Between those who preserve what exists and those building what’s next. We help two worlds understand each other.
Startup Safari grew out of a simple observation: the people building the future and the people leading business today rarely speak the same language.
We don’t run innovation zoo visits. We create spaces for real exchange, where executives from DAX-listed companies sit down with 25-year-old founders and realize they’re solving the same problem from different sides.
Our team knows both worlds. We’ve founded startups and advised DAX-listed companies. We understand the compliance checklists of established business and the growth tactics of the new.
For each format, we start with your team’s question, choose relevant conversation partners and prepare the exchange. Together, we draw out the observations and next questions that matter to your team.
We reject superficial innovation tours. Every safari is curated around a specific topic and designed for genuine exchange.
We shape the conversation to make room for different points of view, including views that may be uncomfortable to hear.
We’re not visitors in the ecosystem. We live here. Our network follows a “Give, Give, Give, Ask” principle. We work with founders we trust and respect for what they build.
Our story began in 2011 with PIRATE Summit, one of Europe’s most unusual startup events. No glamour, no dull keynotes, just honest encounters.
We brought that spirit into the corporate world. One event became a network. That network became Startup Safari.
Today, we’ve supported more than 200 projects and taken hundreds of business leaders to where innovation really happens.
"Great event by the fantastic team which also organizes the PIRATE Summit.
Tim Schumacher General Partner, WorldFund
A small team from Cologne with a wide network. We’re not an agency doing assembly-line work, but people who start, build, and invest ourselves.
Startup Safari is part of the PIRATE Group, a small family of Cologne-based companies united by one idea: make business more human. It all began in 2011 with PIRATE Summit. Over the years, it grew into something more.
Our sister companies work in very different fields. PIRATEx creates events and formats; OMClub is the legendary marketing night at Dmexco. division5 writes software, o/wonder builds enterprise AI, FunnelIn handles B2B marketing, and VisualMakers works on automation. And when our founder reflects on it all, he writes about it at Making Business More Human.
For you, that means if your safari needs more than a good day, the right people are just a call away.
Tell us about your company. We’ll show you how we can help in a no-obligation first consultation.
Book a conversation