Peter Hogenkamp acquires majority stake in "Niuws"
About a year after the launch of the expert community «Niuws,» internet entrepreneur Peter Hogenkamp acquired a majority stake in Newscron, based in Lugano, as part of a management buyout.
Newscron founder Elia Palme will remain a shareholder and will continue to work for the company on a part-time basis on a transitional basis as well as privately developing the original aggregator app "Newscron", while Niuws will continue to focus fully on the combination of algorithmic and manual curation. The well-known network business journalist Martin Weigert will remain on board as "Head of Curation".
The company is also planning to change its name and relocate to Zurich in the near future, according to a press release.
In recent months, Niuws has acquired several well-known companies and organizations as customers who have licensed the technology and/or curation expertise, such as the SIX Group, AXA Winterthur, the Swiss Bankers Association, the Swiss Startup Factory and Zurich Tourism.
The number of curators who have a channel on a specialist topic in the Niuws app has grown to 60 within a year. Some of the most popular are "Media Change" by Nick Lüthi, "Future of Work" by Barbara Josef, "Digital Strategy" by Stefan Leuthold and "Random Selection" by Viktor Giacobbo.
Peter Hogenkamp on the management buyout: "After lengthy negotiations, I am happy with the solution that has now been found and would particularly like to thank the founder Elia Palme and the departing shareholders for their help in setting up the company. I am more convinced than ever of curation as a concept, especially the combination of algorithmic and human selection. We no longer see Niuws as "just" an app, but as a platform. Thanks to our lean structure, we will be able to act more flexibly and grow faster. Exciting new projects and personnel have already been announced for the coming weeks."
Interview with Peter Hogenkamp about "Niuws" (October 2015)
