It's official! Collider set to launch in Amsterdam

We officially announced our big news today – Collider will be launching in Amsterdam next year! Below is our official press release. Please feel free to share to all, and if you'd like to get involved with our next step, we'd love to hear from you.

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For Immediate Release

Collider to launch new madtech accelerator in Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s startup scene continues to draw interest from overseas, as London’s leading marketing and advertising tech accelerator announce their plan to launch in the city.

Now onto their fifth cohort, Collider invests in early stage, madtech startups to help them become sustainable, rapidly growing businesses through investment, a highly structured programme and access to a wide, relevant network.

The accelerator focuses on the sweet spot between startups and brands and the commercial benefits they bring to one another.

Amsterdam will be the company’s first office outside of the UK.

Rose Lewis, Co-Founder and CEO of Collider said: “Amsterdam has a huge marketing and ad presence – the third largest in Europe – and many big brands have their global or European HQs there.

“The startup ecosystem is growing thanks to some great initiatives in the city, so it makes perfect sense for it to become Collider’s second city.”

The accelerator saw their first exit in 2016 with Class of 2013 cohort member, Avocarrot, selling to Glispa for $20 million.

The way the business works with corporates sees startups scale up with significant speed, reaching product market fit and ultimately secure deals. Collider UK partnerships include Unilever, Ogilvy, Haymarket and The Financial Times.

Ellen Bark-Lindhout, who's heading up the Amsterdam branch said: “Collider UK has a proven track record of accelerating marketing and ad tech startups and I am convinced there is lots of potential to do the same beyond London.

“One, because this year again we received a record number of startup applications from all over Europe, and two, because there are many great brands around Amsterdam that want to be close to the latest digital tech to innovate in marketing and e-commerce.”

Earlier this year, Collider hosted a popup in Amsterdam, connecting companies such as Heineken, Philips, NN Group and Ahold with a group of Collider startups.

Ellen said: “The positive reactions from both corporates and startups strengthened our plan to launch a programme in Amsterdam next year.”

Amsterdam’s Deputy Major, Kajsa Ollongren said: “I am pleased to welcome Collider and feel confident that their office in Amsterdam will be an excellent addition to the London office.

"Not only is Amsterdam Europe’s most connected tech city, it is also home to a vibrant creative industry. Collider's presence will lead to even more innovation in our marketing and advertising sector and attract entrepreneurial digital talent."

For more information Tazz Gault tazz@collider.io 07828672000

Brexit Has Had No Impact On Startup Applications

That's right – we've seen no impact on the number, quality or geographical location of startups since Brexit. In fact, we've had over 300 applications of which a high proportion have been impressive quality.

And as it's that time of year where we draw close to both our investment campaign and startup application deadline, we thought we'd dig into the data and discover the startup trends of 2016/17.

Check out our favourite five snippets of what we can expect in the marketing and advertising world:

1. Around 10% of all applications from the UK are in advertising and analysis.

2. Almost 3/4 of applications are from Europe.

3. The primary focus of Israeli startups this year is on big data or blogger outreach/marketing.

4. Other than the UK, the next highest number of applicants from a European country is Spain.

5. Almost double the overall applications relate more to marketing than they do advertising.

Interesting, huh?

Investing With Accelerators: 5 Tips From Frederic Court

We recently heard from Frederic Court, founder of VC Felix Capital and expert in MadTech investment. Here’s his top tips on investing in this space:

1. People, not business

With business comes people, and they’re the ones that make stuff happen. The idea matters, but don’t forget their passion too.

According to Frederic, successful investment opportunities comes down to three things: reputation, network and luck.

2. Be friendly

It’s okay – we can be grumpy too. But whilst it seems like an obvious point to make, taking the time to get to know the people behind the business.

3. Be patient

Investing in a start up will never see immediate results, with a normal exit cycle around 8 years. Anything less lands in the ‘pretty quick’ category, although can be done.

4. Be prepared

There’s often two choices for an early stage individual investor: front the cash to maintain your equity stake or be content with getting diluted out.

5. Be reasonable

A normal fund return is around 1.4x – 3x is a really good return and anything above this is rare. And yes, unicorns are rare creatures to find in every sense of the word.