We are thrilled to announce that KitchenTown Berlin will officially open this November!

 

KitchenTown Berlin is our first international location and has been modeled after our Bay Area campus to help the food startup community in Europe.  For the past year, our Berlin team has been hosting events, building community for food startups in Berlin and expanding the KitchenTown global network.

 

SCALE-UP FACILITY

“Over the last few months, we’ve been working closely with many startups to find out what the local needs are here in Berlin and how we can help,” says Eike Kieras, co-founder of KitchenTown Berlin. The Berlin facility is 10,000 square feet and will be a vibrant and flexible resource for startups.  It will include small-batch production space, a product development lab, and co-working office space.  The Berlin scale-up facility will be centrally located near Alexanderplatz, one of the major transport hubs of the city. “Here in Berlin, accessibility by public transportation is very important,” says Kieras.

 

ACCELERATOR PROGRAM

KitchenTown Berlin will also launch an accelerator program that will support food startups with professional expertise and €30,000 of pre-seed funding in exchange for 6% equity share in the company.  “It became clear to us that besides having the right equipment and know-how, obtaining funding for an early-stage idea is often critical to success,” explains co-founder Lukas Neuss.

The accelerator program will target food startups with innovative and impact-driven ideas that are changing the future of food.  “We are particularly interested in topics such as personalized nutrition, transparent value chain as well as sustainable and healthy foods,” says Neuss.

The program will run for six months and includes access to the Berlin scale-up facility as well as support tailored to the individual needs of each startup. KitchenTown will provide expertise in product development, supply chain, distribution, legal and more. “We want to help companies quickly validate and prove their product market fit and be able to attract additional external investors.” says Neuss.

Food startups and entrepreneurs can apply for the accelerator program or sign up for a membership at kitchentown.de.

Read an interview with Lukas Neuss, co-founder of KitchenTown Berlin here.