Daria Solovieva
By Daria Solovieva
Timofey Golovin, a 38-year-old seasoned ecosystem builder with a palate for both startups and community building, is launching an accelerator program this week that promises to connect the worlds of wine and tech.
WineWayLab is a free two-month online accelerator for zero-stage startups in the WineTech industry.
The program is debuting at a challenging time for the global wine industry. According to a recent industry report, wine consumption is expected to continue shrinking until at least 2030, forcing wineries to innovate and adapt to new market realities.
This is why Golovin and his co-founders came up with WineWayLab, a free two-month online accelerator for zero-stage startups in the WineTech industry. They appear unfazed by even the potential threats of tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty.
“In the startup world, there’s more flexibility compared to traditional goods,” Golovin says. “The EU wine market alone is substantial, and when we factor in markets like China, potential U.S. tariff increases are unlikely to significantly impact WineTech.”
The Russian-born entrepreneur has over 15 years of experience in venture and startup ecosystem development to this new venture. Golovin’s expertise in nurturing startups was honed during his tenure as a partner at the Moscow branch of NUMA, a French-Russian innovation hub.
After the war in Ukraine broke out in 2022, he moved to Hungary.
“Western Europe is booming right now,” he says. “You have lots of activity in Poland, some activity in Serbia, and Hungary still has lots of hidden potential.”
This is not Golovin’s first rodeo: He has been developing innovation ecosystems since 2014, launching Winno in Budapest and MyRoboteam, an online acceleration program for solo entrepreneurs.
Aspiring WineTech entrepreneurs can submit their applications by March 1.
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