We caught up with Luis Sperr, Head of Business Development & Consulting at Berlin-based Big Data startup Mapegy. Mapegy (from: mapping data for your strategy) is a Berlin based Big Data start-up that helps high-tech companies make more informed decisions with technology insights from global science, patents, press, web and social media. Combing software and consulting it provides a 360°-radar for better strategies.

Please tell us about what you do at Mapegy.

We are mapegy, a startup from Berlin, founded in 2012. Our vision is being the compass for the high-tech world. With our expertise we support technology and competition analyses by answering questions like: What are the tech trends happening right now? What is happening at the moment in a certain technology field? Who are the key player and where are they located? Who is cooperating with whom? And who are the smartest people working in the field? Want to do all of this on the institutional and corporate level, all the way down to the individual expert level, and enable people to make the right decisions.

Who is on the founding team?

We are a core team of four people: Matthias our mathematical algorithm developer, Peter our CEO, Uwe our CTO and a business developer and consultant – me. Founded was mapegy by Peter and Uwe. Matthias and I joint later.

Who came up with the idea?

Peter, for the most part. He was working for the future research department at Volkswagen where he provided technology-related services to all levels of the people working for the Volkswagen group. I did similar things at Telekom, being a member of the technology scouting team. We worked together with a worldwide expert network to identify and evaluate technological trends. During that time Peter and I got in contact for the first time.

We both noticed that it is no longer possible to handle this with only experts, we need support from automated technology. In that same vein, we both feel that technology cannot not replace people, but perform an important supporting role in a beneficial and augmentative way. Analysts, innovation and portfolio managers, and strategists should use our tools to make an educated preselection so that they can focus solely on the criteria that is important to them when making such technology-related decision.

How do you differentiate yourself?

First, we are very advanced with visualizations. We use technology maps to show not only trends, but also illustrate them intuitively. The maps also show, from the point of view of the user, what are my strengths and weaknesses in a certain technology field. Furthermore, we have cooperation networks where we show how the players are connected and with whom one should speak, work, and collaborate, as well as with whom one shouldn’t work because they are already working for the competition.

Secondly, we have very sophisticated indicators that doesn’t just count the number of publications by a certain institution or expert, but considers many different factors from the market and technological side.

Thirdly, the sources of data that we tap into come from all sorts of different places. We combine them together to enable the most in­depth look at the high-tech world. We don’t just look at one source of information, but provide a 360° approach. We use information from patents, publications, technical standards, news articles, press data, market data, and product data. All of these are elegantly brought together to give a truly well­rounded picture of what is happening in the technological realm.

What is your revenue model?

We started off mostly working on a consultancy basis, but we have evolved towards a product approach with Software-as-­a-­Service. Now it is going to be on a subscription basis, either for a six­ month period or a year. We can issue licenses for individuals who want to use our product, but we also have many customers who work in small teams where we issue licenses based on the number of users. It is easy to scale this up to have an entire company using our product.

What are you looking for at the moment: investors, customers, or talent?

We are looking for customers, talent and investors. We are already generating revenue but want to scale our product in the near future. Scaling up, of course, also involves needing lots of funds and to hire new people so we are looking for developers in line with our expansion.

Where do you see yourself one year from now?

We are looking to expand, as I mentioned, so expanding to work with other companies and other individuals will be a large part of that.

Thank you for the interview!

Image credit Mapegy