Zebras Unite: Berlin Chapter
For sustainable entrepreneurship of all stripes.
Zebras Unite calls for a more ethical and inclusive movement to counter existing startup and venture capital culture. We believe creating an alternative to this status quo is a moral imperative.
Read more about the mothership movement: https://www.zebrasunite.com/
The Berlin Zebras community has been rapidly growing since our first Meetup in December 2019 – it is clear there is need for a space to meet, discuss and do for Berlin entrepreneurs, investors and activists who are looking to change the existing venture capital driven startup culture.
We put a special emphasis on paving the way to responsible funding for women founders and founders from underrepresented communities.
If you are fed up with the exploitative unicorn- and exit driven startup culture and you’re asking yourself if and how is it possible to fund and build a sustainable business with purpose and profit (or maybe you are building a Zebra business already?), join us. No matter if you are a founder, a wanna-be founder, an investor, researcher, activist, tech worker or just an interested Berliner – let’s get to know each other.
We are the Berlin Chapter of Zebras Unite but really, we welcome anyone who wants to dazzle with us. We started off small with 10 people at the first meetup in early December 2019, now we have over 100 people on Telegram and more than a hundred subscribed to our newsletter and are regularly registering for each of the meetups. But don’t be mistaken – we are all about the right amount of warmth and coziness. Community first!
Who are these Zebras — we get this question a lot!
So, we took initiative and created 2 editable landscapes in collaboration with Berlin Senate, New Mittelstand co-pilot reframe.ventures and dealroom platform:
Contact us in case you’d like to add yourself to the list.
Berlin Community
Zebras Unite Berlin is powered by New Mittelstand community — applying the zebras identity to define a future of German Mittelstand and family businesses. Join us and empower sustainable growth of our movement in Germany!
We’re calling for volunteers to help build the Chapter into the gravity center for all things Zebra in Berlin and Germany. No matter if you have 1 hour a week or 3 hours a month. You are good at organizing, researching, analyzing, networking, communicating? Contact us – there are many fun ways to get you involved.
Join our Telegram group for local conversations
Join the Berlin group at Mighty Networks to connect to the international community
Attend one of our community meetups (see section below, now online!)
Upcoming Events
28.02.2023 - Virtual information session jointly with Founder Institute Berlin — register here
25.-26.04.2023 - Hybrid New Mittelstand Summit 2023 (2-days event in German) — get your ticket
Several events are in the pipeline — stay tuned and sign up for our mailing list.
Contact us in case you’d like to co-host an event around your work or your purpose!
Past Events
08.09.2022 Meetup No. 10: Zebras Unite Berlin Day
30.11.2021 Meetup No 9: Exploring new capital and ownership structures with Remagine and Rekursive - minutes - recording
10.08.2021 Meetup No 8: 24 types of Zebra business models with Leon Seefeld (Reframe.Ventures) and Astrid Scholz - minutes - recording
14.12.2020 Meetup No 7: “How to set yourself up for remote work (+ end of the year meet & greet!)” with Wildling Shoes, Lacewing Tech and Acework.
(notes including tool recommendations from our community, video and audio recording).
26.08.2020 Meetup No. 6 “How to carry a culture of activism into a business - the story of mimycri” (recording available under the link) as part of the “Season of the Dazzle” event series.
25.06.2020 “Why do we need Zebras Unite in Germany” by Kasia Odrozek at the #Waterkant20 Festival (start around 23.00)
24.06.2020 Meetup No 5 with Naomi Ryland and Lisa Jaspers, co-authors of “Starting a revolution“. Kim Gerlach from mimcri was the lucky book winner and will get a signed copy shipped right to her home! (notes including book recommendations from our community, video and audio).
27.05.2020 “Let’s Talk, Zebra: Wie wir zusammen das Morgen gestalten können“ by Tomorrow Bank (German)
27.04.2020 Masterclass with Julia Profeta Johannson (Conscious Growth).
23.04.2020 Meetup No. 4 “Investing in Zebras” with Zebras Unite movement co-founder Astrid Scholz, Achim Hensen and Camille Canon from Purpose Ventures and Ramona Liberoff, an SDG investor (notes and recording: gallery view or speaker view, audio file).
March 2020 Meetup No 3, Let’s get philosophical with tshirt consulting, ecoligo and Ranking Digital Rights (notes and recording, audio file)
December 2019 Meetup No. 1: What does a Zebras need in Berlin
Berlin Community Resources
Zebra-aligned investors and accelerators we’re friends with:
ConsciousGrowth, revenue- based financing
Purpose Ventures, for steward- owned companies
Ragnarson, Angel impact investing (read their one-pager)
Prototype Fund, for public interest tech, BMWI (state) funded
Imagine 2030 Mobility Accelerator, funded by the city of Berlin
The Futures Project, an accelerator program for innovative projects
Uplitft1, revenue-based financing
Ragnarson is crowdsourcing this amazing list of impact investors in Europe: have a look and add to it!
Help in times of covid-19 (Berlin or/and Germany related)
Startups helping startups by Association of German Startups
Related movements:
New Mittelstand and Evgeni Kouris supported Zebras Unite Berlin from the start: while Zebras term often is loved by startups, New Mittelstand is applying Zebra identity to transformation of family businesses and German Mittelstand. Ultimately, Zebras — if successful long-term — will turn into future New Mittelstand!
The Greentech Alliance, a network to support the greentech community
If you want to be a coop check out Platform Cooperativism Consortium and The Internet of Ownership. For the Berlin version look here.
If you want to be self-owned check out the Purpose Foundation (steward-ownership).
Inspiration
“Starting a revolution” by Naomi Ryland and Lisa Jaspers
Press
Journalists got word about ZebrasUnite in Berlin!
“Wir brauchen nicht noch mehr Einhörner – sondern Zebras“ by Business Insiders / Gründerszene, June 2021
“Zebras statt Einhörner” by Ada Magazine (print)
“Warum wir Zebras brauchen um die Krise zu meistern” by GoodJobs, March 2020
“Es ist die Aufgabe der Zebras, jetzt Impulse zu setzen - ein Gespräch mit Inas Neureldin, Mitgründer der Tomorrow Bank” by Steffen Vogt, August 2020
“Zebras statt Einhörner”, podcast by MediaPioneer, August 2020
More to come (podcasts, interviews!)
We are always looking to highlight local Zebra entrepreneurs to the press. Get in touch if you would like to be our go-to example of the way of Zebra.
Chapter Leads
Get in touch
We’d love to hear from you. Ask us questions, share ideas, complain about how hard it is, brag about your success. We want to hear it all and we’ll spread the word via our famous newsletter.
Email: [email protected]