Today accelerator Co.Station BXL welcomes on board two new partners. In addition to BNP Paribas Fortis and Socialcom, the two partners which backed Co.Station BXL when it was set up, Mobistar and USG People will now be lending support to the Brussels-based accelerator. This will enable Co.Station BXL to expand its expertise and provide even greater assistance to its community.

Co.Station BXL is delighted with the arrival of these partners from two new sectors. “In barely a year Co.Station BXL has put itself on the map and is regarded in the startup community as a reliable partner with a lot of useful knowledge to impart. With USG People and Mobistar now coming on board, we will be able to further expand the range of expertise that young companies need,” underlined Co.Station BXL CEO Baudouin de Troostembergh.

BNP Paribas Fortis CEO Max Jadot added: “BNP Paribas Fortis is extremely pleased to see these two new partners come on board. This means that Co.Station BXL continues to expand its knowhow and is becoming a real knowledge centre for startups and scaleups.”

The USG People Group is one of the largest providers of HR services in Europe and is well known for its innovative and creative approach, which makes this linkup with Co.Station BXL an obvious step to take. Declared USG People CEO Rob Zandbergen: “Our partnership with Co.Station BXL fits perfectly with our aim of stepping up our innovative capabilities so as to create added value for all parties involved. In addition to the HR expertise that USG People can offer the startups and scaleups at Co.Station BXL, this interaction will also foster the development of new business models that enable our clients to reduce their costs along the whole of their HR value chain, while making efficiency gains.”

Mobistar, one of the leading telecoms operators in Belgium, is delighted to be partnering Co.Station BXL as it has always been the company’s ambition to give a tangible, effective boost to the local economy. Mobistar CEO Jean-Marc Harion explained: “Mobistar regularly works with Belgian start-ups to develop its own products and services in new areas of growth, such as Internet of Things, Machine to Machine or new television services using cable for example. By joining Co.Station BXL we’re supporting an ambitious development programme to foster the growth of entrepreneurship in Belgium. This is the perfect opportunity for us to strengthen our partnerships with start-ups and support digital innovation in Belgium, which is crucial to our economy.”

About Co.Station BXL

Co.Station BXL, based in the heart of Brussels near the Central Station, is an accelerator with spacious infrastructure designed for digital sector startups and scaleups. It offers three formulae, which may be combined:

• Co.Station village

In this already successful co-working space, the focus is on building a heterogeneous community of entrepreneurs, startups and scaleups. This is being realised by offering spacious, flexible working facilities (Fix, Flex, Member), access to and organisation of events and opportunities for networking. Last month, Belgium’s very first FinTech Startup Weekend took place at Co.Station BXL.

• Co.Station Virtuology Academy

In this training centre, sessions are organised and coaches provided for entrepreneurs, startups and scaleups.

• Co.Station Accelerator

This is a special 6-10 month supervised accelerator programme (differing in approach from incubator programmes for startups), designed for scaleups or fast-growing businesses that are moving towards international expansion and growth. A first set of four scaleups is due to start on this fast-track programme in the first quarter of 2016.

Co-Vibes is a startup operating from Co.Station BXL that started out in February this year. “We develop new working and collaboration formats that enable people and organisations to deploy talent in the context of the new economy. With our ‘Co’ in common with Co.Station BXL, the fundamentals were aligned from the very beginning. Both of us believe that impact can only be achieved by setting up smart collaboration between different actors. Our first project – The Young Vibes – focuses on giving a first inspiring and impactful working experience to young graduates in a world where companies often underestimate the power of inexperienced youngsters.”

Le Wagon Brussels, a coding school, was one of the very first tenants of Co.Station BXL. “Since then, we’ve run nearly 50 successful events in the ‘pitch room’ and four coding bootcamps, while developing our network and fostering partnerships with other startups hosted here. The central location of Co.Station BXL is also key for us; we have a lot of students coming from outside Brussels and abroad so having an accessible and central location is important. We’ve seen Co.Station BXL grow into this startup hub, which is now so essential to the Brussels startup ecosystem, and so far it’s been a great adventure.”

About Mobistar

Mobistar (Euronext Brussels: MOBB)is one of the main actors on the telecommunications market in Belgium and Luxembourg. The company offers its residential customers a choice of prepaid and postpaid mobile subscriptions, plus also innovative mobile telecom solutions. On the business market, Mobistar offers fixed line telecoms via the DSL network and broadband internet, and serves as an integrated telecoms operator providing a range of mobility and connectivity services. Mobistar also acts as a wholesale provider, offering its partners access to its infrastructure and service capacities. Mobistar, whose majority shareholder is the Orange group, is listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange.

Press contacts:

Co.Station BXL, Karen Opdecam – Head of MarCom,  +32 495 237 007

BNP Paribas Fortis, Pamela Renders – Corporate Communication Manager, +32 2 312 37 35

Mobistar, Annelore Marynissen – Press Officer, +32 479 01 60 58

SocialCom, Baudouin de Troostembergh – CEO, +32 479 23 35 65

USG People, Ingrid Van Hecke – Marketing & Communication Manager,  +32 498 11 01 68