Startup P-ton wants to bring society back together through social digitisation
Bielefeld, 30.09.2022 – “Higher, faster, more digital” is the motto of our time. The result: acceleration instead of deceleration, online calls instead of handshakes – social interaction? Not a chance. But the call for social interaction is getting louder and louder. “Digilogous togetherness instead of digital isolation” is the vision of P‑ton. The Bielefeld team is launching “digiloge” startups that function both digitally and socially. In this way, P‑ton wants to unite the best of the analog world with the digital world and thus bring society back together.
“Digitisation should support social behavior and interaction and be sustainable in all respect,” explains Jürgen Hase. He is the impuls giver behind P‑ton. An international networker and father of four children – some of whom are also P‑toneers – he founded P‑ton AG.
P-ton acts as a company builder that develops innovative startups from the digital space. The business ideas come from the P‑ton team or from external founders. All startups are united by the vision of creating shared, positive experiences and thus bringing people together. “Too often, analogue activities from our everyday lives are replaced by purely digital ones. Chatbots that replace human support are an example of this. The smombie who hangs alone in front of his smartphone also symbolises that the component of social interaction is often lost,” says Jürgen Hase. To ensure that people are just as close to each other in the digital world as they are in the analogue one, P‑ton provides digital tools to promote togetherness. By combining analogue with digital experiences, P‑ton’s startups create shared, positive moments – and thus digiloge products and services.
P-ton: analogue experiences through digital possibilities
For P-ton, entrepreneurship is the key to innovation and the future because, according to Jürgen Hase, entrepreneurs take responsibility for our society. P‑ton creates an environment in which entrepreneurs can be successful in business. To this end, P‑ton supports and finances startups that link digital ideas with real settings and create “digiloge” experiences. Every idea is welcome and lateral entry is encouraged. Young people in particular should be given the chance to realise their potential at an early stage.
According to Hase, the cooperation in the team and especially with the large, international P‑ton network releases a unique energy that P‑ton uses. “Founders inside can develop with our support, turn their idea into profitable businesses and bring real benefits to society. Fun and the joy of experimentation are elementary components of our work,” says Jürgen Hase. P‑ton gives its entrepreneurs maximum entrepreneurial freedom and its network of over 140 first-class experts to support young founders on their way to the top. This network of people from different cultural and professional backgrounds and of different ages alone releases enormous creativity and opens many doors for the founders.
Digilogue play brings people together
P-ton already has seven “digiloge” startups in its portfolio, four of them are spun off as independent limited liability companies – as AVA. In a playful way, young and older generations come into contact with technologies that intensify the analogue experience and promote social exchange: AVA from the venture Meet2Play stands for the future of the board game – because it is also digilog. AVA is a hybrid board game console for families. It combines analogue board gaming with digital control panels to complete a real experience in a digital world: games and game pieces can be saved, progress and achievements tracked, and the game can be digitally adjusted at any time. “Children are growing up with digital games, while parents are increasingly trying to encourage analogue experiences. Our goal is to offer both sides all the advantages by creating a hybrid world,” says Jürgen Hase. This is how the startup Meet2Play brings people of all generations together with the help of technology.
Travelling together into a digiloge world
A second example of digiloge sharing is P‑ton’s startup Rodinia from the Stay2Discover venture. A combination of cinema, gastronomy and travel enables guests of Rodinia to travel together to distant lands. The world’s largest 360° LED surface with a specially developed 360° film technology creates a unique out-of-home experience that appeals to all five senses. “The goal is to create a way for people around the world to travel to countries and experience cultures digitally and together. All without travelling the world and consuming additional Co2 emissions,” says Hase.
P-ton’s startups are different, create something new and tell a prosocial story. “The result of our joint work must always be, on the one hand, to make the analogue old world a bit more digital, but also to question the digital new world again and again. Where and how do we really need it? Where does deceleration perhaps offer added value for everyone?”, says Jürgen Hase.
About P-ton AG
P-ton is a company builder that founds and finances startups. P‑ton’s vision is to promote social interaction through digitalisation. P‑ton therefore focuses on young startups that combine analogue experience with a digital world. In addition to founding its own startups, P‑ton supports other founders in turning their ideas into profitable companies. The team, with its own network of internal and external experts and mentors, accompanies the entire founding process and further development. P‑ton AG was founded by Jürgen Hase and is based in Bielefeld.
Marion Baumann
Marketing Communication
