unu goes Berlin

The Munich start-up unu which launched its first electrically-powered scooter last year, transferred its operations from Munich to new headquarters in Berlin. In the nation’s capital the firm is since the 1st of March 2015 co-located in the Factory Berlin complex, a centre for start-up enterprises which is also the home of Twitter, SoundCloud and Edition F.

The two founders of unu, Elias Atahi and Pascal Blum are truly urban creatures, for long fascinated by metropolitan life and mobility. “We love cities. It’s exciting to witness the scope of urban innovation and culture,” says Blum. Both of the founders studied separately in Asia, Atahi specializing in electrical engineering and information technology while Blum’s focus was on economics and politics. Both were hugely impressed by their experience of mega-cities. It was the rapid pace of change they saw in Singapore and Shanghai that inspired them after completing their degrees to realize a dream they shared – to be part of shaping the best possible urban experience. “Although we had concentrated on very different disciplines we recognized a common ambition. We wanted to make a difference,” says Blum.

Their goal is to make the city more accessible for urban residents, an aim facilitated by their move to the German capital. “Berlin presents the ideal urban environment in which we and our company can develop further. As well as a vibrant sub-culture and a dynamic creative scene there are conditions here that are really very favourable for start-ups,” Co-founder Elias Atahi explains. “When Simon (Simon Schäfer, CEO of Factory Berlin) offered us office space we said ‘yes’ without hesitation.” Since the beginning of March the fifteen-strong team is based on Tempelhofer Ufer.

Factory Berlin occupies a 16 thousand square metre campus in the heart of the city. A total of 23 firms with 473 employees work in close proximity. Early-stage teams and local heroes like SoundCloud and 6Wunderkinder are neighbours of international ventures such as Zendesk and Mozilla, the Factory providing a physical location in which start-ups and established tech companies can interact. Partners include Google and Lufthansa.