Press Release

Tomorrow Street - Vodafone’s global innovation centre in joint partnership with the Luxembourg Government focuses on giving innovative companies access to international business. The vision is to create a startup accelerator that connects corporates and startups in a truly meaningful way, generating revenue growth and delivering game-changing innovation.

Harnessing the power of startups
Too often corporate-startup initiatives drift off to the side of the mother company, disconnected from the day-to-day business. Tomorrow Street aims to correct that by locking into the Vodafone Procurement Company (VPC), Vodafoneʼs central procurement function which controls 85% of the company’s spend and manages more than 450 categories of products and services through 200+ strategic buyers. Over its 10-year history, VPC has consolidated a unique set of knowledge and capabilities, and Tomorrow Street draws on this power to deliver deals for startups through procurement channels and help entrepreneurs navigate their way towards the right opportunities. By combining Vodafone’s global footprint and strong brand with Luxembourg’s digital ambition and position at the heart of Europe, Tomorrow Street has created a unique innovation accelerator unlike no other in the world today.

Acceleration and disruption
In the past one year of its launch, the Innovation Centre has added five disruptive startups to their portfolio, organized one of the biggest tech events in Europe - Arch Summit 2018 bringing together startups and corporates from across the globe to network, connect and partner together. Currently, Tomorrow Street’s diverse team works closely with five late-stage startups on their expansion plans. Besides, mentors another four earlier stage Luxembourg based startups helping them with their first step to success. The energy and spark generated by this close cooperation are complemented by the involvement of Vodafone colleagues, who collaborate with the startups to explore ways of disrupting the industries they operate in. With the next wave of innovation likely to come from small and energetic suppliers, this two-way access between startups and Vodafone enables all involved to explore opportunities in a mutually beneficial way. Connecting the right people and accelerating business, Tomorrow Street reflected its concept and launched Arch Summit 2018. Hosted in the heart of Europe – Luxembourg, the event brought startups, corporates and influencers together on one platform to discuss, network and drive innovation together.

The next steps: Year two
The focus is on collaboration and to continue to build a stronger community and support the current portfolio startups. The current potential portfolio of new companies is strong, and Tomorrow Street anticipates announcing new arrivals in early 2019. Planning is already underway for Arch Summit 2019, and with their presence growing globally they look forward to many newer and exciting opportunities. By creating Tomorrow street has paved the way in establishing a unique platform for collaboration between Vodafone and startups, and also the exchange of ideas and capabilities between private and public, corporate and entrepreneur, and passionate people who want to make a positive impact on the world. The Innovation Centre’s journey has just begun, and the road ahead looks exciting.

Written by Neil Cocker - Senior Director and Partner, Tomorrow Street