ne is an increasingly crowded space in the tech scene, with thousands of start-ups, web platforms and apps being released to aid wine drinkers in their pursuit of an easy wine drinking experience.A new business accelerator has been launched to bring this innovation in the worlds of wine and technology together in one of the wine world’s most famous wine cities: Bordeaux.
33entrepreneurs is the first accelerator to focus on the three things the French do best: wine, food and tourism. The plan is that selected entrepreneurs from around the world will gather in Bordeaux where they will have access to investment, mentoring and a way to take their ideas and businesses to the next level.
Vincent Pretet, founder and CEO of 33entrepreneurs, believes that Bordeaux is a perfect fit. After visiting some of the world’s digital hotspots in 2013, he realized that the French tech scene needed something to attract international players; wine, food and tourism were the obvious choices.
“Play to our strengths. Even though we are in France we do have some very good assets on the balance sheets. We want to play with them, rely on them and choose people around these three pillars,” Pretet says.
Among the digital and venture capital companies providing mentorship and investment for the startups is Château Lynch-Bages, a winery with a passion for new technology. Pretet points out that the château’s strengths lie in making wine rather than producing this technology and so, by teaming up with 33entrepreneurs, they could take a back seat while still guiding the direction of the innovation.
“We are trying to bridge the gap between the needs and expectations of the biggest in the wine industry, and the entrepreneurs who have good ideas but are on their own.”
The team is currently traveling Europe looking for teams, investors and exposure, and has so far held pitching events in London, Munich, Venice, Lausanne and Provence. The program will kick off in September, and 33entrepreneurs has already found startups covering everything from anti-counterfeiting to digital wine menus.
The choice of Bordeaux as the location of the accelerator is an exciting one: most of France’s tech community is located in Paris, where there is a digital ecosystem to support them. But the Bordelaise are a forward-thinking bunch, and Pretet argues that the city, while not as large as London or Berlin, has a high rate of entrepreneurs per capita. Start-ups will be given office space in the city for three months.
There is scope for Bordeaux to become a wine-focused startup hub with investors, press and infrastructure to match.
And with some of the best wines in the world made on their doorstep, where else would these wine-focused companies rather be?
