a busy week and his speech at the Drapers Fashion Summit in London, Heikki took some time to answer our interview questions. With his…
German company Chrono24 aquires Australian competitor WatchChoice
In February of this year, two German internet entrepreneurs, Dirk Schwartz and Tim Stracke, bought Chrono24, a marketplace for high quality watches. The sum of the acquisition has yet to be disclosed. With their additional purchase of the Australian competitor WatchChoice, they are now on their way to establishing an international market leader. The sum…