The “Digital startup of the year 2024” competition is open to all young companies that have successfully participated in a founding initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK). From recipients of the EXIST founding grant to startups with involvement from High-Tech Gründerfonds to finalists of German Accelerator, a wide variety of startups compete in the competition for the jury’s favor. Three prizes of 50,000 euros, 30,000 euros, and 20,000 euros are awarded.
Additionally, there is a public prize endowed with 10,000 euros. In a public online vote, everyone can choose their personal favorites from the nominated video submissions. Only eligible applicants for the “Digital startup of the year 2024” award are entitled to participate. Voting is open until September 24, 2024 at 24:00.
Two Munich startups competing for the public prize
Among the seven nominees in total, there are also two startups from Munich:
Exomatter, a spinoff of the DLR, is working on a platform for material properties. It is intended to help development departments find suitable materials for specific applications in the future. Data from computer simulations and AI ensure that suitable and sustainable suggestions are generated for the respective application without elaborate test series. Exomatter’s AI-supported database contains more than 1.5 million materials and their properties.
Pina Earth has been developing certified climate protection projects since 2021 with the goal of creating climate-resilient forests throughout Germany. To do this, the startup helps forest owners optimize CO2 storage in their forests, convert these forests to be climate-change-resilient, and generate and trade CO2 certificates in the process. Pina Earth’s forest conversion projects already span 2,200 hectares in Germany. They have already created more than 120,000 tons of additional CO2 storage potential.
The other applicants for the public prize are Aiperia from Würzburg, Automatum Data from Schlaitdorf in Baden-Württemberg, Elona Health from Düsseldorf, Logistikbude from Dortmund, and Suena from Hamburg. The video submissions from all participating startups can be viewed here. The awards ceremony will take place on October 7, 2024 as part of the “Days of digital technologies” in Berlin.
