Ten startups, ten pitches, one winning team: At its Startup Night, Burda is looking for new founders for its Munich accelerator "Burda Bootcamp." First place went to the Munich-based startup Kaia health, which is developing an app for chronic back pain.
The winners can look forward to a coworking space for three months in the Burda Bootcamp accelerator program, mentoring, and three tickets to the upcoming DLD conference in New York City.
The Kaia health The app developed by the company provides users with personalized self-help instructions for back pain, based on a clinically proven therapy. In the future, the startup also plans to address other chronic diseases such as migraines, Alzheimer's disease, and sleep disorders.
“Combination of an excellent team and an ambitious project idea”
Certainly one reason for Kaia health's award: Founders Konstantin Mehl and Manuel Thurner sold their company Foodora to Delivery Hero last year, thus already demonstrating their entrepreneurial talent. Jury member and Burda board member Stefan Winners commented on the decision:
"The healthcare sector is a relevant, demanding market, but also extremely difficult. You encounter powerful medical associations and a high level of regulation there. If you can overcome this barrier to entry and also solve health problems supported by algorithms, then that represents real added value."
In the eyes of the jury, the winners apparently succeed in dealing with these challenges:
“Kaia health clearly convinced us with the combination of an excellent team and an ambitious project idea,”
says Winners.
From fashion to tech: variety of topics at the Startup Night
At the Startup Night, other companies presented their business ideas, from fashion and fitness to lifestyle and tech. In addition to Kaia health, Erledigungen.de, Combyne, Furniture, Upstories, Evalu, Skillndeal, Shopeur and User laneWinners comments on his impressions of the evening:
"It's a great development in Germany that young, well-educated people no longer automatically go to McKinsey, Procter & Gamble, or similar well-known companies, but instead build their own companies, even as serial entrepreneurs. Until now, we've seen this mainly in the US."
The fact that more and more highly qualified talents are deciding to start a business also depends directly on external influences: In addition to the necessary entrepreneurial spirit, startups need favorable Location factors and an ecosystem that supports young entrepreneurs. Burda's startup initiative is certainly helpful here.
