Page 17 - Hafen Hamburg | Port of Hamburg Magazine 4.2022

THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ■
EARLY SUPPORT WITH AS LITTLE RISK AS POSSIBLE: FUNDS
In order to invest in start-ups in their early phase HHLA Next uses funds such as Motion Ventures. Through these funds we invest in companies that have not been in the market for long, exposing them to a higher risk of failure. Fund investments offer opportunities, at limited risk of loss, due to the large portfolio in the fund the risk of loss is considerably lower as a direct investment would be.
An example of an investment with Motion Venture is Harbour Lab, a Greek company, which fits per- fectly with the criteria we use for investment deci- sions. Harbour Lab is in maritime logistics, relying on digitalization, and as a platform interlinks various players in maritime logistics and addresses custom- er problems directly, acting as an interface between shipping companies and the Port Authority.
The core concept of such investments, through the interplay of industrial expertise and project and ven-
Start-up – Portraits
Two start-ups that have successfully made the step into the market are Sky and Modility.
modility
Modility describes itself as the ‘booking.com’ for intermodal transport, a platform bringing together supply and demand for intermodal transport. The aim is to give companies ac- cess to CO2 friendly transportation as easily as possible and to make sure that the Europe- an rail infrastructure is used more effectively.
Modility is a spin-off from HHLA Next’s port- folio. The eight strong team combines agility and the innovative thinking of a tech start-up with the advantages of a parent company, HHLA – Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, and has an extensive network of expertise and experience available to draw on. Even be- fore modility could celebrate its first birthday in March 2022, last December it was awarded the Deutschen Exzellenz-Preis – German prize for excellence in the categories, strategy, transformation and new work.
Information at: modility.com
HHLA Sky
HHLA Sky is also a spin-off from the parent com- pany HHLA, it is wholly dedicated to air space, concentrating on drone technology.
Behind the idea was an innovative idea, to face the challenge of controlling drone fleets centrally and simultaneously in various work locations world- wide. HHLA Sky developed a platform which cov- ers the complete process from planning, through preparation, the actual flight and data supply. In the meantime the start-up has a whole system for con- trolling and operating and has built up a fleet of au- tonomous industrial drones.
With the first scalable drone control centre, more than 100 drones can be managed at the same time and remotely controlled: HHLA Sky has won the German innovation prize.
Information at: hhla-sky.de
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