Five startups from Germany, Denmark and England are the finalists of the CONTENTshift accelerator organised by the Börsenvereinsgruppe (Group of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association). Startups from a total of 36 applicants from nine different countries originally applied to participate in the accelerator.

The top 5, chosen by the competition’s expert jury, cover a broad range of the media and content sector, with business models relating to text analysis, reader analysis, cross-media play and learning, opinion diversity and artificial intelligence:

  • EasyCorrect (Denmark): a digital correction and feedback tool for teachers and students
  • Jellybooks (England): provides digital reading samples with integrated reader analytics
  • Mitmalfilm (Germany): allows kids to use colouring templates to make animation films
  • QualiFiction (Germany): enables text analysis and predictions regarding a book’s potential for success
  • Varia (Germany): allows readers to overcome filter bubbles by means of quality news from different perspectives

In the coming three months, the young founders and entrepreneurs will participate in coaching sessions and a joint workshop weekend as part of the programme. The CONTENTshift accelerator will offer them access to an international network of investors, experienced entrepreneurs and industry veterans.

“This year’s final five startups span quite a wide spectrum in terms of content, technology and market maturity”, noted jury spokesperson Hermann Eckel, managing director of Tolino Media and spokesman of the Börsenverein’s Digital Interest Group. “With everything from publishing to news and education, the startups also cover a large swathe of the content and media sector. On the one hand, they’re creating tools designed to analyse texts and reading behaviour, which will no doubt provide the industry with exciting new opportunities at different points along the value chain. On the other hand, they’re working on artificial intelligence as well as new ways of classifying information and adopting diverse perspectives on the news.  The younger startups will be invited to acquire new ideas and gain inspiration for their future development, but we also have more established companies on board, each of which holds tremendous potential for the book industry. We hope all participants will make mutually beneficial contacts and that CONTENTshift will provide impetus for innovations and new ways of thinking in the book and media industry”.

In addition to Hermann Eckel, the other members of the CONTENTshift jury include Detlef Büttner (Board Member, Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Lehmanns Media), Per Dalheimer (Hugendubel Digital), Daniel Ebneter (S. Karger AG), Bernd Fakesch (Nintendo), Leif Göritz (Thalia), Nina Hugendubel (Hugendubel), Ronald Schild (MVB), Andrea Soprek (Ravensburger Buchverlag) and Dominik Strähle (Thalia).

The five startups will attend the 2019 Frankfurt Book Fair, where they will give their decisive final pitch before the jury and general public. After that, the final “Content Startup of the Year” will be chosen and awarded €10,000.

More detailed information on the finalists available at www.contentshift.de