We want you: apply to Startup Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin 2019

You’ve worked hard to build your dream to this point, and now it’s time to launch your early-stage startup on a world-class stage and shift your momentum into high gear. If that description fits, we want you to apply to compete in the Startup Battlefield at Disrupt Berlin 2019.

Our early-stage startup pitch competition — known around the world — is the most effective way to place your startup in front of the investors, tech leaders and media outlets that can change the trajectory of your business in the best way possible. Oh, and the winning founders also receive $50,000. Sweet!

What’s more, applying to and participating in Startup Battlefield is absolutely free — no fees, no equity, no nothing.

Applying is easy, but the selection process is extremely competitive. TechCrunch editors with a keen eye for potential will vet every application and then select 15-20 companies to compete. Founders of those startups will receive six rigorous weeks of pitch coaching — you’ll work hard to craft your pitch, prepare your demo and be ready to strut your stuff with confidence.

When the big day finally arrives, each team will have six minutes to pitch to a world-class panel of judges — followed by a six-minute Q&A session. The founders who make it through to the second round will present again to a fresh set of judges. It’s a lather, rinse, repeat scenario.

One startup will emerge victorious, raise the Disrupt Cup and take home the $50,000 prize. The event takes place in front of a huge audience filled with investors, media and tech icons — and we record and live-stream the whole shooting match around the world.

Not only that, all Startup Battlefield competitors get to exhibit in Startup Alley for the entire show. Even if you don’t win the top prize, you still benefit from the exposure. Plus, you’ll join the ranks of the Startup Battlefield alumni community — now there’s an impressive group.

Since 2007, 857 startups have launched their dreams on the Startup Battlefield stage and gone on to collectively raise $8.9 billion while producing 112 exits. This alumni community includes companies like Vurb, Dropbox, Mint, Yammer and many more. You’ll be among their ranks…let the networking begin!

The Startup Battlefield takes place at Disrupt Berlin 2019 on 11-12 December. You’ve worked hard to build your dream — now take it to the next level. Apply to Startup Battlefield today.

Pro Tip: If you’re not quite ready to compete in the Battlefield, there’s more than one way to receive the VIP treatment at Disrupt. Use the same application and apply for the TC Top Picks program. If you make the cut, you’ll receive a free Startup Alley Exhibitor Package and stand in a bright spotlight of media and investor attention.

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt Berlin 2019? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

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Watch the Porsche Taycan make a 0-90-0 test run on the USS Hornet flight deck

Porsche is squeezing in one more teaser ahead of the global debut of the all-electric Porsche Taycan. And this time, the German automaker didn’t hold back.

Professional racer Shea Holbrook drove a prototype Taycan from a standstill up to 90.58 miles per hour (145 km/h), then slammed on the brakes back to zero all within 10.7 seconds. Shea accelerated the Taycan to 90.58 mph in just 422 feet before braking hard.

If that wasn’t splashy enough, Porsche took it up a level and conducted the demonstration on the flight deck of the USS Hornet, the 27,500-ton aircraft carrier used to recover astronauts from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions to the moon. You can watch the entire test run in the video below.

Yes, this is gratuitous automotive theater and a marketing ploy. It’s also a spectacularly fun way to show off the stability and performance of Porsche’s big bet on electric vehicles.

Now, the 0-90-0 run falls short of the traditional 0-100-0 tests. It’s not clear why Porsche didn’t make a 0-100-0 run, although available space might have been a factor.

Stefan Weckbach, vice president of the Taycan product line, admitted that the demonstration was “some kind of fun testing than a completely serious one.” But he added that it was a fitting way to demonstrate the power of the car as it nears the end of its development.

“On a tough, changeable surface the Taycan’s composure, its incredible acceleration and stopping power were absolutely impressive – though we decided not to take it to the max, just to reach the 0-100 mph margin.” Weckbach said. While I was completely sure both Shea and the car could achieve something special, I’m really relieved no one went for a swim.”

 

Holbrook said that despite appearances, the deck was quite bumpy.

“Deliberately accelerating towards thin air and the ocean is a new experience for me, but the Taycan gave me a huge amount of confidence — it was really stable but under acceleration and, more importantly, under braking,” she added.

 

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Only 5 days left for super early bird savings at Disrupt Berlin 2019

Our super early bird countdown continues startup fans. If you don’t have your pass to Disrupt Berlin 2019 yet, it’s time to mach schnell — make it quick! Buy your pass now before the deadline strikes on 6 September at 11:59 p.m. (CEST), and you’ll save up to €600. Just five days left, friends. What are you waiting for?

You can save even more money with our group discounts. Buy in bulk, bring your whole team and leave no startup entrepreneur behind. You’ll save 20% when you buy five or more Innovator passes at once. Buy two or more Founder or Investor passes at once and enjoy a 10% savings.

We love Disrupt Berlin’s international diversity. More than 3,000 attendees from more than 50 countries gather to learn about and showcase the latest tech innovations and to connect, collaborate and move their business forward. Disrupt is the crossroad of now and future tech.

You’ll hear from an impressive array of tech leaders, makers, founders and investors on a range of hot topics. One example is Nigel Toon, the co-founder and CEO of Graphcore — a company that’s designing its own dedicated AI chipset. The company has raised more than $300 million from top investors, such as Sequoia Capital, BMW, Microsoft and Samsung. Pretty impressive, but even crazier — the tiny startup competes directly with giant chip companies, such as Nvidia, AMD, Intel and Qualcomm. It’s a race to see who can create the most efficient AI chip.

Director Roxanne Varza will be on hand to give us an update on Station F, the world’s biggest campus for startups. Housed in an historic monument (a beautiful building constructed in 1929), Station F is also a high-tech building and a cornerstone of the French tech ecosystem. Companies like Facebook, Naver (Line), Ubisoft, Microsoft and a host of others run incubators out of Station F, and its also home to more than 1,000 startups.

You can’t talk European success stories without talking UiPath. Currently valued at $7 billion, the company’s wild success comes from creating enterprise software that focuses on repetitive tasks and helps customers automate as many actions as possible. We can’t wait to talk with founder and CEO Daniel Dines — who started the company 15 years ago — about his automation journey.

There’s so much more to do at Disrupt Berlin 2019 and you can do it all for a whole lot less if you buy your pass before the super early bird price vanishes in just five days at 11:59 p.m. (CEST) on 6 September. Mach schnell!

Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Disrupt Berlin 2019? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

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Urban, the on-demand wellness platform, adds physiotherapy to its roster of on-demand services

Urban, the London-headquartered company that lets you book a growing range of “wellness” services on demand — spanning massage, osteopathy, to various beauty treatments — is adding physiotherapy to its roster in a bid to become a “one-stop-shop” for physical wellbeing.

The new pay-as-you-go physiotherapy offering will let you book a HCPC-registered physio via the Urban app or website for treatment in your home. With NHS wait times several weeks if not months for access to physiotherapy, Urban thinks it has spotted a gap in the market for people that need ongoing treatment or a quick appraisal for a recently sustained injury — and are willing to pay “out of pocket” for the privilege.

In a call with Urban founder Jack Tang and the company’s general manager for physical wellbeing, Joe Jarman, the pair explained that the new service aims to provide access to a private physiotherapist with as little as two hours’ notice, available seven days per week. It will initially be available in London, with a focus on central London where demand (and, presumably, ability to pay) is highest, followed by Manchester and Birmingham.

With that said, pricing is competitive with physiotherapy that is typically offered at a private clinic, and compared to arranging a home visit from a private clinic, it is considerably cheaper. That’s because, claims Jarman, Urban is able to cut down on travel time by clustering nearby bookings via its app in order to maximise potential sessions per day, similar to what it does for other existing Urban wellbeing services. Of course, it doesn’t have the same brick ‘n’ mortar overheads, either.

Jarman says that many of Urban’s physiotherapists work in the NHS during the day but are looking to earn additional income in the evenings and at weekends or want to transition into private practice.

Asked if a service like Urban could place more pressure on the NHS by stretching an already scare resource, he says that the sector as a whole is growing. This has seen a 22% increase in the number of physiotherapists since 2015. In addition, Jarman says one in every three GP consultations relates to MSK issues, and early access to an Urban physiotherapist could help lessen this.

Either way, it’s certainly true that at present and within its current funding and organisational structure, the NHS isn’t very well-positioned to provide speedy MSK-related advice or treatment. Physiotherapy is also an obvious extension to Urban’s existing osteopathy and sports massage treatments.

“We see physiotherapy as the final vital piece so that we can offer a complete package to attain good physical health,” adds Jarman in a statement. “If someone has a problem with their body, we make sure they get the right treatment plan – and they get to choose the time and place”.

Meanwhile, Tang says that now Urban has completed its suite for physical wellbeing, the startup’s attention now turns to “doubling down” on its beauty and body confidence category with more news to share “very soon”.

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Spotawheel picks up €5M for its online used car dealership

Spotawheel, a startup operating in Greece and Poland with a car dealership model quite similar to Carvana in the U.S., has picked up €5 million in new funding. Backing the online used car dealership is Venture Friends, which led the round, with participation from Velocity Partners and unnamed “strategic” investors.

The investment includes both equity and debt financing, since part of Spotawheel’s business includes purchasing used cars upfront. It brings total raised by the Athens-headquartered startup to €8 million since launching in 2016.

“Used cars is one of the largest markets in value worldwide growing at a 5-7% rate annually, operating still primarily offline in a notoriously non-transparent way,” says Charis Arvanitis, Spotawheel co-founder and CEO.

This sees potential buyers fear buying a “lemon,” coupled with over-complicated processes, hidden-fees, and fragmented supply. The latter is largely a combination of private sellers via classified ads, and traditional offline used car dealerships.

“The lack of centralized control on the industry’s hugely fragmented seller structure, has prevented any meaningful innovation over the past 20 years, when the typical online classified ads emerged,” says Arvanitis. “That problem is even more evident in Europe, where car trade flows between countries make it much harder to control quality and trace cars history”.

To address this, Spotawheel offers an online B2C platform for used cars that Arvanitis says has redesigned the buy-sell process from scratch to create a “frictionless” and trusted buying experience. The idea is to bring e-commerce levels of convenience and protection to purchasing a used car.

“Customers can opt in for a test drive or have the car delivered countrywide under a 7-day return policy, while enjoying up to 5 years of limited warranty, the largest in Europe,” he says. This is underpinned by Spotawheel’s “predictive analytics” covering the condition and expected failures on a per car basis.

In addition, Arvanitis explains Spotawheel’s car sourcing model combines both debt-financed and marketplace practices, allowing the startup to source the best cars from private owners and B2B resellers across Europe. The includes deploying working capital purchasing vehicles upfront or via a commission-basis agreement.

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