Founders present their results • Innovative tannoys, vibration sensors, cameras onboard locomotives, and a mobility platform for paperless travel • Submissions now being taken for fifth funding round

“We were working on our application right up until the last minute”, says Stephan Leppler, CEO and co-founder of MotionTag. Founded in late 2015, the firm is one of six start-ups which presented the results of three months of development work to around 200 guests at the DB mindbox in Berlin last night. MotionTag aims to render public transport “ticketless”, and thereby simpler and more comfortable. “We want customers to be able to combine transport modes - whether suburban rail, metro, call-a-bike systems, or car and scooter-sharing - flexibly and without having to worry about prices or fares”, says Leppler. The 33-year-old Berliner is delighted at the results achieved by his five-man team: “Technically speaking the bar was set very high, but working with DB we were able to create a useable IT platform for paperless travel within a short space of time.”

Harnessing the potential of the digital economy to drive up quality standards

As part of its “ZukunftBahn” (Rail Future) quality programme, Deutsche Bahn funds tech start-ups via the DB Accelerator, the aim being to enhance services for customers as quickly as possible. Firms must develop a validated prototype and prove marketability within three months. In return, each start-up receives access to the coworking space in the DB mindbox, plus €25,000, coaching, advice from managers and access to the business units within DB Group so they can test their products.

(Source: Deutsche Bahn)