- Live music promotion and discovery service is the sixth startup in hub:raum
- Power women plan to rock Berlin with music and technology know-how
frestyl is the sixth startup to join hub:raum, the Deutsche Telekom incubator. frestyl is the work of two Italians, Arianna Bassoli and Emanuela Tumolo, and an American, Johanna Brewer, who all have a PhD degree. The three founders are developers of a music event discovery app which targets the organizers of music events and fans. Organizers can use the frestyl app to promote their events or announce promotions and for fans Frestyl, is a last-minute discovery app for music events which suit their taste. Unlike the existing live music platforms, the focus here is on finding concerts you’ll love even if you’ve never heard of the band before. A specially developed crowd ranking algorithm coupled with power-users (tastemakers) makes it easy to discover what's trending locally, tonight. The new service is due for launch in Berlin in the autumn. By taking this step, frestyl is closing the gap between fans who attend live events spontaneously and need to know what gigs are being held in their vicinity, and organizers who are looking for a direct channel to fans as well as a way of reducing the numbers of unsold tickets, which lies at an average of 40 percent. Organizers can advertise their events with special offers, for example by offering reduced prices for people attending a concert with a friend. A secure investment for organizers who only have to pay when the specials are actually redeemed at an event. The three women already have plenty of experience with music events. Two years ago they set up a web-based platform with content created by users in Rome, with the idea to create the biggest database of live music events. It soon listed more events than any other service or printed event calendar in the city. "That was cool. Unfortunately, it did not earn us any money, which is why we have modified the concept and decided to develop frestyl as a service for organizers to help them improve their event marketing and thus to sell more tickets," Emanuela Tumolo explains. "What convinced us about frestyl was not only the good business concept but also the excellent content and technical know-how. The team is experienced in this business segment and Johanna Brewer is an excellent programmer. This woman team with its power, in what is still largely a male startup scene, coupled with technology skills will prevail - and we at hub:raum wanted to be there when it does," says Peter Borchers, head of hub:raum. Hub:raum was launched in Berlin in mid 2012 to support startups which have new ideas for the early phase of telecommunications services, Internet services and digital media. The incubator provides a pool of experts, Deutsche Telekom’s network, work space and seed financing of up to EUR 300,000 in order to effectively support startups and their product ideas on their way to maturity. Program plans currently call for a total of ten to 15 startups to be supported for around six to 12 months each year. Companies may enter the program at any time. So far five startups are receiving support (Blinkist, Stylemarks, Salonmeister, Reputami and Vigour). Hub:raum represents an interface in the fast-moving startup world and is a component of Deutsche Telekom's future initiative, under the terms of which the Group places greater focus on cooperations.
About Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with 133 million mobile customers, 32 million fixed-network lines and over 17 million broadband lines (as of March 31, 2013). The Group provides fixed-network, mobile communications, Internet and IPTV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for business and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom is present in some 50 countries and has 230,000 employees worldwide. The Group generated revenue of EUR 58.2 billion in the 2012 financial year – over half of it outside Germany (as of December 31, 2012). About frestyl frestyl is a music event discovery app. Fans can easily find last-minute shows, by receiving recommendations based on their music tastes and from local experts. In addition, they can see all nearby concerts and parties, find out where friends are going and access exclusive deals (Specials) offered by the organizers. frestyl’s web application allows music promoters and venues to quickly import their event calendar, push their shows automatically to Facebook and Twitter, and instantly create interactive event pages. To engage a larger audience, the organizers pay to add special offers to their upcoming events and gather analytics about their customers.