Content & Tech Incubator: Turning ideas into innovation
We support your innovative business ideas at the intersection of content and tech from all over Europe. Whether you are students, aspiring entrepreneurs, or employees from media and digital companies – we elevate your prototypes to the next level.
In three phases, you can expect networking and mentoring opportunities as well as individually tailored workshops and professional training. Additionally, we provide you with digital tools, workspaces, and financial support so you can fully focus on your project. What makes it special: Media Lift is a program for the early stages of startups. We help you further develop your innovative prototypes and together, we make them viable businesses.
Your prototypes belong to you! After the Media Lift incubator, you can freely launch your project, expand it further with our partners from the Hamburg startup ecosystem, or reintegrate it into your company – without giving up any equity.
Updates
Are you interested in participating in Batch 6? You can still apply until May 5, 2024!WHEN?
June – October 2024
WHERE?
Remote and in Hamburg
Die Teams aus Batch 6
What the teams receive
Resources and Financial Support
- Financial support of up to €15,000 per team
- Workspace at SPACE in Hamburg and tools for (digital) collaboration
- In the third phase, €1000 individual coaching budget for the Media Lift coaching pool
Training
- Methodological, technical, and market knowledge
- Personal coaching and team building
- Pitch training, product field workshops, and testing
Network
- A team mentor
- Access to our network of mentors
- Access to follow-up programs from our partners
Visibility
- Editorial coverage
- Participation in events
- Presentation at the graduation pitch
Who can apply for Media Lift
We are looking for innovative solutions, business models or technologies that will move the content industry forward. The thematic focus of our incubator is on #MediaTech developments. These include:
#AdTech
#Creative AI
#Generative AI
#Content Creation
#Audience
#Media Platforms
#Audio
#Digital Journalism
#Digital Publishing
#Digital Payment
#Data & Analytics
#Data Driven Publishing
#E-Commerce for Media Companies
#Metaverse
#Blockchain
#VR #AR #XR
#FilmTech
Teams that have an initial digital prototype focusing on one of the aforementioned topics and are in the pre-founding or early stage (early stage). The special thematic focus this year is on: MediaTech and AI (Creative AI / Generative AI).
This includes universal technologies that can be used by or adapted for our industry, as well as new products or services that revolutionize the industry. For example, we are looking for startups that know how to tap into the APIs of OpenAI and bridge the gap for applications in the content industry.
We are looking for teams in the pre-founding or early stage. You must be at least two people and should not have more than five team members. It doesn’t matter whether you are still studying, employees from media and digital companies, or aspiring entrepreneurs. However, we do not support format developments, agency startups, or sole proprietors. You don’t necessarily have to come from Hamburg, but there will be some in-person meetings where ideally your entire team can participate. #commitment
The Media Lift Jury
Carina Laudage
Nina Klaß
Vera Strauch
Philip Brandecker
Isabelle Ewald
Jens Unrau
Mentors
Andreas Spiegler
Dietmar Schlumbohm
Vincent Hilpert
Gregor Landwehr
Nikolai Bockholt
Anke Nehrenberg
Lutz Leiding
Marco Maas
Julia Heidinger
Nina Peters
Maximilian Forster
Lucy Larbi
Philip Marz
Raoul Nayar
Nicolas Meibohm
Dr. Markus Dömer
Paul Solbach
Robert Hecker
Christian Wilkens
Julia Kunstmann
Sarah Rothberger
Gregor Pawlowski
Tim Adler
Bastian Springer
Simon Graff
Agnes Chung
Wibke Melanie Becker
Lennart Schneider
Sandra Roggow
Julian Berzbach
Nils Neumann
Christine Schmitt
Wiebke Nadzeika
Tatjana Anisimov
Fenja Franke
Ruth Lemmen
Tobias Heuer
Tolgay Azman
Christian Friedrich
Arian Okhovat Alavian
Program Schedule 2024
Alumni Portfolio
musicube: Faster music search using AI
The startup musicube offers music metadata and a music search engine. The data of over 48 million music tracks is determined using AI. As of June 2022, musicube has been part of the company Songtradr.
With BotTalk, content becomes audible.
BotTalk is a startup with expertise in text-to-speech. With their tool, publishers can make their content accessible via voice. Renowned publishers such as the Hamburger Abendblatt are already using the tool.
Virtual worlds by Curvature Games
Curvature Games challenges the limitations of human perception with intelligent algorithms, enabling natural walking in the virtual space across various fields such as gaming, architecture, marketing, or journalism.
Storydive: AR for the ears
Storydive’s audiowalks combine audiobooks and walks. What makes it special is that listeners become protagonists themselves, allowing them to rediscover their surroundings. Numerous cities such as Hamburg, Munich, and Berlin are already available for exploration.
FAQs
In our application form, we ask for the most important information about your business idea and your team. Additionally, please submit a pitch deck for a detailed presentation of your solution approach. Helpful templates for your business idea can be found on NeueMedien.org. We recommend that you schedule a consultation with our program manager Bruno before submitting the application.
Ideally, you are still in the pre-founding phase, meaning you have already developed a solution approach and an initial prototype but are not yet market-ready – because that’s exactly where we want to take you together. If you have already completed an accelerator program, the incubator is probably no longer the right fit for you.
No, you can apply even before officially founding the company. The goal would be for you to tackle the company formation with our support during the first phase of the incubator. If you have already officially founded and registered the company, that is not a disqualifying factor. The location of the company does not matter initially, as long as you ensure your presence in Hamburg during the on-site phases.
Your core team should consist of a minimum of two and a maximum of five people, with complementary expertise. We naturally support diverse founder teams and are particularly excited about female entrepreneurs.
Our panel of expert judges evaluates all applications that meet the criteria based on the criteria of development potential (team/idea) and industry relevance. The most promising business ideas from all applications will be selected for personal presentation during the digital prepitch on May 15th and 16th, 2024. Subsequently, the jury will decide which five teams will be the lucky participants this year, and you will be notified as soon as possible.
We plan the four-month program on a bi-weekly basis, meaning workshops are typically held from Tuesday to Thursday one week, with no scheduled events the following week. You should ideally reserve a full day for the workshops. It is expected that you participate in 75% of the workshops. The detailed program will be sent out after the confirmation following the prepitch.
Sort of – the incubator will run both remotely and in-person. We plan to have the kick-off for the program on-site in Hamburg on June 19th. Subsequently, we will meet in Hamburg for specific workshops to enhance collaboration between the batch teams. As a general rule, there won’t be more than two in-person meetings in Hamburg per phase.
Yes, you will receive up to 15,000 euros in funding per team. The incubator consists of three phases – you will receive 5,000 euros per phase. Whether you reach the next phase will be decided by our jury based on your progress, which you present at the milestone pitches.
No. Your ideas belong to you! After the incubator, you are free to launch your project independently or reintegrate it into your company.
Yes, that is possible. However, since the financial support constitutes de minimis aid, you must ensure that the funds received through such programs do not exceed a total of 200,000 euros within three years from the date of the first de minimis aid. Nevertheless, you should carefully consider whether dual funding is beneficial and feasible for you, which is why we ask you about it in the application form. It is not a disqualifying criterion.
