The Factory, a new high-end incubator, has finally opened up in Berlin

The Factory, a new high-end incubator in Berlin funded by Google and other corporate partners, opened its doors on Wednesday, after a much-hyped, long-delayed roll-out. It will host a group of start-ups from the Berlin ecosystem such as SoundCloud, 6Wunderkinder, and Toast, as well as more established names like Mozilla and Zendesk as “residents”. Mentors include staff from Google for Entrepreneurs and Twitter, and the program will offer an array of workshops, courses, and other events designed to help founders navigate typical start-up challenges like product development, networking and funding. The Factory is a sleek campus with a renovated old factory at its center and includes shared apartments for residents. Situated close to a historic site where the Berlin Wall once divided the city, the complex has the capacity to employ up to 500 people and will also offer community outreach programs like coding courses. Google’s Eric Schmidt was the VIP of the evening, giving a keynote speech that ran the gamut from the lack of a start-up culture in Germany, to his promise that Google and young start-ups would deliver jobs to Germany.