On May 15, 2024, StartupDorf kicked off the new Unicorn Pitch Series in Düsseldorf with an impressive opening event. Co-hosted by Revotion, the 2022 Unicorn Pitch Grand-Final winner and an active member of StartupDorf e.V., this event was the first qualifying round of four, aiming to find the finalists for the Grand-Final in spring 2025. The pitch series provides aspiring entrepreneurs a platform to showcase their early-stage startups, receive valuable feedback from experts, and gain access to investors.
A Visit to the 2022 Grand-Final Winner
The spacious office of Revotion GmbH on the 5th floor in the center of Düsseldorf was the perfect venue for the event. The kick-off event was a success, thanks to the well-organized and welcoming setup. Revotion not only provided the facilities and technology for the pitch event but also ensured the comfort of the approximately 60 participants.
Sustainable Startup Community Thrives on a Give-Back Mentality
Hanns Tappen, Chairman of StartupDorf e.V., opened the event alongside Jasper Ehmcke, CEO of Revotion GmbH. In their speeches, they emphasized the importance of community work under the motto “By Founders, for Founders.” Hanns provided an overview of StartupDorf’s history, formats, and goals, while Jasper shared insights into Revotion’s development, which has successfully occupied a niche market with its IoT solutions for caravans and boats. Jasper Ehmcke later said, “It was a great honor for us to host the founder’s meetup in our office and give back to the startup community. We joined the association shortly after our founding and have always enjoyed networking and making new contacts at these meetups. Since we recently expanded our office for our own circuit board production, we have space for events like the founder’s meetup. I am always pleased to see other startups tackling hardware and hope we provided an insightful look behind the scenes at REVOTION.”
Clear Winner in the Voting
The pitch session began at 8 PM with startups Pixit, MixUp, MyFundus, and NQAP. Each presentation lasted five minutes, followed by a five-minute Q&A session. Pixit showcased its versatile products, MixUp presented its solutions for networking events, MyFundus explained its sustainable platform for the second-hand market, and NQAP impressed with its efficient B2B solution. The Q&A sessions revealed intriguing details, demonstrating the audience’s deep interest and expertise. Voting for the winning pitch went smoothly thanks to a secure voting app with individual codes. The surprisingly clear result crowned MyFundus with 45.24% of the votes, followed by NQAP (28.57%), MixUp (19.05%), and Pixit (7.14%). Roghmal Alami, the founder of MyFundus, joyfully accepted the Unicorn Trophy and later said, “This victory confirms our vision and motivates us to work even harder to expand our platform.”
Reflections and Future Prospects
The other startups were gracious following the results announcement and, according to Hanns Tappen (CEO betawerke), have good potential, especially in convincing B2B customers in the upper middle class and multinationals. NQAP’s unassuming but efficient solution has already won major clients and could leverage scaling effects through clever modular solutions in new customer business. Pixit faces the challenge of effectively marketing its diverse AI products after receiving the EXIST grant, while MixUp needs to capitalize on the increasingly in-person event landscape with integrations, event concepts, and customer projects. As the evening’s winning startup, MyFundus must now grow quickly and build traction to achieve long-term success, requiring significant capital for performance marketing and/or exciting partnerships.
This dynamic mix of challenges and opportunities highlights the high level and ambitions of the participating startups. The StartupDorf community supports these entrepreneurs to foster successful and modern entrepreneurship.
The successful kickoff of the Unicorn Pitch Series leaves us eager for more. The next Unicorn Pitch in July will feature an all-female batch to particularly support women-led tech startups. We look forward to many exciting applications and even more inspiring pitches.
Looking forward
The first qualifying round once again showcased the dynamic and engaged atmosphere of the Düsseldorf startup scene. Hanns Tappen concluded the first Unicorn Pitch of the new series by saying, “A big thank you to all the organizers, participants, and sponsors who made this event possible. We look forward to the upcoming pitches and events with our association members and are glad that startups from our ranks, like Revotion, understand the importance of active participation in the community.”
Startup teams in the StartupDorf pitch competition: Myfundus with Roghmal Alami, a peer-to-peer rental platform for pretty much everything. NQAP with Matthias Liebig, GDPR-compliant application processes for application submission and application review. MixUp.world with Oliver Eberlei, a gamified platform for your next online event. Pixit with Nils Tschampel, a generative Al powered platform for business headshots.
Organizer and Sponsors: StartupDorf organization team on site, with Hanns Tappen, Michail Kosak, Florian Baum. Revotion with Jasper Ehmcke, Tim Londong and Team.
Next StartupDorf Event: For those who can't wait, the next StartupDorf event will take place on June 5th. This time, it will be a special retro-style edition. A founder’s meetup in the style and location of the first public StartupDorf meetings. “Back to the Roots”: no fixed agenda, but plenty of room for networking and good conversations. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
