The Unicorn Pitch, an event format of StartupDorf e.V., was able to offer the audience three highly exciting startup pitches in front of a full house at the Wacom Experience Center on July 31. From AI to data services to education, very exciting startup business models with correspondingly high pitch quality of the presenting founders, ensured a lot of attention from the audience.
Also at the 15th Unicorn Pitch, three exciting startups had the opportunity to present their business model in front of founders, investors, other company members and startup ecosystem participants. The area in the Wacom Experience Center, which was equipped with cinema seating, was filled to capacity and thus provided a wonderful prerequisite for the audience voting in the later decision to win the Unicorn Trophy.
Before the pitches could start, the event was opened by the founding chairman of StartupDorf e.V., Hanns Tappen. The short agenda of the evening also included a brief presentation of StartupDorf, touching on the various activities and event formats of the association “for founders, by founders”, which was founded in 2013.
If you are interested in joining, which by the way is not only possible for startups, a lot of information on the association's website www.startupdorf.de/mitgliedschaft can be used for a direct registration.
The further course of the pitch event, a short explanation of the evaluation criteria for pitches, as well as a review of the last Unicorn Pitch Grand Final rounded off Hanns Tappen’s presentation before he then moved on to the pitches.
Below is an overview of the participating startups in the true pitch order of the evening:
wunderbon – wunderbon Operation GmbH & Co. KG
wunderbon provides retailers with a complete ecosystem for delivering end-to-end encrypted data services such as smart receipts, loyalty/cashback, and blockchain-based digital payments through its developed platform, merchant app, and end-customer app.
Your Easy AI – Your Easy AI GmbH
Your Easy AI enables decision makers to independently create artificial intelligence that solves their business problems. The operation of the software requires neither AI nor programming knowledge.
Edurocket – New Education UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Edurocket enables students to reach their full potential by learning how to learn. Through an AI-generated individual development plan and implementation support with a qualified mentor, students achieve better grades with less stress.
After the end of the five-minute pitches and the subsequent rounds of questions from the audience, it was time to start the voting for the best pitch of the evening.
After the online voting, Patrick Imcke, CEO of Your Easy AI GmbH, was declared the winner. The obligatory handover of the Unicorn Trophy was accompanied by appropriate congratulations. Patrick, for whom it was especially important to note that his product delivered excellent results in initial customer projects and would like to reach more enterprise customers with it in the coming weeks, was able to particularly convince the audience with his captivating and feasible product pitch. For Patrick Imcke, StartupDorf event was thus in a short conclusion word “Exciting pitches, pleasant atmosphere and an all-around successful evening”.
As every time at StartupDorf Unicorn Pitches, the audience award consisted of the invitation to the Unicorn Pitch Grand Final in the respective following year (2023), as well as the already legendary Unicorn Trophy, which is gladly handed over with a wink.
As usual, the pitches were followed by various conversations between the attendees and founders, where, in addition to feedback, further details of the business models and startup and founder-relevant topics could be discussed.
So, although not winners on the evening, the two other founders of wunderbon and Edurocket were also very satisfied with the evening:
Benjamin Carl from wunderbon.app said “wunderbon says thank you for an all-around successful event in the almost completely filled, beautiful location in the heart of Düsseldorf’s Medienhafen. Due to the good pitches of the competitors, as well as the good questions of the audience for us a great evening. We were able to make some really good contacts during the networking afterwards, which will certainly be helpful for us in the coming weeks! At this point, a big thank you to StartupDorf!”
And Georg Hutzschenreuter, CEO of Edurocket.de stated “We were very happy about the numerous guests, exciting pitches and insightful conversations in the networking afterwards!”
The organizers of the evening, besides Hanns Tappen also Eugenia Gagin and Dominik Klepek were very satisfied with the course and especially with pitches. Hanns Tappen summarized the 15th Unicorn Pitch as follows: “Really, really good quality in the pitches. And in the end, the winner was the pitch that left the strongest product promise and benefit for SMEs & Co.”
The next Unicorn Pitch will take place on October 5. Startups with a digital business model and digital product can apply via https://www.startupdorf.de/pitching/ to participate in October or on the November date.
The location and catering sponsor for the Unicorn Pitch Series 2022 is Wacom Europe GmbH. The Wacom Experience Center provides a wonderful setting for the StartupDorf Unicorn Pitch event: fine catering, a well-stocked drinks menu in the usual friendly and startup-oriented atmosphere, represented by Silke Roggermann, Manager Wacom Experience Center Brand & Corporate Communication.
