The world's first start-up supermarket, KaDeTe, opens in Berlin

The world’s first startup supermarket, KaDeTe, will open its doors in Berlin next month. The physical marketplace will give young brands and companies an opportunity to engage consumers and buyers.

Selling is but one part

KaDeTe (a tongue-in-cheek reference to the famous KaDeWe – Kaufhaus des Westens, but this time the Kaufhaus des Testens, trial department store) will become the first store that will only sell items that have not yet (or just barely) made it to retail or wholesale. Young brand manufacturers can sell their products there, across all types of industries. More than 200 innovative food manufacturers have already applied for a location. Selling is but one part of the experience, because it is a marketplace that also provides market research.

“We quickly came up with the idea not only to create a dedicated store for new products, but also to help start-ups with market research to gain important insights about their product in order to build up credibility for investment or listing related negotiations”, founders Franziska Schetter and Ola Klöckner said. Both have already launched the organic energy drink Matcha You. The idea for KadeTe came from their own experiences and “hard work” to get their drink into stores and bars.

Start-up network for retail

KaDeTe will open its doors in Wilmersdorfer Arcaden shopping center on 17 March. Similar to the physical magazine formula STORY in New York, KaDeTe will build networks and will link companies through three specific target audiences. Consumers can trial and buy new, innovative products and also become a market research study subject for the start-ups. Buyers will get access to the sales results and market study insights to choose the right products for their stores based on actual data. The start-ups can reach consumers and also have a shot at being picked up by buyers or investors.

Being a start-up network, KaDeTe continues to look for new partners. ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator recently joined as well. This is the German television group’s investment group looking to support start-ups with media and ad campaigns. KaDeTe may also become an incubator in the future.