As February 19 draws near, we are getting ready to host the first Startup Lounge of the year! The 60th edition of the Startup Lounge would kick off with the much anticipated MCEI Seed Award 2019 Pitch Battle that will decide which of our 3 finalists of this season takes home the prestigious MCEI Seed Award of EUR 10,000. The winning team is awarded the Best University of Mannheim Student or Alumni Startup of 2018!
As promised before, we are ready to announce the 3 finalists that would be pitching their business ideas in front of an expert jury and the audience of the Startup Lounge Seed Award Special. After the jury’s assessment of the pitches, the winning team will be awarded the much coveted prize money of EUR 10,000 – a fund with no strings attached and no equity taken – to help advance the startup and foster its growth in its upcoming entrepreneurial journey.
Get your ticket here! And don’t forget to join our Facebook event for exciting updates!
Details
Date: 19 February 2019, Tuesday
Time: 19:30 – 23:00
Venue: Café L3, L3, 9, 68161 Mannheim
Who are the finalists?
Beesonix |
Team: Alexander Kowollik, Timo Häcker, Mark Kirn, Birk Schweppe, Sai Manoj Marepalli BeeSonix enables the public transport infrastructure to communicate with smartphones. With ultrasonic announcements, stops and vehicles can record and report the location of a passenger to routing and ticketing platforms. Thus, we are able to offer pay-as-you-go systems and unique passenger navigation, allowing a relaxed journey and high flexibility. Alternative methods like Bluetooth or NFC cannot keep up with ultrasonic communication, as they require expensive hardware installation and maintenance or are not as precise as our technology. Also, GPS has strong deficits underground. Beesonix helps to avoid these issues. |
Blauherz |
Team: Sven Butz, Johanna Stolch, Celina Kirschner, Christine Netzhammer, David Grüning, Florian Damovsky, Gabriel Himmelein, Jonas Bruder, Julian Gruber, Julien Vogel, Michelle Beck, Patricia Meka, Pauline Machtolf Blauherz is an inclusive fashion label that hand-tailors fashionable clothing that everyone, people with and without disabilities, can identify with. We produce style without borders and contribute to an inclusive society by integrating socially disadvantaged people into our production of inclusive and sustainable products. |
RideBee |
Team: Lukas Mohs, Tobias Reinerth, Fabian Seitz We offer a platform, where one can find a carpooling partner or group within their company and share the commute to work. To provide value to those who already carpool, we organize users conveniently in travel groups that know each other personally, encourage regular use through gamification and incentives and provide useful everyday features such as keeping track of payments and live location sharing. The solution is designed for larger company sites in suburban and rural areas. A 30 km commute one-way sums up to over 4.000€ of vehicle costs and 42 eight-hour workdays of mainly unused travel time per year. For companies, providing parking spots can be an expensive and tedious task, a stressful commute leads to an unproductive workforce and they have an increasing corporate social responsibility concerning the environment. The B2B approach specifically offers numerous advantages: As people are travelling to the same destination and at similar times, it becomes easier to reach a critical mass. Further, the social barrier is reduced among colleagues and the employer can be involved to encourage the use of the platform. |
Who are the jury members?
- Andrea Kranzer
Co-founder and Member of the Executive Board, Angels4Health e.V. - Frank Zumbruch
Head of Creative Commission Mannheim / Cultural Economy Officer, Startup Mannheim - Klaus Dibbern
Advisor, Wingcopter - Marcel Vogler
Looks after Operations, Sales and Finance in Freigeist and Co-Owner of some McDonald's Franchises in Germany - Ruth Cremer
Lecturer at HS Fresenius University of Applied Sciences and CEO at euworx UG - Sonja Wilkens
Startup Consultant at Stadt Mannheim Wirtschaftsförderung
We are looking forward to an exciting competition!
Please note that we will take photos during the event that may be published in various social media websites (Facebook, etc.), through reports on the event (MCEI and ifm websites) or in general PR materials (flyers, presentations, etc.).
The MCEI Startup Lounge is your place to get inspired to create something new and to meet and mingle with the Mannheim Startup Ecosystem. Meet startups and creative minds to discuss great ideas in a laid-back atmosphere. Each Startup Lounge features an inspirational talk by a (usually early-stage) venture to get the discussion going. Each Startup Lounge has some budget to cover drinks (provided by either MCEI or one of our co-feature partners). Join us if you are into startups and want to expand your network in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region and live the entrepreneurial spirit.
Learn more about the MCEI Startup Lounge here.