Adidas has announced the launch of “Platform A,” its new sports accelerator program, located at the Paris-based start-up campus Station F. The company said it is investing €1 million in the development of the initiative. Platform A brings together 13 start-ups that have been selected to work with Adidas on new sport-related business projects, with a focus on digital, community building and global sales.
Platform A was officially launched on Jan. 18, in the presence of Eric Liedtke, Adidas' executive board member responsible for global brands; Guillaume de Monplanet, senior vice-president and general manager of Adidas France; Xavier Niel, the founder of Station F; Roxanne Varza, director of Station F; and Saeed Amidi, chief executive of the American innovation platform Plug and Play.
Station F, located in Paris' 13th district, is described as the world's largest incubator facility. The 34,000-square-meter structure was inaugurated by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, in June 2017. Adidas is the first and only sports company to have a program at Station F. The start-ups that have been selected to participate in Platform A include Overtime, Hero, Running Care, Blue Bite, SneakerCrypt, Storr, Wom, Yeay, eyecandylab, Radius8, Stuffstr, Vekia, and Neurun.
