WestTech Ventures launches tech incubator Project Flying Elephant in Berlin

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WestTech Ventures Founders Masoud Kamali and Alexander Kölpin have started their own incubator called Project Flying Elephant, VentureBeat reported.

The two venture capitalists are undeterred by the dismal performance of the incubator model in Berlin especially after Lars Hinrichs decided to shutter HackFwd. WestTech Chief Executive Officer Masoud Kamali told VentureBeat, "Everyone says that it is not possible to start a worldwide software company in Germany. We want to make the elephant fly." He added Kamali that the startups must have a "European vision and a European background."

A deep tech incubator, Project Flying Elephant is going to set its eyes on IT and software startups comprised mainly of developers. The incubator will enable the startups to create infrastructure, software as a service or B2B software projects. They may even come up with innovative frameworks for software, the report said.

Project Flying Elephant will get anywhere from five to eight startups under its wings each year, pouring €25,000 to €50,000 in each startup. They would be incubated for a period of three to six months with the incubator taking 5% to 10% of the shares, the report said.

Kamali is confident that their incubator will work even if HackFwd did not. One of the reasons for the failure of the latter, according to Kamali, is that Hinrichs was very ambitious with his endeavor. Kamali said, "The problem was that Lars Hinrichs believed that he could build ten companies at a time." He also cited that HackFwd got 27% of shares from each startup which was quite high compared to what Project Flying Elephant is taking, the report said.

Their incubator is not also all about success. Kamali said Project Flying Elephant is not all about being "100 percent successful. I want to inspire reflection." Co-Founder Kölpin pledges to take good care of the startups that they will accept to the program, the report said.

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