Springer Nature. DIE ZEIT. Macmillan Publishers. Macmillan Learning. Pan Macmillan. Holtzbrinck Buchverlage. Digital Science. CHAPTR. Building AI together.

The Hub

Three ways we move the group forward.

01

AI Explorations

Teams from across our science, education, and media businesses come to San Francisco to build, ship, and learn. Hands-on residencies that turn AI questions into working prototypes.

02

Ecosystem Engagement

Bringing the Bay Area AI ecosystem to Holtzbrinck through events, leadership briefings, visits, and curated introductions. The Hub is the transatlantic bridge between our businesses and the people building AI.

03

Partnerships & Investments

Direct relationships with the labs, funds, and startups shaping AI. We scout, evaluate, and translate the frontier into responsible action across science, education, and media.

AI Explorations

Send your builders. Ship real work.

Where bold ideas in science, education, and media go from idea to impact. A hands-on residency program for teams from across the group, time in San Francisco structured to turn AI questions into shipped prototypes.

How it works
Step 01

Apply.

A short application that asks what you want to build, who it would help, and what your team would do with it. Solo or with one teammate.

5 minute application · Cohorts run quarterly
Step 02

Get selected.

Reviewed by the Hub team within two weeks.

Mentor match · Onboarding kit
Step 03

Build.

One week to three months in residence in San Francisco. You stay employed at your home company.

1 week to 3 months · Workspace, mentorship, network, all included

Ecosystem Engagement

A front-row seat to frontier AI.

The Hub is the transatlantic bridge between Holtzbrinck and the people building AI. Through events, briefings, and curated introductions, we turn Bay Area proximity into Holtzbrinck advantage.

Working sessions

Direct access to the labs.

Foundation model labs and research institutions, focused on the questions our teams are actively working on.

Leadership briefings

Tailored to each business unit.

Executive briefings tailored to each business unit. Decision-makers leave with clearer next steps.

Curated introductions

The right person, the right moment.

One-to-one connections between Bay Area operators, researchers, and Holtzbrinck teams.

Convenings

Summits and demo days.

Invite-only summits and quarterly demo days where Explorers and Bay Area startups present to the Holtzbrinck portfolio.

Explorer demo day at the AI Hub
Quarterly · Demo Days

Demo days.

Where Explorers present project results and Bay Area startups pitch to the Holtzbrinck portfolio. A regular forum for cross-pollination between the group and the ecosystem.

Building in science, education, or media? Reach out at aihub@holtzbrinck.com.

Partnerships & Investments

The shortest path to what's next.

Direct relationships with the labs, funds, and startups shaping AI. The Hub turns those relationships into early signal and concrete opportunity, translated into responsible action for science, education, and media.

Foundation model labs

Working partnerships at the frontier.

Working partnerships with the labs at the frontier of AI development. Their roadmaps inform our product and strategy work; our use cases inform their research.

Venture community

Inside the Bay Area deal flow.

Embedded in the Bay Area venture ecosystem. Active deal flow across the AI stack, with insights shared back to the businesses who might partner, distribute, or invest.

Startup radar

Scouting adjacent to our portfolio.

Continuous scouting in the verticals adjacent to our portfolio. We evaluate, validate, and route the most relevant companies to the teams best positioned to act.

Insight-sharing

Bay Area signal, group-wide strategy.

Briefings, memos, and analyses that translate Bay Area signal into strategy the whole group can use.

Built for teams across the Holtzbrinck portfolio
CHAPTR / DIE ZEIT / Macmillan Publishers / Springer Nature / Macmillan Learning / Digital Science / Pan Macmillan / CHAPTR / DIE ZEIT / Macmillan Publishers / Springer Nature / Macmillan Learning / Digital Science / Pan Macmillan /