Beverage giant, Coca Cola planning to foray into the start-up ecosystem by setting up an accelerator space for start-ups in Bangalore along with other cities like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Bangalore, Berlin, Singapore and Istanbul. The soft drink major has already launched the accelerators in Sydney and San Francisco. This was revealed at a presentation given by David Butler, Vice President, Coca-Cola at Sydney recently.
Beverage giant, Coca Cola planning to foray into the start-up ecosystem by setting up an accelerator space for start-ups in Bangalore along with other cities like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Bangalore, Berlin, Singapore and Istanbul. The soft drink major has already launched the accelerators in Sydney and San Francisco. This was revealed at a presentation given by David Butler, Vice President, Coca-Cola at Sydney recently.
“About a year and a half ago, the company stepped back and said – what are we not doing in terms of innovation?” Butler explained. “You can get lost in that word but essentially what we came down to is that there was a lot going on in this ecosystem, this community, that we weren’t part of…”
The details about the programme are not clear because Coca Cola for the first time is planning the launch of its accelerators across the globe.
Instead of centering on investment and mentoring, the focus will be on “Co-designing, collaborating and building with start-ups, and bringing our ability to scale and our amazing assets together to unlock new ways to create value on a global basis,” said Butler.
The company has earlier worked with creative start-ups. In 2001, the company had associated with The Georgia Tech University to setup incubators in its hometown, Atlanta and Georgia.
The beverage giant looks on developing products and strategies for start-ups. “So it could be as broad as a Coke-branded wearable device that helps you be healthy or it could be, actually Coke will do your deliveries for you?” one audience member asked. Exactly, Butler said. “Those are two ideas we’re working on right now.”
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