Unicorns amongst palaces — Vienna special

3 innovation and digital news in 1 minute. Every Monday. Episode 286

News 1. Mjam delivers food and food

Mjam is one of the oldest players in the delivery game. Established in 2008. This Vienna-based delivery service is all over Vienna and in the battle with Lieferando for the delivery crown. Acquired by Delivery Hero, their green riders are all over the city. In 2021 they made the move to not only deliver food from restaurants but to also jump onto the quick grocery delivery train. Therefore, bundling restaurant and grocery delivery in one app. Opinion: What a smart move. Fancy a takeaway dinner, but don’t have any of your favourite hot sauce at home? No worries, Mjam has you covered and brings you both in one go.

A smart service expansion and integration for the delivery game.

News 2. Eloop — carsharing fleet that is owned by the riders

Eloop redefines our understanding of car „sharing“. Next to being Europe’s only Tesla (Model 3) sharing fleet, they offer purchasable tokes. These „Eloop One Tokens“ are the worlds first security token, enabling buyers to get a share of Eloops revenue. They are stored on a blockchain and are simultaneously acting as a financing avenue for the business. Through a dashboard, buyers have transparent insight into Eloops operations. The profits can be transformed into travel credit or paid out. Opinion: A fully electric car-sharing fleet that is being financed, not by a large corporation, but by the public directly, enabled by blockchain technology — innovation at its finest.

We are excited to see if this financing model will see applications in more domains.

News 3. The university ecosystem breeds one unicorn after the other

Vienna is the home to a thriving startup ecosystem. Flying a little under the radar, it is home to multiple unicorns. A solid backbone and a driving force have to be attributed to the universities. Through close cooperation and jointly conducted programs, many interdisciplinary founding teams have found each other and gone on to build incredible companies. Opinion: As a young founder, passion and motivation are at an all-time high. The level of experience and credibility, especially in the eyes of the yet so crucial investors, are factors where a helping hand can make the decisive difference.

With companies such as Bitpanda, GoStudent, and Refurbed having their routes in Vienna’s universities, we should be excited to see what is next in-store.

Author is the research team (10 trend scouters) at specialist Space and Lemon Innovations (Hamburg, Berlin) — scouting innovations in main tech geographies, AI development, virtual worlds and e-commerce. Excerpts of research are gathered here in original weekly news since 2016, always with an opinion — no re-write of TechCrunch.

Come back next Monday and share your opinion.