20th start-up competition: Startup-Impuls honors Hannover's best business ideas

For the 20th Painter, hannoverimpuls and Sparkasse Hannover have honored the best innovative start-ups in the region. With prizes worth more than 100,000 euros, Startup-Impuls is one of the most highly endowed regional start-up competitions in Germany. From a vegan pregnancy test and an app for quick text summaries to an "AI whistleblower" for cosmetic products: The award-winning business ideas offer real problem solutions.

Hanover, 22 March 2023: The innovation potential in Hanover is huge - and also delivers convincing business models that are realized here on site. This was once again made clear at the 20th Startup-Impuls start-up competition awards ceremony. With prizes worth more than 100,000 euros, the winners can now take off with their business ideas.

For the first time in the history of the start-up competition, an all-female team won the"Team Start"award with BeSure. The three founders Fenja Böke, Eva Seyrich and Carolin Beck not only know their way around care products, but also algorithms. Their app decodes the ingredients of all skincare products in Germany - and finally allows us to understand the product properties. BeSure receives 25,000 euros in prize money for its "whistleblower" for cosmetic products.

The"Solo Start"prize is aimed at all those who are starting out on their own. In this case, solo refers to the number of founders - not the number of employees. The "Best Female Founder" award went to 18-year-old LindaBüscher,who developed the Bulletpoint app for quick text summaries while preparing for her A-levels.

DirkSchütze was named "Best Founder". His web-based app Vishnoo automatically creates layout templates for social media content. Both won prize money of 25,000 euros each.

The"Hochschul-Start"prize supported by Gehrke Econ is primarily aimed at start-up projects at an early idea stage by students, institutes and departments at universities and universities of applied sciences, non-university research institutions and academic staff in the Hannover region. First place went to thePhaeosynt team, also with 25,000 euros in prize money, plus individual consulting services worth up to 8,000 euros provided by Gehrke Econ. Phaeosynt is the only producer of vegan antibodies in the world, as the start-up produces antibodies in diatoms - instead of from animals or animal cell cultures. This technological innovation makes it possible to produce vegan-certified diagnostics. The first product is a vegan pregnancy test.

All nominated teams and solo starters were also rewarded with a professional image clip for their company and extensive pitch training worth a total of 1,500 euros each. In addition, all winners will receive a six-month resident membership of competition partner Hafven, while the nominees will receive a six-month community membership.

Once again this year, Hannover Marketing & Tourismus GmbH has awarded aspecialmarketingprize witha total value of around 5,000 euros, which will be used to finance marketing measures. The winners are Jenniferand Vladyslav Lange withLanges Gemüseglück. With their decentralized composting plant, the two want to turn old food into fertile soil again - directly at local business customers.

Startup-City Hannover: 20 years of start-up competition

Startup-Impuls is one of the most highly endowed regional start-up competitions in Germany - and in its 20th year once again proves that Hannover is a sought-after hotspot for founders in Germany. Even in times of economic uncertainty, the business ideas submitted show that Hannover's "start-up ecosystem" is well positioned and that the many years of dedicated work by all those involved in the local start-up scene continue to bear impressive fruit in the competition's anniversary year.Doris Petersen, Managing Director of hannoverimpuls GmbH, is delighted with the numerous top-class solutions on offer from Hannover: "The founders not only impress with a great deal of expertise in high-tech, but also with the burning issues of our time. We at the Economic Development Agency see ourselves as encouraging people. I am therefore particularly pleased that today's award ceremony has brought great entrepreneurial personalities - both men and women - to the stage."

Marina Barth, Deputy CEO of Sparkasse Hannover, emphasizes: "Today we have seen founders of all ages with promising business models. The competition has once again shown that we can shape the path to the future with innovations. The start-ups are leading the way."

"Congratulations to all award winners and organizers! What better proof could there be of a functioning start-up ecosystem than forward-looking business ideas? Today, we are all winners - especially our business location," added MayorBelit Onay. He was today's prize sponsor in the "Team Start-up" category.

The award winners

They all impressed with their business ideas and solutions. These are the winners who convinced the jury (hannoverimpuls, Sparkasse Hannover and external start-up experts):

Team Start" prize

Winner

BeSure

Nominations

Papair GmbH

TRAINHAB GmbH

MARCLEY

Price"Solo Start": Best female founder

Winner

Bulletpoint

Founder Linda Büscher

Nominations