CONTENTshift Accelerator 2024: these ten startups are through to the next round

The jury has made its choice: ten innovative startups have now been nominated for the CONTENTshift Accelerator 2024 organised by the Börsenvereinsgruppe. A total of 36 startups submitted applications, including 13 submissions from abroad, mainly from European countries, but also from South Africa and Rwanda, among others.

Strong focus among the ten selected startups is given to new ideas in the realm of knowledge transfer. Other focal points include digital applications in areas such as accessibility, data analysis, interactive books, self-publishing and the marketing of creative services.

The ten nominated startups for the CONTENTshift Accelerator 2024 are the following, in alphabetical order:

• ClipStake is a platform that brings together creatives and investors. Content creators get the upfront capital they need to improve their production and further develop their channels, while investors earn a share of future ad revenue.
• Dskrpt is a digital writing and learning platform for teachers and students in text-based subjects. Professors use the platform to create lecture materials, which students can then read, discuss and study together.
• Equalizent links digital versions of books with its own database, which contains explanations and translations of German words in German sign language. Every word with a sign-language explanation is linked to a video in the database.
• Gamebook Interactive Books Platform is a web platform for the production, appraisal and promotion of new and existing brands (IPs) in an interactive book format. It offers a full-service approach to monetisation, AI translation, daily updates and marketing with playables and data analysis.
• Knowbodyis an app for use in the field of sex education from the 6th grade. It contains interactive learning modules on subjects relating to relationships, sexuality, bodies and self-determination in the form of short games, videos, 3D animation and voice messages.
• Komprenooffers over 10,000 translated texts from national newspapers, special-interest magazines and journalism projects covering a wide range of themes from 14 European countries on the web or in an app.
• MyBookNet Pro is building a network of self-publishing platforms for e-books in several different languages. The initiative consists of a standardised service for authors that enables them to publish their work and distribute it worldwide with the help of AI translations.
• myndpaar is a relationship app that combines short-term therapy – rooted in 40 years of professional experience – with modern technology. It’s an AI companion for mental health based on over 10,000 therapeutic cases.
• Qeludra offers a tool for high-quality data analysis by drawing on Ludra, a software that uses generative AI to give researchers the ability to call up the information they need in a conversational format.
• Tapari combines traditional play mats for children with interactive audio adventure stories, thereby stimulating children’s cognitive development, their language and motor skills as well as their ability to express themselves creatively.

All ten startup will present their business ideas as part of a pitch event on 19 June in Frankfurt am Main. The jury will then select five startups to participate in this year’s coaching and mentoring programme. In the following months, the founders will be given access to a network of high-ranking investors, entrepreneurs and experts from the book sector and media industry. They will take part in coaching sessions and a co-creation workshop designed to test their business models, identify current challenges and determine opportunities for cooperation.

On 17 October, at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the jury will select one startup to become “Content Startup of the Year 2024” and receive a €10,000 grant.

The accelerator is supported by companies active in the book sector and media industry, with each company sending a representative to serve on the CONTENTshift jury. In 2024, the jury comprises the following members: Martina Fiddrich and Olaf Carstens (Cornelsen Verlag), Carla Scheunemann and Jonas Konrad (Community Editions/Bastei Lübbe), Alexander Woge (KNK Customer Engagement), Stefanie Penck (TeNeues Verlag), Nina Hugendubel and Per Dalheimer (Buchhandlung Hugendubel), Leif Göritz and Detlef Büttner (Lehmanns Media/Buchhandlung Thalia), Philipp Lindinger (Herder Verlag), Ronald Schild (MVB) and Lennart Schneider, an independent strategic advisor and external partner to the programme. The accelerator is also accompanied by Harald Henzler (International University SDI München) and Okke Schlüter (Hochschule der Medien/University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart) in an advisory capacity.

Social Media:

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Twitter: @ShiftingContent

LinkedIn: CONTENTshift

Hashtag: #contentshift

About CONTENTshift

CONTENTshift is a Börsenvereinsgruppe initiative that focuses on new business models for the German-language book market. In addition to the accelerator, the programme also comprises regular pitch events (“ice breakers”) and a newsletter. The initiative was created as a way to support founders, to forge closer links between startups and the book industry, and to more effectively distribute information on interesting new business ideas.

About the Börsenvereinsgruppe

The Börsenvereinsgruppe (Börsenverein Group) represents the interests of Germany’s book industry and acts as its central service provider. The Group consists of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association) and its business subsidiaries, which include the Frankfurter Buchmesse and MVB, the mediacampus frankfurt and the Holding Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels Beteiligungsgesellschaft. The Börsenvereinsgruppe organises and oversees a number of services and professional educational programmes for the book industry and media sector, including representational activities, cultural projects, trade fairs, training programmes and publishing and technology services. www.boersenvereinsgruppe.de