We take you backstage in the Unknown Group venture engine by inviting the founders behind the ventures that seek adventure and opportunity in business. By extracting valuable and actionable insights, Unknown Stories deconstructs the highs, the lows and the in-betweens of navigating the journey of venturing.
Despite its lengthy decomposition time and difficulty to be recycled, over 300 million tones of plastic is produced each year. Would we ever be able to deal with the ever-growing amount of discarded plastic? Well, first believe that it is possible, and then you'll see
Through virtual reality, you are immersed into a different world. Through the use of SenseGlove, you can also touch it.
Did you know that the average edible insects have far higher protein content than the average protein source? To Daniela Arias, our next guest on the Unknown Stories podcast, this is no secret. Coming from Costa Rica, Sibö B.V. is working to bridge the gap between insects and food companies! Through the use of their Entowise technology, they help insect manufacturers develop high-value products with only 5% of the carbon emissions of the current alternatives. As one of the runner-ups of the Global Meetup 2022 Final Battle, Sibö has strengthened their vision to standardize insect-base protein in the market. Tune in to this week's podcast to learn more about their solutions and aspirations on unknowngroup.com/podcast, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts!
Discover a truly unconventional solution that stores energy in liquid air. Meet Phelas, our guest on the Unknown Stories podcast. In the fifth episode of this season, Leon, one of the co-founders of Phelas, joined us from Germany to explain how their solution is crucial for the energy transition. Phelas created a battery which uses the liquification of air to store energy and release it via expansion in a highly efficient manner. After emerging as the Rising Star during the Global Meetup 2022, Leon and Phelas are joining us to share their vision of a world powered entirely by renewable energy. Learn more about his solution and how it is fixing the future by tuning into the podcast on unknowngroup.com/podcast, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts!
Warp VR's vision for the future of work is where workforces leverage VR to ensure they are trained for high pressure situations. Story-based, immersive VR modules to onboard and upskill will be the way to go! In the latest episode of the Unknown Stories podcast, we are joined by Thijs de Vries, CEO at Warp VR, who explains how cutting-edge VR training modules are making onboarding handbooks obsolete in field-based roles. Check out this episode of the Unknown Stories podcast on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you get your podcasts.
Going carbon neutral in the horticulture industry is an ambitious dream. With BBBLS it is possible. In the third episode of Unknown Stories, our host, Jurgen, is joined by Anton Paardekooper, Founder & Managing Director at BBBLS. Using soap bubbles, BBBLS is reinventing greenhouses. Their solution equips greenhouses with extra insulation, enabling the production of high quality crops with a fraction of the energy used. How can extremely thin films of soap and water with enclosed air be the solution to slashing the carbon footprint of the horticulture industry? Listen to this holiday special episode to find out.
When crumbs of energy come together as Powercrumbs! Episode 2 of the second season of the Unknown Stories is here to dive deeper into overlooked energy sources. In the energy transition, all energy sources matter. For this episode, Jurgen is joined by Pieter Mans, Co-founder of Powercrumbs. On a mission to unleash the true potential of untapped energy sources - power crumbs - Pieter, together with Jelmer and Jan, are creating sustainable energy streams.
In the first episode of Season 2, Jurgen is joined by Linda Klunder to go into an in-depth tour of the first cocoa pulp-based soft drink on the market. Living at the poverty line, cocoa farmers earn only 6% of the final value of a chocolate bar. However, to produce it, much of the cocoa fruit is discarded as waste, when in reality, it is a rich pulpy fruit. So, what can we do to increase the income of cocoa farmers? Drink more Kumasi! Kumasi fights food loss and poverty by making soft drinks and thus creating an additional revenue stream for cocoa farmers out of the previously wasted cocoa pulp. Leading the “Juice Revolution”, Linda, co-founder of Kumasi, is already selling via Albert Heijn, Hema and speciality shops.
Did you know that The Netherlands offers the biggest and widest range of plant-based products? Or that Spain is emerging as one of the leading FoodTech ecosystems in the world? The synergy between the two countries should be leveraged. Our first Unknown Stories Special episode of this season welcomes Alejandro Alvarez of Quesana (former Vegetaleso) to share with us his main learnings from the Desafia Netherlands program. As a participant in last year's edition, Alejandro dived deeper into the ins and outs of running a business in The Netherlands. His favorite part? The mentors that guided him in his journey towards transforming the food industry through vegan cheese. Listen to the full episode to see what makes The Netherlands a great market for food tech innovations!
In the first episode of Season 2 of the Unknown Stories podcast, Jurgen is joined by Coenraad de Vries, co-founder of Oneplanetcrowd. Oneplanetcrowd is The Netherlands' largest sustainable crowdfunding platform; with a community of 30,000 impact investors, they have financed more than 200 projects by sustainable entrepreneurs. Listen to this episode for insights on how they became the largest Dutch sustainable crowdfunding platform, their ambitions of supporting the energy transition by empowering early-stage impact entrepreneurs and a peek into their preparations as they scale beyond The Netherlands into the EU.
It's tough for new, innovative ventures to collaborate with McDonald's, but not impossible. In this Unknown Specials episode, our host Willem Knaap aims to understand how corporate leaders act upon opportunities and innovation to disentangle the future of food. This time, he is joined by Jeroen Dekkers, Head of Supply Chain at McDonald's, to draw the route for newcomers into the McDonald's system. Scale is their biggest advantage, but also disadvantage to integrate game changing solutions. Working with the same partners for over 25 years - without a contract - founders must form a trustworthy relationship based on transparency, and share the same vision to change the world. Find out what it takes to venture beyond known with McDonald's by listening to the full episode on unknowngroup.com/unknown-specials, Apple and Spotify.
Collaboration between start-ups, scale-ups, (energy) companies and governments will fast-track the development of technologies which can help us tackle the challenges of climate change. Shell GameChanger stands out as the oldest of all corporate innovation programs. Since 1996, the Shell GameChanger program is fully focused on scouting for disruptive ideas that could be vital to meeting future energy needs worldwide. In this parallel series, our host Willem Knapp, director of Corporate Venturing at Unknown Group, aims to understand how corporate leaders act upon opportunities, innovation, and disruption. For this episode, he is joined by Lene Hviid, Global Manager Shell Research Alliance & GameChanger, to dive deeper into perhaps the world's greatest challenge: the energy transition — and not only. What comes first in a good startup? How to spot future trends and tech developments in advance? How can Shell help you as a startup or scaleup to further shape the energy system of the future? This episode of Unknown Stories uncovers the secret of successfully collaborating with industry leaders to bring innovations to the market.
"The massive challenge that we had to solve is to provide what a professor would know after teaching a domain for 50 years." Previously being featured as the Unknown Solution of the Week, KIMO is a Dutch AI firm which is making breakthroughs on personalized learning at scale. Their unconventional solution is able to reskill professionals that want to move into another knowledege domain. To provide a guided path through the never-ending online content, KIMO takes into account the already available skills of an user. The result — a personalized journey from job A to job B. How are they doing this? Rens, co-founder and CEO at KIMO, joins our host Jurgen at the studio to answer this question, while touching upon the original promise of MOOC aggregators to make education available for everyone, and how KIMO is moving into this direction. Want to try out their solution? The platform will be live for users in April, and will be free until June.
We first met Vijaykant Nadadur, Co-Founder and CEO of Stride.ai, when we identified them as a viable solution for the ABN AMRO "Building the Bank of The Future" challenge in 2017. Winning this event elevated Stride.ai to process optimization superstardom especially in the Banking industry, with Stride.ai landing successful collaborations with ING's Fintech Village and EY. Today, Stride.ai is a one-stop solution that helps companies automate their processes without writing a single line of code. How did they get here? And where to next? Tune in to the newest episode of the Unknown Stories podcast to find out.
"Microplastics are everywhere. In water, air, soil, and in our food, they have been found in Arctic ice, on Mount Everest, in our bodies and so on... If we do not come to working solutions as soon as possible to remove microplastics and micropollutants, we directly have bad influence on our health and we get sick. This is for sure." Dr. Katrin Schuhen is the Founder & Managing Director of Wasser 3.0. Although for many seemed like a bold direction to pursue, her extensive research on using hybrid silica gels to purify water gave birth to Wasser 3.0. The non-profit organization tackles the complexity of water pollution with three concepts to achieve zero pollutants in water, which is also the reasoning behind their brand name. In this episode, Katrin, together with our host Jurgen, put a spotlight on the necessity for innovation in the water domain — a vital topic for our survival on this planet — and provide a detailed overview of how Wasser 3.0 contribute in this area. No wonder they emerged as the public's favourite solution and the pitch battle winner of Get in the Ring Berlin - Impact.
Omniflow upgrade regular street lights to sustainable infrastructures essential for smart cities. Their smart IoT lamp post, powered by wind and solar, is reducing energy consumption by more than 94%, while providing EV charging, smart car parking, 5G small-cell and other value added services. After winning Get in the Ring Lisbon - Impact a couple of months ago, we were eager to discover more about how Omniflow tackles CO2 emissions, while transforming this challenge into an opportunity to expand digitalization. Our host Jurgen is joined by Pedro Ruão, Founder & CEO at Omniflow, to touch upon an innovative business model, future cities, and much more.
In this episode, Jurgen is joined by Giels Brouwer - Founder of leading sport performance analytics scaleups, SciSports and BallJames. These scaleups pioneered a data-driven approach to scouting football players, which was adopted by the world's leading football clubs such as Olympique Lyon, Leeds United and Ajax. In recent years, SciSports have built a fully-automated solution that quantifies the quality, potential and value of every professional football player in the world. Furthermore, towards the end of the episode, Giels announces his new role - CTO of Unknown Group and discusses with Jurgen his ambitions of building a global scouting machinery to power the Unknown Venture Engine. Want to learn more about the Unknown Venture Engine and discover how it can unlock your ventures potential? Visit unknowngroup.com/how
New Unknown Group Chairman, Edward de Jager and CEO, Hendrik Halbe speak candidly about the motivations behind the merger between VenturesOne and Unknown Group, delving into what a Venture Engine is and how they envision it working to fuel founders of innovative solutions from all parts of the world. Both Hendrik and Edward have built numerous ventures from scratch over the course of their entrepreneurial journey - what are their key learnings? how do they use this knowledge to fuel the founders of today? and what do they believe it takes to stand out from the crowd? For answers to that and more, tune in to special episode of the Unknown Stories Podcast to mark the announcement of the merger between Unknown Group and VenturesOne. For more information, visit www.unknowngroup.com/merger-announcement
Giving raw materials a digital identity which enables them to become traceable is a game-changing solution for the recycling industry. One that led Circularise to the Get in the Ring The Netherlands - Impact Final. Mesbah Sabur, the founder of Circularise, built a decentralized platform that brings transparency to supply chains without comprimising confidentiality. Their innovative Smart Questioning technology allows stakeholders to exchange sensitive information about products in a trusted manner, while addressing competitiveness issues. Mesbah joins Jurgen at our studio to uncover the Circularise protocol and touch upon how they empower businesses to move towards a circular economy through collaborative advantage.
(Zoom Session) The demand for protein is expected to double over the coming decades, as a result of the growing population and also a change in eating habits. Currently, the meat industry is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions around the world, but what about the moment when the demand will double? Dror Tamir, Co-founder of Hargol FoodTech, pursues an incredible difficult task - educating the market to embrace alternative-protein sources. In this Zoom session with the student entrepreneurs of the Global School of Entrepreneurship, Dror goes back to the beginning of the world's first commercial grasshopper farm. How did Hargol FoodTech manage to transform grasshoppers from a farmer's worst nightmare into a sustainable, high-quality protein ready for commercial farming? How can you leverage international innovation competitions, and how winning Get in the Ring 2017 was the final nail for them into closing a $600k funding round? This episode of Unknown Stories uncovers unique techniques suitable for an unique proposition.
"Innovation is not only about taking risks, but is about exploring in a structured manner before you decide to build something." Suzanne Charlotte Vos is the Innovation Coach & Consultant at ING Labs APAC in Singapore, and her main role is to scale disruptive solutions. She joins Jochem at the studio to discuss entry strategies for startups in Asia, further going into how innovative entrepreneurs can get in touch with ING for collaborations and scaling. What is the biggest misconception of doing business abroad? What opportunities are in Singapore for startups? How can ING Labs assist startups to grow and which are the most valuable skill sets they are looking for? This episode of Unknown Stories is a step-by-step guide on the journey of venturing in Asia.
Brad Vanstone is the Founder of Willicroft, a sustainable plant-based cheese solution that aims to tackle global warming by providing a tasty alternative to dairy cheese. In two years, the finalist of Get in the Ring the Netherlands - Impact managed to put a whole range in the major supermarkets. But is it scalable? Brad joins Jurgen at the studio to touch upon Willicroft's to-market strategy and how they took the best elements of existing solutions to capitalize on the gap in the plant-based cheese market. Plant-based cheese from nuts to white beans — Willicroft runs a crowdfunding campaign to switch from cashew nuts to beans and allow people with a nut allergy to also enjoy their cheeses. Their project aims to grow white beans in the Netherlands, and tackle the emissions generated by importing those from outside the EU. Let's show our support: https://crowdaboutnow.nl/campagnes/willicroft
A water purification system driven by solar energy? One that can be rapidly deployed in times of crises, can bring relief to distressed communities and is wholly manufactured in Europe in-line with ESG frameworks? It's no surprise that Alexander van der Kleij's SolarDew were amongst the favorites of the Get in the Ring The Netherlands - Impact. Our host, Jurgen is joined by SolarDew Founder to touch upon a wide variety of topics around running an impactful venture while still being an efficient entrepreneur.
In this new parallel series, every month our Host, Willem Knaap (Director of Corporate Venturing at Unknown Group) aims to understand how corporate industry leaders act upon opportunities, innovation and disruption. In the inaugral episode, he is joined by Sake Algra, the Managing Director of T-Systems. "Is innovation a threat or an opportunity" is where we begin, before the episode navigates to the ingredients necessary for a successful startup-corporate collaboration, how 5G will effect businesses (and how T-Systems are unleashing it for their clients), hyper-adaptibility during the COVID era and the un-ended battle between purpose and performance.
(Zoom Session) Starting an A.I.-powered solution that reduces the need for lawyers in the legal industry, an industry that is infamous for their slow adoption of new technologies -- it seems crazy until someone actually does it. And that's precisely what Shashank Bijapur, Co-Founder of Indian legal-tech innovator Spotdraft did! In this Zoom session with the student entrepreneurs of the Global School for Entrepreneurship, Shashank speaks about the challenges for disruption in the legal industry, how Spotdraft positioned themselves as saviors and not competitors of lawyers and his experience as Winner of the Get in the Ring Global Startup Competition in 2019.
Ever wondered how large militaries innovate and stay ahead of the curve? Then this one's for you. Fons Van der Ham is the International Innovation Manager of Defensie Materieel Organisatie, The Netherlands Ministry of Defence. He joins Jurgen and Tom at the studio to discuss the digital NATO Innovation Challenge organised by Unknown Group in Spring 2020, further going into how innovative startups can get in touch with the Ministry of Defence for collaborations and scaling. Register for #NEDS2020Digital on November 18 and 19 and enrich your network with leading corporates, government parties and knowledge institutes in the Security and Defence industries. Besides numerous expert breakouts, digital roundtables and a spectacular talk show on Resilience, the main theme of this year, participants can gain exposure by hosting their own online booths or by organizing side events. Grab your ticket here: https://bit.ly/3my5uRl
[Zoom Session] From being the Global Winner of Get in the Ring 2013 with his company EyeVerify (now ZOLOZ), to being acquired by Ant Group for $100 million three years later, saying Toby Rush has some valuable insights to share is an understatement. He sat down for an AMA session ealier this year with students of the Global School for Entrepreneurship to detail his journey. At Get in the Ring, we're eager to shine a spotlight on the next Toby Rush and the next Eyeverify - perhaps as soon as our next competition, Get in the Ring Berlin - Impact on November 19!
Paul Nizet is the CTO of SneakMart, the first peer-to-peer marketplace dedicated to streetwear. He joins Jurgen and Noortje at the studio to explain the cultural phenomenon of streetwear and high fashion collaborations. Paul is a student entrepreneur at the Global School for Entrepreneurship and he explains how his education allows him to fully-focus on growing SneakMart. About Unknown Stories: We take you backstage in the Unknown Group venture engine by inviting the founders behind the ventures that seek adventure and opportunity in business. By extracting valuable and actionable insights, Unknown Stories deconstructs the highs, the lows and the in-betweens of navigating the journey of venturing. About Unknown Group: Unknown is a global innovation agency that backs promising innovations with talent, access to market and funding. The goal is to scale these innovations to 100mln in valuation in order to make impact on our 21st century challenges. Through Unknown Group, Get in the Ring was created as a global startup competition to find and support promising startups from all corners of the world to test and scale their solutions with governments and industry leaders. For more information, visit http://www.unknowngroup.com
Finalists of Get in the Ring Netherlands in 2016, Edorado Marine make fast-moving premium electric powerboats, matching sustainable charging docks as well as tailor made marina development and management services. This way they aim to offer what nobody else can - a complete zero emission water sport experience; from the powerboat to the dock. Their Founders, Godert van Hartenbroek and Giel Groothuis joined our host, Jurgen Nieuwenhuijsen to talk about the meeting of the minds that led to a professor with a passion for motorsports and boating enthusiast to come together and start Edorado to create a unique power boat. Want to test, scale and prove your impact solution to expand your impact, while competing for a EUR 500,000 convertible loan? Register your impact startup now for the Get in the Ring Impact Competition: http://getinthering.co/impact
[Zoom Session] In 2014, Gibran Huzaifah won the Get in the Ring Global Startup Competition with his innovative smart fish feeding system, eFishery. Winning Get in the Ring catapaulted eFishery to stardom. Over the years, eFishery has blossomed into a leader in the global fish farming industry, capturing the market with their range of products and services. Earlier this year, Gibran was happy to speak to the students of the Global School of Entrepreneurship, detailing his entrepreneurial journey, lessons learnt and plans for the future after they closed a lucrative Series-B funding round via Zoom Call. The session was so insightful, that we decided that the rest of the world needed to hear it too! October 29, 2020 - we witness the four leading Dutch impact startups compete in a global livestream at 4PM CET. Watch it from anywhere in the world at getinthering.co/livestream
Will crickets and grasshoppers become a key source of protein in a conscious and circular European's diet by 2030? De Krekerij (dekrekerij.nl) certainly think so! To spark this revolution, they have been innovating with their cricket-based burgers, meatballs and sausage rolls - all loaded with protein, all delicious and all without insect legs. In a special Impact Fest 2020 edition of Unknown Stories, our host, Jurgen Nieuwenhuijsen is joined by De Krekerij Co-Founder, Sander Peltenburg to discuss being an entrepreneur with unique proposition and how to get your business off the ground using techniques that are off the beaten path. Could your impact startup solution hold the key to meeting the growing needs of our population within the planets' limited means? Apply for an online selection or to one of six physical events of the Impact Competition and grab the global spotlight, scale your solution internationally and compete for a convertible loan of up to €500,000! All information at https://getinthering.co/grandchallenges/impact-competition/
The world is going solar and SolarMonkey has the ambition of guaranteeing the energy yield of solar panels by using their software to disrupt solar panel installation. Check out the highlights of the latest episode of Unknown Stories, a special ImpactFest 2020 edition (register now - http://impactfest.nl), where our host, Jurgen Niuewenhuijsen is joined by Jan Pieter Versluijs, CEO of SolarMonkey. Intrigued by solar energy business models, shirtless car repairs and discussions about 'impact' as a buzzword? Then you won't want to miss this one. Could your impact startup solution hold the key to meeting the growing needs of our population within the planets' limited means? Apply for an online selection or to one of six physical events of the Impact Competition and grab the global spotlight, scale your solution internationally and compete for a convertible loan of up to €500,000! All information at https://getinthering.co/grandchallenges/impact-competition/
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