On July 28, 150 founders, investors, and startup experts met at the Munich Investment Forum and recognized promising business ideas. The startup scene experienced a first-class networking event.
At the Munich Investment Forum 2015, 24 spin-offs selected by Fraunhofer Venture and the startup institutions of the Munich universities CeTIM, LMU Entrepreneurship Center, Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship, and UnternehmerTUM presented their ideas and concepts to a panel of investors, startup experts, and companies. In one-on-one meetings, the investors present also had the opportunity to discuss various financing approaches with the founders.
„Numerous successful financings in the past ten years following our events underline the success of the Investment Forum", said Thomas Doppelberger, Head of Fraunhofer Venture. Confirmed by this, Fraunhofer intends to further strengthen this networking concept in the future and is committed to an even more intensive and personal exchange between the startup scene and the investment industry. For the first time this year, an eleven-square-meter networking wall brought investors together with innovative startups for personal exchange. In addition, the 24 young entrepreneurs presented their developments and ideas in an accompanying exhibition throughout the day.
Three Fraunhofer spin-offs introduced themselves
Among the innovative startups that presented themselves at the Munich Investment Forum were several companies supported by Fraunhofer Venture. Three startups in particular were able to present their business ideas in more detail to investors and startup experts in a 10-minute pitch:
- Volterion, part of the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT in Oberhausen, is developing small-scale energy storage systems for the decentralized storage of renewable energy—particularly solar power—in private homes. The company is making vanadium redox flow batteries ready for mass market use for the first time using new, patent-pending production technologies.
- COSEDA Technologies from Dresden markets the software-based design platform COSIDE, which offers fundamentally new modeling and simulation methods for hardware and software development. The software's great potential lies in the underlying modeling language System CAMS, which was developed and standardized over the past fourteen years by the founders at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, Design Automation Division EAS, together with the European semiconductor industry.
- ArtGuardian markets the ArtGuardian technology developed and patented by the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM in Berlin. It enables owners of artworks to continuously monitor their works (in terms of room temperature and humidity) in a completely new way – even when they are not in their direct possession, for example, in exhibitions.
Toposens, Lilium and Baristina honored at speed pitches
Funding for spin-off projects at a very early stage: In speed pitches, twelve young entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to present their concepts in 90 seconds each. Three promising presentations were subsequently selected by the audience and awarded prizes:
1st place: Toposens – The startup is developing the first ultrasound technology-based method for determining the position and precise detection of objects in 3D in real time.
2nd place: Lilium – The young company Lilium is developing the world’s first electrically powered vertical take-off and landing jet.
3rd place: Barista – The founders of Baristina combine the building blocks of water, coffee, heat and pressure in an innovative way to create a disposable espresso machine.
