From July 24 to 28, 2023, HHL DIGITAL SPACE and SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator is joining forces to support diverse startups in their early stages with a tailored program to evolve their business idea. The goal of the "Leipzig Summer School for Diverse Startups" is to empower underrepresented founders, break down barriers to success and create an inclusive startup ecosystem. The program is supported by the City of Leipzig, Sächsische Aufbaubank, EDIH Saxony, Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen, S-Beteiligungen and Germany Trade and Invest.

Central German, as well as international teams, come together in Leipzig to strengthen their entrepreneurial skills. The professional, free program offers participants interactive workshops on important topics such as sales, marketing, and financing, led by experienced mentors, investors, and coaches. The city of Leipzig supports the program as a cooperation partner and will present the "Digital Award," endowed with 2,000 euros, for the second time during the Summer School closing event on July 27 in the new city hall of Leipzig.

Patron Burkhard Jung, Mayor of the City of Leipzig:

"Openness brings progress and development; in this context, openness is not limited to technical or entrepreneurial aspects. Social and intellectual openness are also in demand. That is what the Digital Award  and Summer School for Diverse Startups stands for. This is exactly what we need in our city."

SpinLab and HHL DIGITAL SPACE create an inclusive environment for diverse startups in Saxony

Eric Weber, CEO of SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator, summarizes:

"The Leipzig Summer School for Diverse Startups helps to promote diversity and innovation in the startup scene. The Leipzig startup ecosystem, with its broad network and diverse initiatives, offers valuable support to aspiring founders from all over Europe to successfully implement their ideas in Saxony."

Francie Lange, Incubation Manager of HHL DIGITAL SPACE:

"The Summer School for diverse startups will take place for the third time in 2023. Diversity is in focus with the goal of promoting underrepresented founders and breaking down barriers. It also strengthens the inclusive and entrepreneurial environment in Leipzig. The incubator HHL DIGITAL SPACE and the accelerator SpinLab support the startups in terms of content. In addition, we are very pleased that mayor Burkhard Jung is taking over the patronage of the Summer School."

SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator, one of Europe's leading startup programs, today announced ten of the most promising startups in the fields of energy, health, and smart city. The selected startups have distinguished themselves with their innovative business models and great market potential, and will now be supported by SpinLab through a six-month program. Startups from Poland, France, New Zealand, and Germany are represented. The innovative solutions range from a digital app for food intolerance to tactile, pressure-sensitive skin for robot grippers and digital twins of power grids that are designed to support the energy transition.

Startup Reverion from SpinLab class 14th secured €8.5 million investment from UVC Partners, Green Generation Fund, Extantia Capita (the 2nd big Extantia investment in our alumni this year), Doral Energy-Tech Ventures and Landwärme GmbH.

The German climate tech startup MAGNOTHERM, working on sustainable refrigeration technology, has just closed its seed funding round with an impressive €6.3 million. Funds will be used for the mass production of the world's first sustainable refrigerator, which already has a paying customer base. Extantia Capital led the round, with Hessen Kapital, Lauda Dr. R. WOBSER Beteiligungs-GmbH, and Revent also investing, along with four investors from the Better Ventures Angel Club. They're now planning to expand into the commercial refrigeration market, which is worth $37 billion.

SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator is part of the European initiative "Womenture", which aims to create an international support program for female founders. In cooperation withDesign Terminal(Hungary), Tehnopol(Estonia) and DEX Innovation Center (Czech Republic), a female founders program is being developed.

1.6 million people in Germany suffer from dementia and gradually lose their mental abilities. At the beginning of the disease, short-term memory and ability to remember are affected. In this pre-dementia stage, there are no approved medications in Europe yet. However, a combination therapy of exercise, memory training, social participation and a balanced diet can positively influence the course of the disease.

UBI Global, the Stockholm-based innovation intelligence company and community known for the assessment and mapping of business incubators and accelerators, have released the top lists and top challengers as assessed by the World Benchmark Study 2021-2022. SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator from Leipzig is the only German accelerator among the best in the World Benchmark Study. This was announced on Tuesday by UBI Global. SpinLab was listed as a top challenger in Europe, placing it among the top eight European startup accelerators and among the top 23 in the world.

European VC fund Atomico led the round. The fund joined previous investors byFounders, Gradient Ventures, and Partech. Atomico Principal Andreas Helbig will join Digitail's board as part of the investment. According to Dealroom it is one of the largest Series A rounds in recent years in Romania’s young startup ecosystem. Digitail works with over 750 clinics worldwide, serving around 1.4 million pets.

SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator gains Actemium Germany, the VINCI Energies brand for industrial process solutions, as new innovation partner. Actemium is a powerful worldwide network with 400 Business Units located in 40 countries across the world. Operating throughout the entire industrial life cycle, from design to maintenance, Actemium innovates in order to support the long-term development of industrial customers, sustainably.

The partnership strengthens SpinLab's ecosystem and startups participating in the accelerator program will benefit from Actemium's expertise, resources and network. This also includes the planned allocation of a coworking space at Schkeuditz near Leipzig. In the new premises, the development of market-specific solutions will be driven forward together with Actemium employees. Moreover, the partnership facilitates the industrial service provider's access to smart solutions from highly innovative young companies. In this way, practical use cases can be developed even better - and applied directly in customer projects. 

Prodlane, the SaaS platform for data-driven product management in the manufacturing industry, has raised an EUR 760,000 pre-seed funding round. The round is led by a Swiss family office with an industrial background, with participation from S2S Ventures AG and several business angels from the industry, product management and HR. Prodlane will use the funding to expand its sales and development team and to enter the market.

Prodlane was part of the 13th SpinLab class and first SpinLab Summer School for diverse startups. Photo: Fabian Thüroff