For the 18th time, the Wirtschaftsjunioren (young entrepreneurs) of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce have organised the GründerGeist startup competition. 54 applications were received, seven teams reached the final and pitched on Wednesday evening at the Körber-Stiftung. The first three places went to Participayed, CLOUDSUPPLIES and greenspot.
The winners had previously been selected in a jury session. The candidates included ItchyMonsters, an app that helps children with neurodermatitis therapy in a playful way, and Meerkorn with a soap mill made from recycled fishing nets. Also qualifying were amsight, which aims to optimise 3D printing processes with software, and toern, which has already had some success with its concept of sending returns in online retail directly to the next customer.
greenspot stands for transformation in agriculture
Third place, endowed with 1,500 euros, went to greenspot. Founded by Julia Hölzer and Martin Ruesch, the startup focusses on the farm-to-fork strategy, which aims to create a more sustainable food system. Regenerative agriculture plays an important role in this, ensuring greater biodiversity and more nutritious food. Furthermore, direct sales shorten the supply chain and eliminate the need for intermediaries, which improves the carbon footprint. greenspot is building a franchise system with model farms, which should ensure high scalability.
CLOUDSUPPLIES lets AI do routine work
Second place and therefore 5,000 euros went to CLOUDSUPPLIES. This startup addresses a problem that affects not only, but especially, the IT sector: a shortage of skilled labour. Much of the work in the digital world consists of routine tasks that can now be performed by artificial intelligence (AI). CLOUDSUPPLIES has developed such an AI. MILTON is the name of the software assistant that gives IT staff more time for creative work.
Partcipayed enables people in care to participate financially
A large part of modern life takes place online, where cash has no place. However, this is the only means of payment available to people in care, and even this involves considerable effort. As a result, participation in many areas is severely restricted for these people. The startup Participayed wants to change this and is developing a digital means of payment for precisely this target group. The jury recognised the potential and social added value of the idea and rewarded it with first place and 8,000 euros. Jes Hennig, one of the founders, announced in his pitch that Participayed is currently renaming itself Parto.
