At the ‘Four Years From Now’ (4YFN) tech and start-up event taking place at MWC in Barcelona, the innovation arms of Deutsche Telekom (hub:raum), Orange (Orange Fab), Singtel (Singtel Innov8), and Telefónica (Telefónica Open Future) came together to launch Go Ignite - a new brand for the alliance they formed in September last year to connect the start-up ecosystems across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
The alliance offers a programme to help top start-ups find business development opportunities, accelerate the commercialization of their innovations and scale their businesses outside their home market. Up to five innovative start-ups will be selected for the programme, with selection ending on the 30th of April.
OptiWi-fi, a Wayra-Telefónica Open Future startup whose unique patented Wi-Fi technology enables telcos to extend cellular services over Wi-Fi has benefitted from this arrangement. Another beneficiary is Idomoo, an Orange Fab start-up, which has developed a personalized video storytelling technology to engage customers at every touch point in the customer journey, through dynamic and real time videos.
Min-Kin Mak, VP, hub:raum, Deutsche Telekom
Go Ignite was created by partners all fully committed to cooperate with start-up companies. Each of the involved carriers has built respective programmes to work with start-ups and to leverage corporate assets for many years.
Ana Segurado, Managing Director of Telefónica Open Future
With Go Ignite, the four telcos want to support entrepreneurs in turning their projects into innovative products and in fostering their growth, hoping to find new digital solutions for our final users that make their life easier.
