This archive report was first published on 25 August 2019.
MAN Impact Accelerator Opens Applications for Third Batch ¶
Published on August 25, 2019
MAN Impact Accelerator has opened applications for the third batch of European, African, and Brazilian mobility and logistics social business startups.
The accelerator is accepting applications from startups with a strong logistics, transport, or mobility focus, preferably with early revenues and a prototype.
Startups must have a strong purpose and create tangible and measurable impact beyond financial returns.
The selected startups will receive an indirect grant and support of up to $50,000, access to over 300 mentors, and travel and accommodation costs covered by MAN Truck & Bus.
The 8-month multi-location accelerator aims to create a community of change-makers disrupting the mobility and logistics sector and bringing scalable social impact to the world.
Joachim Drees, initiator of the MAN Impact Accelerator, said, “During the Accelerator program, four of the startups were able to convince key investors of their company and their vision, generating additional funding of more than $2 million. Moreover, our entrepreneurs now employ around 70% more people and, after completing the program, have more than doubled their customer base, growing it by 135%.”
Previous batches of the accelerator have seen significant growth and impact, with startups like Mellowcabs & Gettruck from South Africa selected in the inaugural batch in 2017.
The startups were taken through Corporate Strategy, Production, Sales, HR, or Development among others, and managed to boost their sales revenue by over 40%, with their business ideas reaching almost two and a half times as many people compared to before the start of the program.
Applications for the third batch are open, and social business startups in mobility, transportation, and logistics can apply to take part in the next round.
Below are the social business startups that took part in batch #2 of the MAN Impact Accelerator:
- Boxwise: An app for quickly distributing donated goods such as food, clothing, or hygiene products to people who need them in refugee camps.
- Breeze Technologies: An environmental intelligence platform that uses internal and external sensors to provide air quality and climate data for inner-city areas or inside buildings.
- Frontier Markets: Creating an “Easy Life” for customers in rural India by giving them access to clean and efficient energy solutions.
- K-Ryole: Intelligent electric bicycle trailers that enable cyclists to transport cargo of up to 250 kilograms without breaking a sweat.
- Loop: A combined transportation service for collecting farmers’ harvest, bringing it to market, and selling it there on their behalf.
- Shopit: Improving the sale of affordable food items and health products to customers in the townships of major South African cities.
- Mobile Schools Health: Preventive health care services to primary school children in South Africa.
- Via Global Health: A platform for buying health products that works together with a network of medical distributors.
