Munich Startup: What does Hopfon do? What problem do you solve?
Mauricio Fleischer Acuña, co-founder of Hopfon: The construction industry is responsible for 40 percent of global CO2 emissions, 50 percent of global resource consumption, and 40 percent of global waste generation. At the same time, only about 20 percent of the annual hop harvest is used for beer production, while the rest is disposed of as waste. To reduce the ecological footprint of these two industries, we founded Hopfon. Our vision is to develop recyclable and climate-neutral building materials from agricultural waste. This conserves resources, avoids construction waste, and minimizes CO2 emissions. We are starting with solutions for soundproofing in interior construction using waste products from the hop harvest.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Mauricio Fleischer Acuña: Only to a limited extent. While conventional building materials emit CO2 during production, cannot be reused and consume finite resources, Hopfon building materials are characterized by climate neutrality, complete traceability in the sense of Circular economy and the upcycling of supposed waste products. Unlike other sustainable building materials, we completely avoid artificial binders and difficult-to-dissolve additives. Our high-performance products are therefore made exclusively from natural raw materials and can be separated into their components and transformed into new products after their useful life. This makes us unique.
The Hopfon project becomes a startup
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Mauricio Fleischer AcuñaMarlene and Thomas met while studying architecture and civil engineering at the Technical University of Munich and were constantly reminded of the carbon footprint of the construction industry. The idea of developing bio-based building materials from hop fibers later led to the student project Hopfon. At the award ceremony of the TUM IDEAward I met them both and have been supporting them on the business side ever since. Together with Matthias, our biochemist on the team, we developed further prototypes. We now agree that the student project should become a startup.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Mauricio Fleischer Acuña: One challenge was certainly the procurement and storage of raw materials. Since agricultural waste is not currently processed, there are no established suppliers who could prepare the raw materials for our products and provide them on an ongoing basis. This means we have to keep sufficient material on hand to be able to develop our products. To make matters worse, the hop harvest only occurs once a year, and thus all of the industry's agricultural waste accumulates within three weeks. Fortunately, we were able to work with helpful hop farmers during the hop harvest and jointly establish a process for securing raw materials. In this way, raw material procurement is now an integrated part of Hopfon's value chain.
First sales with pilot customers
Munich Startup: How are things going?
Mauricio Fleischer Acuña: Following the company's founding, we plan to generate initial sales with pilot customers next year, followed by market entry with acoustic panels for sound insulation. In five years, we aim to have established a scalable business model that delivers tangible added value for people and our environment and demonstrably helps reduce CO2 emissions beyond Germany's borders.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Mauricio Fleischer Acuña: Munich offers Hopfon the perfect location for starting a business. Firstly, it is strategically located near the world's largest hop-growing region, the Hallertau region. Secondly, it offers excellent opportunities for young entrepreneurs who want to start a business while still at university. Particularly noteworthy are the startup consulting services offered by the Technical University of Munich, the UnternehmerTUM startup center, and the TUM Venture Labs. We receive incredible support here. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Munich is so popular with startups, especially in the B2B and climate tech sectors, even internationally.
Munich Startup: Public transport or bicycle?
Mauricio Fleischer Acuña: Public transport in winter and cycling in summer!
