Vali Berlin

The entrepreneurship hub at ESMT Berlin

Catalyst for sustainable & entrepreneurial growth

Vali Berlin - Entrepreneurship Hub at ESMT Berlin fosters entrepreneurship for economic, environmental, and social value creation in Europe and beyond. This lies at the heart of ESMT Berlin and Vali's mission: to generate and disseminate new knowledge that propels business and society forward. We do so through a range of initiatives in three main areas: venture building, corporate entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship education and research.

Our pillars

Venture Building

We support outstanding entrepreneurial talents to build aspiring tech ventures, from the first idea and finding co-founders to reach product-market fit, in a structured funnel of venture programs.

Corporate Entrepreneurship

We foster corporate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial growth, providing our partners with executive education, access to entrepreneurial talent, deal flow to startups, integration and collaboration with startups, business development, and joint programs and labs.

Entrepreneurship Education and Research

We educate future entrepreneurs inside and outside of the classroom, offering courses in tools and frameworks, but also enable exchange between our students and other talent. We do this by integrating our offerings together with faculty into the classroom to bridge the gap between academia and education.

ESMT Demo Day

The ESMT Demo Day is a startup event hosted by Vali Berlin at which tech ventures, investors, corporates, and other entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem stakeholders meet and discuss new ideas. In addition to a pitch competition, we host panel discussions and keynotes around the topic of entrepreneurship and innovation to enable connections, networking, and growth for our partners and the ecosystem.

Venture Building

We support outstanding entrepreneurial talents to build aspiring tech ventures, from the first idea and finding co-founders to reach product-market fit, in a structured funnel of venture programs.

Sustainability Bootcamp (SB)

Ideation Program

The Sustainability Bootcamp brings together corporates, NGOs, scaleups and entrepreneurial talent to analyze important climate issues and develop first solution approaches.

Summer Entrepreneurship Program (SEP)

Incubation Program

Summer Entrepreneurship Program is a 12 week program that offers entrepreneurial talents the opportunity to find co-founders and develop a tech venture idea.

Acceleration and scaling

NEXT program is a five-month acceleration program designed for tech B2B ventures with an MVP and first market validation that strive to scale and reach product-market fit.

"Ranking: The World’s Best MBA Programs For Entrepreneurship In 2024"

November 1, 2023 | Poets&Quants

ESMT Berlin has achieved the #2 global ranking and claimed the #1 spot in Germany in the 2024 Poets&Quants ranking for the World's Best MBA Programs for Entrepreneurship.

"AI and its importance for the startup ecosystem – a European perspective"

August 9, 2023 | ESMT Knowledge

Baris Efe, Manager & Co-founder at Vali Berlin, analyzes the significance of AI foundation models for Europe’s AI startup ecosystem and highlights the possibility that Europe might once again miss its chance to achieve digital sovereignty.

"Das Entrepreneurship Hub an der ESMT Berlin"

July 27, 2023 | Startup Insider

In this episode of the podcast, Victoria Hoffmann talks to Baris Efe, founder of Vali Berlin - Entrepreneurship Hub at ESMT.