The Suitcase founders (from left to right): Philipp Hertel, Tim Fischer and Tim Kniepkamp
Photo: Suitcase

Suitcase: Legal dispute made easy

With its online dispute resolution platform, Suitcase offers conflicting parties the opportunity to reach a quick and straightforward out-of-court settlement. In the long term, the startup's digital arbitration service aims to establish itself as a genuine alternative to lengthy court proceedings. One of the founders told us why this is necessary, how the project came about, and why Munich is the ideal location for them.

Munich Startup: What exactly does Suitcase do? What problem does it solve?

Tim Kniepkamp, Suitcase: Suitcase offers a neutral forumto resolve legal disputes amicably within a few days. We are a digital arbitration board with an innovative process to bring conflicting parties together. We are currently focusing on conflicts following job termination and the repayment of the rental deposit.

Our goal is to build a genuine alternative to the courts. Traditional court proceedings don't meet people's needs. It takes too long. It's too expensive. And it's so complex that without legal representation, you don't know whether you're right.

This is also consistent with the findings of various studies. Compared to 1995, we are seeing 59 percent fewer lawsuits before labor courts. At the same time, the proceedings are taking longer. And the public perceives it similarly: 82 percent consider the proceedings too long, and 77 percent consider the courts overloaded. This problem will worsen by 2030: We will see one in four judges retire nationwide.

Munich Startup: Hasn't this already existed?

Tim Kniepkamp, Suitcase: No. And that surprised us a bit, too. We know that a few Berlin founders tried it in the early 2000s. They were clearly ahead of their time. Behind that, of course, lies another question: "Who is the competition?" And competition is anyone who solves the same problem – regardless of how. In that sense, the courts are our competitors, just like tech-savvy law firms.

Suitcase started as a project alongside university

Munich Startup: What is your founding story?

Tim Kniepkamp, Suitcase: Tim and I have known each other since 2018 through a student competition for lawyers. We participated for different universities and became friends. In the summer of 2020, a Brazilian friend visited us and told us about a digital court case on a mobile phone. This raised the question of whether this would work in Germany. After we had come up with a legal concept, we brought Philipp on board.

Suitcase started out as a project alongside university. At the beginning of 2024, we joined full-time and moved to Munich for Xpreneurs. We lived in a founders' shared apartment at Rosenheimer Platz. That summer, we decided to build the company in Munich and moved into an office at Werk1 near Ostbahnhof.

Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?

Tim Kniepkamp, Suitcase: Initially, we struggled with how to build a viable business model. Our first product idea—a digital arbitration process for B2B disputes—was legally and technically feasible. However, it wasn't economically viable. Once we had agreed on our current product, we had to choose between B2B and B2C. B2C seemed appealing to us, but would have involved high marketing costs, which we would have had to pass on to the end customers. This wouldn't have improved access to justice. B2B was unattractive because there are too few suitable dispute resolution platforms. So, in the end, it became B2B2C: We market the product to lawyers and legal expenses insurers. However, the platform's users are often private individuals.

Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?

Tim Kniepkamp, Suitcase: Our vision for 2030 is to be represented in six European countries. This will enable us to administer over 300,000 legal disputes annually.

Down-to-earth with a high quality of life

Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?

Tim Kniepkamp, Suitcase: Very positive. That was the reason for the move from Berlin to Munich. While Berlin is very hip, the founders here are more down-to-earth. It's less about the bold external image and more about strong sales. This is demonstrated by unicorns like Celonis, which the general public (deliberately) doesn't know. The quality of life in Munich is also high: We go hiking a lot on the weekends or take the night train to Italy.

Munich Startup: Hidden champion or shooting star?

Tim Kniepkamp, Suitcase: Hidden champion. That fits our image better than a neutral platform. We don't want the big spotlight, but rather to help people resolve their conflicts quickly. So we only want to be known enough for people to trust us.

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