Beam GmbH

BE A Maker What we offer: Beam offers unique advantages for founders. Creating a company is the hardest thing in business, and people who haven't done it, don't really understand. We increase your odds of success based on what we have learned as founders ourselves. How we invest: We identify non-obvious, market-changing business opportunities and collaborate with outstanding founders. We then launch startups jointly that address business problems at least 5X better than the status quo. Our term sheets: All business is people business. People work best on trust. The more trust, the less communication necessary. So we do our best to build a lot of trust with you early on by being fair and transparent. Why Beam exists: To understand why Beam exists today, let’s step back in time: A few years ago, BG was one of the largest vendors of CD sortation equipment in the USA. Business gradually dried up. It became apparent only later that this was due to Spotify: the same customer need, a different business model – and large consequences for BG. So if it happens again, the disruption might just as well come from Beam. That’s why half the startups we build annually are focussed on intra-logistics opportunities. The other half is free to innovate on logistics business models. Beam aims to disrupt BG’s core business. In the future, its companies will contribute substantially to BG’s revenues and profits. That’s why Beam can think and act like a family business: long-term. (The source of yet another competitive advantage.)
Type Accelerator / Incubator
Website beamberlin.com

Investment info

Invests in
Idea
Product or prototype
Primary markets
Consumer, Companies, Marketplace
Investing in countries
Denmark
Regional investments
Europe

Focus areas

Consumer Goods
Consumer Goods
Maritime & Transport
Maritime & Transport
SaaS
SaaS
Service
Service
See all 9 focus areas

Investments

S

Sparrow

A

Airsiders

C

codept

Key people

Head of venture Developmment

Jesper Bang-Olsen

Invests in SDGs

sdg
sdg
sdg
sdg

More about Beam GmbH

See our video here:

https://youtu.be/DCDFRfxmruw


What we offer

Beam offers unique advantages for founders. Creating a company is the hardest thing in business, and people who haven't done it, don't really understand. We increase your odds of success based on what we have learned as founders ourselves.


Unique, pre-validated business opportunities

We source more than 100 problems per year. These have to pass through our criteria filter (find them here). About a dozen problems pass and are then renamed ‘opportunities’. These are the ones we pitch to you, founder! We have a bias for B2B business models with a clearly visible break-even.


  1. Quick MVP access to B2B customers

    If an opportunity catches your attention then we can get going (view next steps). We are strong believers in the lean-startup approach. Being able to discuss and test your solution hypotheses or MVP with B2B customers of all sizes is a massive advantage. Through BEUMER Group and partners, we have quick access to thousands of B2B customers across the entire logistics landscape.


  2. Large expert and support network

    Beam has a high-caliber network of people working with advanced challenges in both software and web technology as well as logistics. Our advisory network is second to none for anyone building a software-centric business in logistics.


  3. Up to 80% of company equity for the founding team

    Do your research: This deal doesn’t get more founder-friendly. Beam is not stingy. Building a company together is as intense a business relationship as it gets. We want this relationship to be long-term oriented, fair and super-stable. Our companies’ success rests on the long-term motivation and drive of our founders. That’s why we always have their best interest in mind. It’s your startup. We are (only) here to help you be successful.


    Solid funding

    We want you to have a minimum of 18 months runway after every financing round. You shouldn’t need to constantly worry about fundraising. We provide you with access to top-tier VCs, help you with your follow-on funding, and support you in your financial planning.


  4. Operational excellence

    It’s the same as with network access: most investors claim to provide it. Yet often they disappoint. We know you want excellent operational support when climbing that mountain toward success. Evaluate for yourself how we would deliver.


  5. Work in a family business

    The beauty in working with a family business is stable relationships and long-term commitments. We always think about the long term – that’s anywhere between 5 years and a whole generation instead of anywhere between a quarterly report and the next career move. With Beam, expect no politics and a refreshingly transparent and value-based style of communication and decision making.


  6. Quick decisions

    Beam is fully independent. But you can also rely on quick decision making by the parent company, if the need arises.


  7. Partnership and emotional support

    We’ve been there too. We know that in the beginning, nobody cares, and that success looks all too easy looking back. The biggest danger to bold business ideas is to lose faith too quickly. We will remind you why you started this. We will help you pick yourself back up when setbacks happen. And we will celebrate your success, even when the road looks longer than you thought.