Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest beer brewing company with a legacy of brewing 500 brands (likes of Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois and others) across 100+ countries launched its 2022 Africa edition of the Beer Garage Global Accelerator Program on 20th April, 2022. The event was attended by 250+ audience comprising of Startups, VCs, Accelerators, Corporates and Ecosystem Enablers, logging in virtually to attend the event.
Beer Garage is the global tech innovation arm of AB InBev which drives innovation by building a robust network of ecosystem players such as startups, SMEs, innovators, academia, and venture capitalists. The accelerator program aims to fast-track innovation and transformation by finding disruptive ideas that will help the company lead category growth in the coming years.
In its 2022 avatar, the program focuses on solving existing business challenges and future leaning problems cutting across Sales & Marketing, Supply Chain, Packaging, Future tech, Sustainability, Route to Market and Fintech.
Program is now accepting applications from Early Stage and above startups across the globe, to solve specific problem statements for the brewing giant, in the space of NFT, Metaverse, Sustainable Packaging, Reverse Logistics, Last Mile Delivery, 3P Lending, POS Devices and more.
The selected startups will get an opportunity to win equity free paid proof of concept (upto USD $50,000), global expansion, access to investors, new customers, global mentors and leaders along with geographical expansion through the brewing giant’s global footprint across 100+ markets.
The entries for startup accelerator are open till 11th May 2022. Interested startups can apply for the program by submitting their pitch at Innovation Shots by Beer Garage after which the applications will be screened for the final leadership pitch leading up to final cohort announcement by early June.
Luiz Gondim, Global SVP, Innovation, Anheuser-Busch InBev, said, “Innovation is at the forefront of all that we do at Beer Garage, and the accelerator is just a reflection of that. Our aim through the program is to ensure that all tools are available for startups to drive exponential value for our customers and consumers and help the startups scale up in their growth journey.”
Carmel Appel Raskin, Senior Global Director of Tech Innovation at Beer Garage, added, “Innovation drives our commercial strategy, supply chain, support systems for our colleagues, and recruitment of future talent. It also plays a major part in taking startups to the next level, and after the immense response to the accelerator program in 2021 and the positive impact to the business, it was evident that there is demand to scale it up this year.”
Guilherme Pereira Pinto, VP of Technology Solutions Africa, AB InBev, said at the launch event, “Anheuser-Busch InBev is excited to select the next batch of startups for the Beer Garage Accelerator 2022. In 2021, its first year, this accelerator became a big success with 300+ applications. The final 2021 Cohort challenged how we think about running our operations. We are looking forward to an even bigger year in 2022.
Last year, the program received 337 applications pouring in from over 60 countries across 9 business challenges — Neural Sense, Quilt.ai and Tripplo were the three startups selected for the proof of concept. Neural sense is a neuromarketing company conducting neuroscience driven market research. Quilt.ai is a fast and scalable technology platform to get human insights through big data signals. Tripplo is automated software platform to optimize logistics and transportation.
Further, by collaborating with startups that are at the cutting edge of innovation, the Beer Garage Accelerator enables AB InBev to find answers to its business challenges, while at the same time helping the brand widen its impact internationally.
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To learn more about the Africa problem statements, visit https://innovation-shots.com/beer-garage-accelerator/
