HHL SPINLAB INVESTORS DAY 

Our Startups will be announced soon! These teams participated last year.

Previous Winners

• 2021 (June) Award Winners

  "HHL SpinLab Investors Day Award"

  This time, 14 startups from SpinLab, RootCamp and other competed against the prize money of EUR 5,000 sponsored by the City of Leipzig. The process automation company Semodia (Semantic Modelling in Automation) won the award.

  "Best of Seed"

  The award „Best of Seed“ is sponsored by the KARL KOLLE Foundation. At the HHL SpinLab Investors Day in June 2021, the Leipzig-based company Lavelio, who is developing a social media analytics tool, won the award.

• 2020 (September) Award Winners

  "Best of SpinLab Startups"

  The 8 SpinLab startups of the 10th accelerator class performed in front of a jury and audience and had the chance to win EUR 5,000 sponsored by the City of Leipzig. The air quality and climate data startup Breeze Technologies secured the best SpinLab Pitch.

  "Best of Mitteldeutschland"

  Together with the founders networks of Central Germany we are looking for exciting business ideas each year. At the HHL SpinLab Investors Day, young entrepreneurs have the unique opportunity to introduce themselves and their ideas to a large audience and a renowned jury, and to win the capital for their start into business. The award „Best of Mitteldeutschland“ is sponsored by the KARL KOLLE Foundation and comes with EUR 1,500 in prize money. At the HHL SpinLab Investors Day in September 2020, the Dresden-based company Meshmerize, who is developing wireless mesh networks for industrial and critical applications, won the award.

• 2020 (January) Award Winners

  "Best of SpinLab Startups"

  The Startup aumio - meditation and mindfulness for children secured the best SpinLab Pitch and won EUR 5,000 sponsored by the City of Leipzig.

  "Best of Mitteldeutschland"

  At the HHL SpinLab Investors Day in January 2020, the Leipzig-based company Docyet that provides health navigation via chat beat out fierce competition and won a prize money of EUR 1,500 sponsored by the KARL KOLLE Foundation. 

• 2019 Award Winners

  "Best of SpinLab Startups"

  The 8 SpinLab startups of the 8th accelerator class performed in front of a jury and audience and had the chance to win EUR 5,000 sponsored by the city of Leipzig. The SpinLab Startup idatase together with their product NetLume secured the best SpinLab Pitch. Feel free to take a look at the recap video of the pitches.

  "Best of Mitteldeutschland"

  Together with the founders networks of Central Germany we are looking for exciting business ideas each year. At the HHL SpinLab Investors Day, young entrepreneurs have the unique opportunity to introduce themselves and their ideas to a large audience and a renowned jury, and to win the capital for their start into business. The award „Best of Mitteldeutschland“ is sponsored by the KARL KOLLE Foundation and comes with EUR 1,500 in prize money.

  At the HHL SpinLab Investors Day in June 2019, the Dresden-based company DASHBIKE — nominated by Thüringer Hochschulgründernetzwerk — beat out fierce competition. Dashbike is the first legally compliant dashcam for bicycles for image and video recording of events.

• 2018 (November) Award Winners

  "Best of 10 SpinLab Startups"

  The batch 7 SpinLab startup Keleya, the digital midwife for expecting moms, secured the best SpinLab Pitch and won a prize money of 5.000 sponsored by the City of Leipzig. Find a recap Video of Pitches here.

  "Best of Mitteldeutschland"

  The award „Best of Mitteldeutschland“ is sponsored by the KARL KOLLE Foundation and comes with EUR 1,500 in prize money. At the HHL SpinLab Investors Day in November 2018, the Dresden-based company Morpheus Space — nominated by dresden exists — beat out fierce competition. The startup develops complete nanosatellite propulsion systems opening up for a sustainable future in space.

• 2018 (April) Award Winners

  "Best of 10 SpinLab Startups" Motionscloud (mobile & AI solution to reduce insurance claims costs) performed the winning pitch among the 10 SpinLab startups of the 6th accelerator batch. The prize money of EUR 5,000 was sponsored by the City of Leipzig.

  "Best of Mitteldeutschland"

  The award „Best of Mitteldeutschland“ is sponsored by the KARL KOLLE Foundation and comes with EUR 1,500 in prize money. Among 5 startups from Central Germany, the Leipzig-based company whyapply — nominated by SMILE — won the award. Whyapply is a recruiting platform based on professional challenges rather than CVs and covering letters.

• 2017 Award Winners

  The 2017's HHL Best Founders Award went to Binee. Once a participant of SpinLab – The HHL Accelerator, the company taps int toe “urban mine” and enables the collection an recycling of small electronic devices, such as smartphones, financed through advertising.

  The second prize of the Best Founders Award, also sponsored by the Association of Friends of HHL, went to the start-up Hawa Dawa. The company, headquartered in Munich, offers an innovative method of recording and displaying urban air quality. Hawa Dawa measures, models and visualizes the state of urban air quality in real time, using a spatially distributed grid of inexpensive sensors. The team also won the KARL KOLLE Prize, worth EUR 1,500, for the best technological idea.

• 2016 Award Winners

  The HHL Best Founders Award in 2016, which includes EUR 2,000 in prize money, went to the Sensape team, a start-up which is developing a new technology for interactive infotainment systems in city centers. The second prize, which was sponsored by the Friends of HHL as well and endowed with EUR 500, was awarded to the team of Flynex, which offers a market place for drone services. The KARL KOLLE Prize for the best technical idea includes EUR 1,500 in prize money and went to HHL alumnus Konrad Sell with his company Sonovum. The Leipzig-based company has developed a new, non-invasive technology to measure intracranial pressure and to diagnose strokes, craniocerebral injuries and other neurological conditions faster and more accurately. The Dresden-based start-up Green City Solutions received the Best Bio-Based Business Award, which was given out for the first time and comes with EUR 500 in prize money.

• 2015 Award Winners

  The winner of the HHL Best Founders Award 2015, which included EUR 2000, was the team of Carl Ferdinand Hauer with its business idea "VermietButler". The founder and M.Sc. student of HHL said, "Our mobile app relieves tenants from hours of apartment viewing which is then often without a result. We provide the landlord with suitable prospective tenants at the viewing and save them several hours of administrative tasks."

  The second prize, which received EUR 500 and was also funded by the Association of Friends of HHL (AoF), went to the team of ekoio. The Connected-Car-Start-Up, which currently works in the SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator, makes vehicle data utilizable for the business and private consumer market.

  The KARL-KOLLE Award with EUR 1500 for the best technical idea went to ConBox. This startup - also from the SpinLab- The HHL Accelerator merges TV and the internet. Via a cloud platform, internet data and TV pictures can be synchronized and mobile devices can be connected to the TV.

• 2014 Award Winners

  The young booking platform eWings with its founders Thilo Hardt and Philipp Joas won the international idea competition of 2014. Following their presentation in front of a panel of renowned judges, among them experienced investors, they edged out HHL students Dr. Helen Blümel and Malvin Debono, who had presented an online shop for women's clothing in special sizes. The HHL Best Founders Award was sponsored by the Association of Friends of HHL and presented by its Vice President Dr. Burkhart Eymer together with head judge Julia Derndinger.

Previous Investors Days

• HHL SpinLab Investors Day in November 2021

  At Investors Day in November 2021, the following keynotes and panels were held by our top speakers:
  

  • Diversity in VC

    With Tanja Emmerling (HTGF),  Bettine Schmitz (Auxxo Beteiligungen), Dagmar Bottenbruch (Segenia), Petra Sokolová (Inven Capital), Duc Quyen Tran (Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures)

  • ESOP - Location disadvantage Germany?

    With Nikolas Samios (Proptech1), Craig Douglas (World Fund), Jan Miczaika (HV Capital), Jozsef Bugovics (Cowen)

  • Open Spaces

    With Philipp Semmer (Earlybird), Jan Borgstädt (Join Capital), Dirk Frohnert (Smart Infrastructure Ventures), Leonardo Rocchetti (Plug and Play Ventures)

  The following pre-selected startups delivered exciting pitches: 

  • Planted. Your climate-positive team.

  • MeinDoc. Transforming surgical care.

  • Cropt. Data-driven solutions for high-tech agriculture.

  • ThinkRE. Support of renewable sellers and corporates.

  • Deftpower. AI supported SaaS platform for EV charging.

  • Naeco Blue. Efficient use of wind and solar power though AI.

  • enaDyne. Advanced and unique power-to-X technology based on low temperature plasma reactors.

  • CallPima. Privacy-compliant voice applications for nursing staff.

  • EnergieDock. Digital solution provider for flexibility in electrical energy

  • NEX. Platform for streamlining large infrastructure projects.

  • Coachwhisperer. Optimization of individual training.

• HHL SpinLab Investors Day June 2021

  HHL SpinLab Investors Day of June 2021 was held completely online and this time we put a focus on more startup pitches: These startups pitched online:

  • Tenac.io - The Digital Cardiovascular Care Company
  • Keleya - Your Way to a Healthy and Relaxed Pregnancy and Safe Birth Experience
  • Algocyte - Mind and Machine Against Disease
  • Semodia - Semantic Modelling in Automation
  • Thinkers.ai - Intelligent Web Search for Data-Driven Decision Making
  • Flynex - Drone Integration to Generate and Manage Data for Business Intelligence
  • Pipepredict - Digital Leakage Localization and Pipe Burst Predictions through AI
  • Vesputi - Your Trusted Partner for Mobility-as-a-Service Solutions
  • FS-E - Zero Emission Vans for Cities
  • Advanced Infrastructure -Track and Trace for Energy Markets
  • Aivy - Reliable Arguments for your Recruiting Decisions
  • Carbonauten - Immediately reduce CO2-Emissions and Costs
  • SmartCloudFarming - Smart Solutions for Better Agriculture
  • Aquapurna - Sustainable European Premium Shrimp
  • Lavelio - More than an Instagram Analytics Tool

• HHL SpinLab Investors Day September 2020

  The Investors Day of September 2020 took place in the new hotel with an amazing view Hyperion Leipzig. With strict measures against Covid-19, 140 investors, partners and startups could participate onsite while around 30 persons joined the event online for keynotes, panel discussions and 1on1 meetings. Central topics of the event were "Why do we require ESG?" and "Considering sustainability in deals".

• HHL SpinLab Investors Day January 2020

  HHL SpinLab Investors Day in January 2020 took place at Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig – 180 investors, partners and startups met and engaged in keynotes and panels on special venture capital (VC) know-how as well as startup pitches and 1on1 meetings. Central topics of this year’s Investor Day were International VCs and How to force exits? From Living Deads and Closed Funds. Blog Article: Der HHL SpinLab Investors Day geht in eine neue Runde Blog Article: How to attract international VC and How Investors force exits - 8 messages to remember

• HHL SpinLab Investors Day June 2019

  HHL SpinLab Investors Day in January 2020 took place at Felix/Lebendiges Haus Leipzig – 160 investors, partners and startups met and engaged in keynotes and panels on special venture capital (VC) know-how as well as startup pitches and speed dating. Central topics of this year’s Investor Day were Team Due Diligence and VC Brand Building. Blog Article: Let's talk about the HHL SpinLab Investors Day Blog Article: Team Due Diligence and VC Brand Buildung - Key Take Aways from the HHL SpinLab Investors Day

• HHL SpinLab Investors Day November 2018

  In November 16th, 2018, the semi-annual HHL SpinLab Investors Day organized cooperatively by the SpinLab and the HHL took place in the backdrop of the Porsche plant in Leipzig. The main topics of this event were "Is AI the future of VC" discussed by Thorben Rothe (Iris Capital), Jochen Klüppel (Grazia Equity), Daniel Höpfner (B10.vc) and  Karolina Kukielka (InReach Ventures) as well as "VC vs. public funding" debated by Reinhard Flaskamp (SMWA), Isabelle Canu (Coparion), Jan Alberti (bmp) and Andreas Winiarski (Earlybird). Our keynote speakers Ashley Lundström (EQT Ventures, on "Best Practice AI"), Jörg Rheinboldt (APX, on "Does funding harm entrepreneurship?") and Kevin Reeder (bm-t, on "How funding and VC can work together") gave valuable insights on current VC topics. Thomas Popp, CIO of the Staatskanzlei of Saxony gave a fireside chat on what had to change in the future in terms of startups and VC. At the event, the SpinLab startups and a handful of other startups from Central Germany met with a variety of private and public investors. In addition to pitches and personal exchanges about investment potential, thematic discussions on current developments and ongoing challenges in venture capital formed another exciting pillar of the program. Press Release (English) Press Release (German)

• HHL SpinLab Investors Day April 2018

  In April 2018, we discussed, among other things, the impact of the crypto currency trend on the VC scene and how well corporate VC and classic VC fit together. Speakers included Fabian Westerheide (Asgard Capital), Jan Miczaika (Holtzbrinck Ventures), Alexander Küppers (Statkraft Ventures), Holger Wagner (EnBW Ventures), Nikolas Samios (cooperativa/PropTech1), Michael Wieser (b-to-v/helvetia venture fund) and Stephan Stubner (HHL/Monkfish Equity). The 10 current Startups of SpinLab accelerator and the best 5 startups of the founders network of Central Germany performed their pitches and were presenting their products at tech demos.

  The Investors Day took place in the event location of Zoo Leipzig where the guests had the chance to visit famous Gondwanaland, the 16,500 sqm big tropical hall with 100 animal and 17,000 plant species. Recap Video Investors Day 2018 Press release

• HHL Investors Day 2017

  More than 200 guests from Germany and abroad attended the 4th HHL International Investors Day on June 13/14, 2017 hosted by Germany’s leading entrepreneurial university. This unique event brought together founders with potential investors, established enterprises, and successful start-ups from HHL to promote an active exchange. The guest list included Dr. Alex von Frankenberg (CEO of High-Tech Gründerfonds), Prof. Dr. Tobias Kollmann (Chairman of the Young Digital Economy Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy), Dr. Rouven Westphal (Managing Director, Hasso-Plattner Capital), Dr. Jan Wiedei (Head of Digital Sales, Deutsche Postbank AG) as well as Antje Strom (Partner Audit at KPMG). The event focused on the new opportunities and challenges of software as a service, artificial intelligence, energy management and medical technology as well as the smart city.

  HHL Dean Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart drew a positive conclusion of the event, commenting, "Over the last few years, HHL managed to create a tight network of founders, business angels, venture capitalists and established companies for Leipzig as a city of innovation with the HHL International Investors Day and to attract participants from as far as Silicon Valley to come to Leipzig." The 4th HHL International Investors Day on June 13 and 14, 2017, was organized by the Center for Entrepreneurial and Innovative Management (CEIM) and the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart) including the support of numerous well-known sponsors.

• HHL Investors Day 2016

  The HHL’s 3rd International Investors Day took place on June 14th and 15th 2016 on the HHL campus in Leipzig with its main foci on e-health, e-education, Industry 4.0 and bio-economy.

  Prior to the conference on Wednesday, KMPG and SpinLab – The HHL Accelerator hosted a networking event at the Leipzig Cotton Mill, giving the attendees the chance to get to know each other and to start the 3rd International Investors Day in a relaxed, yet entrepreneurial atmosphere.

  Wednesday’s conference was then accompanied by more than 200 national and international guests and highly acclaimed speakers, such as Burkhard Jung (Lord Mayor City of Leipzig), Prof. Dr. Martin Hill (Vice-President SAP), Prof. Dr. Detlev Riesner (Co-Founder and former member of supervisory board Qiagen), Prof. Dr. Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff (Scientist and Founder AiCuris), Martin Schlichte (Director and Co-Founder Lecturio) as well as Dr. Jan Alberti (Partner bmp Beteiligungsmanagement).

  Prof. Dr. Pinkwart, Dean of HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, spoke about the impact of the HHL International Investors Day on the entrepreneurial ecosystem and put emphasis on the importance to connect willing founders, venture capitalists, incumbents and successful founders. This was also verified by Frank Schmiechen, chief editor at Gründerszene. He said that start-up Germany does not only consists of Berlin but also of other cities such as Leipzig and that the Investors Day frequently shows the potential of the region. The HHL International Investors Day was organized by the Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Entrepreneurial and Innovative Management (CEIM), the Schumpeter Junior Professorship in Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer and the Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG Chair of Strategic Management and Family Business.

  We would again like to thank our various sponsors for their engagement with the HHL and its International Investors Day.

• HHL Investors Day 2015

  The 2nd HHL International Investors Day took place on June 17, 2015. The topic of the event was “Digital Transformation of Industries” with the main focus on “Fintech” and “Connected Mobility”. Among the experts again were well-known persons as Michael Otto (Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Otto Group), Dr. Jan-Peer Laabs (Managing Director Deutsche Bank AG) and Stefan Groschupf (CEO Datameer Inc, San Francisco, USA) .

  As an event, the “Entrepreneurial Network Event sponsored by KPMG” with a panel discussion and a afterwards get-together took place at the “Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei” (Leipzig Cotton Mill) in cooperation with “SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator”.

  Pre-selected top entrepreneurial teams had the chance to present their ideas in front of investors and a jury to win the HHL Best Founders Award.

• HHL Investors Day 2014

  The first HHL International Investors Day on June 18, 2014 was organized by the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship together with the Schumpeter Junior Professorship in Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer and the Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG Chair for Strategic Management and Family Business. The event’s guiding theme was e-business which was covered in various panel discussions on e-commerce, e-health, and e-mobility that brought together entrepreneurs, potential investors, established enterprises, and successful start-ups from HHL.

   

  In his opening speech, the well-known founder and investor Lukasz Gadowski emphasized the importance of Venture Capital as the driving force for innovation, new jobs, and progress. The 36-year old advised company founders to focus on product development and customer satisfaction rather than obsessively trying to make the VC manager happy at any cost. The second guest speaker was the US-American venture capital expert Daniel Zimmermann, partner at WilmerHale in Palo Alto, California, and, among others, in charge of the successful Berlin startup ResearchGate.

  The event ended with the HHL Best Founders Award show. A high-profile jury of experienced investors awarded the prizes to Philipp Joas and Thilo Hardt with the booking platform eWings and to the HHL student team Malvin Debono und Dr. Helen Blümel of BRAVA, an online store for women's clothing in special sizes.

  HHL received external support from the Self-Management Initiative Leipzig (SMILE) and the Chair for Marketing at the University of Leipzig (Prof. Dr. Helge Löbler). Numerous well-known sponsors, such as Blue Corporate Finance AG, CMS Hasche Sigl, Deutsche Bank AG, KPMG, the Leipzig Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer, Porsche Leipzig GmbH, SAM Sachsen Asset Management, the S-Beteiligungen Leipzig and the Technologiegründerfonds Saxony, as well as the Association of Friends of HHL supported the event.