We get startups moving

Shanghai, 2010: Maria Pennanen, a Finnish Vice President of Sales and Ram Shoham, an Israeli Managing Director and CFO, meet while living and working in China. Soon they join forces to set up a consulting firm in Hong Kong. After moving to Frankfurt, their passion for investing in startups takes a new form: Accelerator Frankfurt is born in 2016. With its go-to-market program and an extended team of experts and leaders, the program has helped over 100 startups achieve the next level in their business development.

Team:

Ram Shoham
Ram Shoham is to Fintechs what George Martin was to the Beatles. He connects growing companies with strategic partners. He is the Founder of Accelerator Frankfurt with 16 years of international corporate experience in finance and general management before becoming an entrepreneur. Ram is also the Co-Founder of the Blockchain Labs, which is focused on building an ecosystem for promoting blockchain technologies and education in this sector. He learned from his pro-surfing career the importance of surrounding himself with passionate people and being in the right place at the right time. Ram has excellent network contacts in Tel Aviv, the actual tech community hotspot in Israel.

Ram Shoham

Founder
Maria Pennanen
Maria is ranked #1 top fintech influencer in the DACH region and also among the top 50 most influential women in startups in Europe. She is a business angel investor and CEO of Mindclip Behaviour Oy, a SaaS-based team development tool. She is also co-founder of Accelerator Frankfurt, Germany's leading go-to-market program for B2B startups. Maria has over 20 years of in-depth experience in B2B sales and marketing within Europe and Asia where she developed a passion for learning and profitable growth. She is a qualified executive coach educated in INSEAD. She is involved in numerous German, Finnish and Israeli start-ups and invests in SAAS and Fintech startups.

Maria Pennanen

Co-Founder
Christian Eck
Christian is an expert in capital markets with 18 years experience in consulting and B2B sales. He built and managed capital market businesses at major investment banks and served as general manager for a financial technology company. He works extensively with banks and insurance companies regarding their distribution strategies, product structuring, regulatory requirements and digitalization. He acts as advisor and mentor for FinTech and InsureTech startups.

Christian Eck

Senior Advisor​ & Institutional Solutions at BNP Paribas
Michael Mizrahi
Michael Mizrahi is the Head of the Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Authority at Azrieli College of Engineering – Jerusalem (Israel).
‪Michael is a serial entrepreneur, serves as the Director of the Jerusalem based AtoBe Startup Accelerator at the Azrieli College of Engineering and siting on board of the nonprofit MadeInJLM organization‬‫ ‬‪which has set a goal to march forth Jerusalem to become one of the leading 20 cities in the world for startups and entrepreneurial activities.

Michael Mizrahi

Senior Advisor & Head of the Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Division
Frankfurt is an important hub in Germany, one of Europe's strongest economies. As a major financial center, Frankfurt is only increasing in importance in the post-Brexit era. Frankfurt has over 250.000 corporates and thousands of hidden champions. Not only is Frankfurt a hotspot for banks, investors and international corporations, it also has a thriving startup scene and many talents with great ideas who want to start their own companies. Opportunities abound both on the customer and the investor side, while B2B clients, banks and financial institutions are ready to run proofs of concept.

This is where we come into play: our unique go-to-market program accelerates B2B software startups in the fields of Fintech, Regtech, Cybersecurity, Insuretech, Proptech and Blockchain. The startups receive mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs and investors, consulting and professional services, in addition to a co-working space. The goal of the program is to help startups win customers and raise funding. The 3-month program ends with a demo-day, where the startups pitch to corporates to secure proofs of concept and investors to raise follow-up funding.

We provide investment opportunities for investors looking for stable innovation businesses and connect them with the most promising startups. For corporations, we offer services that bring the innovative approaches of the startup world to companies who want to become innovation leaders in their industries.

We’ve come a long way since that first meeting in Shanghai. Whether you are a startup, an investor or a company: our team would love to hear from you. You never know what a first meeting will lead to.