Austrian startup Dreama.tv announced on its Facebook page this week that it was chosen to be part of the first class of the ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator program. Founder Manuel Gruber and his team were accepted together with another 6 startups active primarily in the realms of online and mobile technology, including a further Austrian startup, bitmovin.net from Carinthia who offer dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP.
The accelerator run by German mass media company ProSieben Sat1 Media AG will provide participants with coaching, mentoring, free office space, and access to potential investors for three months, starting 1 April, as well as with 25.000 euros in seed money in exchange for 5% equity. The goal of the programme is to enable the companies to develop innovative business models and position themselves on the market for the long run.
In the case of Gruber’s Dreama.tv, the idea is to offer high-quality curated video content. “We are currently in private beta and managed to finish our web platform, as well as our Samsung Smart TV App,” Gruber told inventures.eu. In June 2011, Dreama.tv closed a deal with Samsung, as the team realised that the future of sharing digital content involves on-demand access through multiple devices.
Dreama.tv’s vision is to feature non-fictional stories of people who set out to pursue their dreams and make a living out of doing what they love – an idea, the team is also following on its Daily Dreama blog. The episodes’ length will range from 3 to 30 minutes, in which viewers will be getting high-quality, “real TV experience.”
Goal: gaining access to the right people
The startup is currently in the stage of searching for a media investor, which could enable them to acquire content from potential film providers. And this is where the ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator is expected to play a major role. “In our current status, the most important thing is to gain access to the right people,” Gruber said. “After the 3-month programme, we will have the chance to pitch in front of a group of investors who work in our field.”
The startup is going to be one of the 7 who were chosen (and more than 130 who applied) to participate in this first round of the accelerator programme. “We are very happy to be part of this programme,” Gruber concluded, “as media startups have a hard stand in the field of technology startups. Yet online video is one of the strongest growing markets with a huge demand for innovation.”
Dream, accelerate, and good luck!
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