January 10, 2019
Some cultures hold the belief that the first 12 days of the year forecast what the new year will bring. So it should come as no surprise that we started 2018 with the announcement of our plans to build betahaus | Tirana. Throughout the year, a new betahaus was being built in Tirana and is on track to open its doors in March 2019. After Berlin, Hamburg, Barcelona, and Sofia, Tirana is the fifth city where you can work with us. Since it will be the first official coworking space in the Albanian capital, we’re excited to see it grow and to form acoworking community there. Read more about it here or follow betahaus Tirana on Facebook and Instagram.
Being part of the coworking conversation is hugely important to us. In February, our Co-Founder Christoph Fahle got invited to the Coworking Unconference Asia 2018, held in Penang, Malaysia. He spoke to a crowded room about how to create effective and mutually beneficial partnerships for your coworking space. You can read the full post on Medium.
In March, our green revolutionairs from Plan A initiated the Green Movie Night – a monthly movie screening with shorts, documentaries, and startup-presentations on environmental topics. Once a month, we gathered in the Community Lab over popcorn, inspired cocktails and some interesting discussions. Learn more about their mission here.
In April 2018, we finally announced our move and started planning the transition from Prinzessinnenstraße to Rudi-Dutschke-Straße! After 10 years of coworking at Moritzplatz, it was a great shift that invited us to get more creative and start anew.
The blockchain-focused coworking space, Full Node, opened its doors at Skalitzer Straße! Our Events and Coworking Teams got on board running the space, handling everything from welcoming guests to organizing events to making sure everything runs smoothly on a day-to-day basis.
So how exactly can our Coworking Team run two spaces at once? They’re not only full of energy, but also eager to learn! To strengthen their connection and find a creative approach to old problems, our Coworking Team attended a Design Thinking Workshop. The result? Better division of tasks and clearer ways of collaborating.
To say farewell to our parking lot and all the parties we had there over the years, we threw a huge betabeer Fest in June! The event included food trucks, a VR experience, and an exclusive reveal of the architect's blueprints for betahaus | Kreuzberg.
In July, this same parking lot turned into a Community Flohmarkt we organised together with with Plan A. Not only did we sell some of our favorite furniture in preparation for the move, but members came to shop, sell their own stuff, support a great cause, and watch the World Cup together.
10 years after the opening of betahaus on Prinzessinnenstraße, we closed close our doors at Moritzplatz and moved into our Pop-Up location at Köpenickerstraße. But of course we couldn’t leave the house without throwing one last big party. Together with closest friends, old members, and current coworkers we celebrated together and tore down the 'haus.
At the start of September, our co-founders Madeleine & Christoph were invited to join the second edition of Techfestival in Copenhagen and participate in the creation of the Copenhagen Catalog. Together with 148 other tech specialists and community builders they created 150 principles to help set a new, more human(ity)-centered direction for tech. Read more about it here.
Later in September, our very own football stars played in the Coworking Football Tournament organized by tuesday coworking & Instant Offices. We came out sweaty and more connected with other parts of the coworking community in Berlin.
In October, our first big Coworking Week took place in Tirana. The event aimed to explore the startup ecosystem in Eastern Europe while bringing together entrepreneurs and investors and providing a collaborative platform for learning and networking. As a part of the program we had the local betapitch competition, workshops with startups from all around Europe, one on one consultancy sessions and lots of networking.
Later in the month, we announced the opening of a second location in Berlin. At the beginning of 2019, we're opening betahaus | Neukölln. The space is spread across six floors and will be divided up into coworking areas, makers workshops, studios, event spaces, and tons of team rooms. If you’re looking for a new home for your business, your can inquire abou a team room here.
On 15 November, we had our biggest startup event of the year. This year’s Investors Day & BETAPITCH Global was more international than ever before. We sold more than 450 tickets and the betahaus Pop-Up location was packed with more than 280 startups, 40 investors, 30 corporates and entrepreneurs from all around the globe. The BETAPITCH crown went to Hamburg-based air-quality monitoring company BREEZE Technologies.
2018 was a year of serious growth and a few goodbyes. Our Coworking Team really blew up this year with new additions like Gillord, Nina, Tarik, Ayo, Robbin, Gabi, & Josefine around to help keep our space running. On the flip side, we also had to say goodbye to some of our closest colleagues as they moved on entrepreneurial ventures and new projects.
Over the course of the year, we asked the experts within our our community about the future of travel tech (GetYourGuide), sustainable travel (bookitgreen), notary advice (Leapfunder) and blockchain (Gnosis).
And to commence the year, we threw a big Christmas Party on the rooftop of our new building with a live band, karaoke, and obviously, mulled wine.
Thank you for coming on this journey with us! If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, you can our community here!
