Liverpool co-foundery Nova has partnered with the non-profit IOTA Foundation, which aims to increase the number of start-ups using Internet of Things technology.
The programme will help aspiring tech entrepreneurs to develop innovative new business models with financial support and mentorship.
The IOTA Foundation, based in Berlin, is committed to developing a “permissionless ecosystem” with its distributed ledger technology. Existing industry partnerships include global organisations such as the Volkswagen Group and Bosch. The partnership with Nova is IOTA’s first partnership in the North of England.
Andrew Dean, Head of Partnerships at Nova, said: “There are many hurdles to successfully launching a startup, and many of the most common mistakes occur very early on in the process. The fact that 90% of startups fail means that there are loads of brilliant business ideas out there that simply never materialise into anything meaningful, and a lot of talent and ambition is wasted.
“We want to make sure that IOTA entrepreneurs have the best possible chance of success. Some of the most exciting technological developments of our time are fuelled by IOTA technology, and we’re looking forward to playing a part in bringing some of those ideas to market.”
David Sønstebø, co-founder and co-chair at IOTA, added: “The Tangle network overcomes many of the limitations and inefficiencies of blockchain technology, and as such, has huge potential to transform machine to machine transactions that are at the core of IoT.
“Our partnership with Nova is about enabling that innovation, by helping initial ideas come to fruition in the form of viable, scalable and sustainable business models.”
Nova will be investing in ideas that prove “user problem-fit”. This investment will be matched by the IOTA grant programme if DLT.
To date, Nova has co-founded over 80 tech startups from its headquarters in Sandhills, Liverpool. Over 50% of these are still in existence after three years, compared to the average startup three-year survival rate of just 10%.
The partnership programme with Nova is now open for applications.
