Summary EVM at EY Hannover
European Venture Market - EVM – November 29th, 2017
On November 29th our 29th EVM was hosted by EY in Hannover.
We were honoured to host our EVM for the first time in Hannover at the EY offices. Hannover is known for its famous fairs, especially the CEBIT and the INDUSTRY-FAIR among many more. The scene for Startups is a little split between the Lower Saxony University-cities (Hannover, Braunschweig, Göttingen etc.) so most of the presenting companies came from different areas. Nevertheless they now know that they can rely on EYs extensive services in Hannover and also met representatives from the reginal economic development agencies to support them in the area.
EY is very involved with its Start-Up-Initiative (http://start-up-initiative.ey.com/) showing the young companies what benefits the cooperation with a global service-provider can have as the Start-Ups build their businesses and how established companies can benefit from the innovative force of Start-Ups!
If you have questions regarding EY’s outstanding services please contact Ms. Eike Döring +49 511 8508 16599 for detailed information – she and her team are looking forward to hearing from you!
After the opening by Ms. Eike Döring from EY and Markus Kuntze as the organizer of the EVM,
Michael Späth from the EY Munich Office is responsible at EY for developing strategies for the use of Blockchain in industrial applications and delivered his keynote
“Blockchain – Connecting the Dots in Supply Chains”
Michael outlined not only the basics of the technology and the opportunities for its use in many different industrial applications, but he went deep and showed us how involved EY already is in analysing and developing schemes to support their clients worldwide with the Blockchain possibilities. The presentation was very well received and the questions also showed how involved the participants already are regarding Blockchain!
Thank you Michael for a super presentation!
Then we went in medias res with the first company presentation block: moderated by Markus Kuntze from the EVM-Team. Markus organizes the EVM since more than 10 years and has been a banker for 20 years before that covering his first “Startups” in 1989/1990 when the Berlin Wall fell and East- and West-German entrepreneurs were looking for new chances in the soon to be united country.
The company to start the pitching was
Re2you is a cloud-browsing platform that integrates any device into a user's digital ecosystem, making it possible to drag and drop any content or apps from any device to any other - even across incompatible hardware or operating systems. With us, any device becomes an intelligent device, and any device can be integrated to the user's existing ecosystem - so an Apple Watch can work with a smart fridge running on Windows, or an Android car console works as easily with your iPhone. We operate in several market segments: the IoT- space (€170+B Market by 2020); the car sharing market (USD 1 billion transaction volumes in China alone, one of our target markets, by 2020); and the connected car market (€ 113B market in the passenger car segment by 2020).
We are launched, and our B2B customers are happy with our solution. NPS not applicable, as end- user launch is still on the horizon. B2B is a business model as well as a strategy for generating customer trust and distribution channel.
FINTECH - financial services / payment transaction cyttle is a unique software solution to settle payments and receivables. Not only does cyttle save time, labor and money for their customers but also cyttle reforms the process of payment transactions with its method of compensating payables and receivables.
Regional: 1. starting with the DACH-region (German speaking countries) 2. expansion to all of europe and northern america 3. expansion to the rest of the world sectors: any company with receivables and payables
KIWI does NOT ONLY provide a good product, a good advice or a digital process! It provides emancipation in finance = FINANCIPATION. KIWI empowers everyone to autonomously make the best financial decisions across products categories, based on his true needs! Customers are able to,
- Holistically understand their true financial needs based on the individual situation
- Manage trade-offs between desire and capability, based on a unique algorithm
- Translate an individual needs profile into a tailored financial portfolio
- Independently optimize the current financial portfolio in a digitized way
- Ensure life-long suitability by keeping up with new circumstances and products
Thereby, KIWI will break up the existing system of advisor biased financial advice and launch transparent and independent solutions based on objective algorithms.
Financial Services is one of the world’s largest industries. But traditional players like banks, insurances and independent financial advisors show no or limited customer orientation. Instead - they sell commission-based standard products - barely take a holistic, needs-driven customer perspective - focus on single products, commissions and profitability Even innovative Fintechs rather focus on "digitizing existing problems and processes" and provide "product-centric" solutions that do not meet the real customer needs This leads to customer resignation, a loss in trust of customers in the industry, price wars, huge personnel effort to sell products and thus small margins.
Risk Management / Innovative Risk (Re)insurance. "We disrupt the process of b2b insurance and risk management within two steps. In a first step, the intermediaries are eliminated and in a second step, the risk conglomerate is created."
Blue Chips/ Global Acting Corporate/ Hidden Champions / Captive Owners. "Our philosophy is that based on the Blockchain technology, a return to the origins of risk transfer is possible. And industrial insurance, which has grown over the centuries with participants such as brokers, insurers, reinsurers and the tax authorities as participants, are obsolete. A return to the risk-catching conglomerates that emerged in London is the future of corporate risk management. Similarly, the existence-threatening risks have changed and the concepts of traditional insurers have not been able to withstand them. But we can!"
Shipper.to provides a platform where people can post transport requests and get quotes for transportation. These offers can come from both individuals and companies such as freight forwarders. These carriers make an offer about the amount of the costs they would charge and the shipper then chooses one of these offers. Since each case is different, not only decides the cheapest price, but also reviews of the driver, etc. Communication takes place via a website or via apps for smartphones or tablet computers. Furthermore, the sender can obtain information about the carriers via a rating system. In this way, a social network for transport is created, which can be further expanded as needed.
According to a study by the Hamburg- based consulting firm MRU (source: Die Welt, issue 05.08.13), the industry sent about 2.6 billion shipments in 2012. On the other hand, there are 30 million commuters in Germany. Larger distances (more than 25 km) of which fall of 18%, which still corresponds to a large number of 5.4 million commuters. (Source: OpenPR 04.06.2012) Many of them are looking for a way to reduce travel costs.
So, the ice was broken!
During the following well deserved networking break you could already see participants in very engaged conversations! And it is always hard for us as organizers to motivate the participants to join us for the program to continue, but we have become very insisting and for good reasons since the information you can obtain as a Startup can help you on your path!
We continued with a Panel Discussion
“Just a trend or will Blockchain Technology change the world? How do Investors view the impact of its applications?”
Katrin Redmann from SAP SE was so kind to moderate: Katrin has vast experience in Marketing and Sales in different industries. Since 18 years she is working at SAP in diverse positions She is leading strategic Digital Transformation projects and for the collaboration between SAP & Wissensfabrik, she contributes as a mentor in the WECONOMY DAYS Entrepreneurship. She is in the jury of Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (GESS) and in the program of Entrepreneurship Summit and START in St. Gallen. As a mentor she offers experience and insights in Go-to-market, sales, target group definition, marketing, business development, product & pricing.
She invited Ghazaleh Koohestanian from re2you, Dominic Wilhelm from e.ventures, Alexander Kölpin from WestTech Ventures, Timo Dreger from coparion, Michael Späth from EY and Bazil Azmil from Atlantic Labs to join her!
After a short introduction and a first statement of each panelist a very interesting exchange started in discussion especially the distinction between the Blockchain Technology and its impact for industry and thus for investments of VCs in companies developing applications and solutions based on the technology and Crypto-Currencies and their development. Based on what we heard from Michael earlier all panelists agreed that Blockchain will be a major factor within the next years to help secure proprietary information for corporations, public data etc. and that it will speed up many processes especially in logistics and production processes and again make documentation much easier and reliable for all parties involved. Michael had shown a video of a transport process earlier that showed that the documentation actually created 220 pages of paper being sent around as email attachments or Faxes… In securing the basic information in the blockchain all that would be obsolete and would also exclude human error. Another example for a chance to put blockchain-technology to use is property-rights: for example in Venezuela to document or claim property rights was almost impossible to due to the lack of a system and thus claim your rights against heavily corrupt special interest groups.
One country that has implemented the technology to serve its citizens is Estonia!
Of course an issue was how to pick the “right” investment. A good question and even though Berlin for example is a major hub for blockchain companies a VC still has to figure out which company has the potential to make a difference. Also the panelists were open to admit that they have to continue to educate themselves to understand all aspects of the technology.
As for the Crypto-Currencies the panel and the audience discussed how the journey will continue. Bazil was again quoting the beginning of the Blockchain with the white paper of Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder/ or group of founders of Bitcoin.org where they stated the thought of sharing and decentralizing information and thus create a secure environment for excluding third parties (like banks) in transactions and then Bazil outlined how the concept will continue to develop and already has, especially in areas where the parties involved could never be really sure if their transactions would be completed as planned. Then the panel discussed the immense increase in value of Bitcoin and other Cryto-Currencies and the discussion came to the point if they are currencies or investment assets. Again the opinions were split, but the common ground remained that the “Currencies” are there, are not just a fashionable episode and will find their role in our economic environment no matter what.
To sum it up: The Blockchain will change our world and be beneficial in many areas to secure and speed up processes and investors are keen to invest, but still have to figure out how to approach it best!
Thanks Katrin and all participants for a lively discussion and good insights!
After a well deserved lunch we continued and gathered for a very interesting Keynote by Gerald Hoff from Cube, who was so kind to jump in for his colleague Dr. Torsten Oelke:
"How radically will blockchain change the backbone of the industry the way we know it"
Gerald is the Head of Corporate Partnerships of CUBE, the global ecosystem to connect startups with leading industry players. He has assembled a core team of international experts with extensive experience with industry and startups. CUBE is backed by several board members of global corporates across industries.
In his presentation he outlined the technology first and then outlined industrial areas where Cube sees a major input for the Blockchain. It also clearly shows that the technology will have major impacts and the that there are many usecases and many more to come once the technology will be a standard part of processes in production and service areas. It would be a huge mistake for industry and service-providers to ignore or neglect blockchain! And again it had to be stated that the current hype around the bitcoin and other crypto-currencies should not let anybody be distracted from the underlying and so immensely useful technology that will benefit many in the future!
Gerald’s presentation is available upon request, just drop us a not at [email protected]
Time for the second company-session moderated by Dr. Andreas Schenk - EnjoyVentures. Based in Düsseldorf, EnjoyVenture is a venture capital investor led by entrepreneurs which offers seed and startup funding for innovative technology companies. Active coaching and intensive network contacts are part of EnjoyVenture's self-image as industrial adviser and investor. The circle of EnjoyVenture's partners stands out due to its many years of expertise in management, financing, industry and the networks involved. Since its foundation in January 2000, EnjoyVenture has participated in more than 70 ventures. Currently, EnjoyVenture manages with a team of 12 colleagues four venture capital funds with a total volume of about 60 million €.
We started with
Cogia is a leading AI based big data analytics platform solution provider with a specialization in text-mining and offers products for an intelligent information search, information management and information analysis. We have identified following problem that requires our expertise: Crypto currencies and ICOs have established themselves as a field for investments. This makes it all the more urgent to provide investors with comprehensive information that will make it easier for them to keep track of the jungle of crypto currencies and ICOs. On top of providing insights for purchases and sales decisions based on valid data, real time sentiment and emotions. For that we have created a new project called "Coin Analyst". Besides that the current product development & sales efforts are carried out in part together with organizations, such as the Fraunhofer Institute. We have a broad range of customers with a 100+ clients from various sectors i.e.: finance, insurance & automotive
Over 1 Million. crypto currency traders excluding China and Japan 40.000 User alone at Poloniex 40.000 new users per day at Coinbase Secondly, for the entire social media analytics market (including all platforms and tools for statistical data analysis), the market research company "MarketsandMarkets" expects a growth of $1.6bn in 2015 to $5.4bn in 2020, with an annual growth rate of 27.6%. According to the company, the main growth drivers are the increasing number of social media users, a greater focus on market and competitor analyzes and increased expenditure on data analysis tools.
Hexagon provides Global Sourcing and Forward Sourcing as well as Imports on its global platform. It utilizes inefficiencies in the markets and enables purchasing companies to obtain offers from many more producers worldwide to secure best quality and prices fast. Hexagon is able to act as an intermediary or offer full service with delivery door to door. The company has traction and even though organic growth is possible is looking for investment to grow and scale faster.
AI, Machine Learning, Information Technology, Big Data, Mobile Video, Retail This project has received funding in October 2017 from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 791874
Worldwide revenue from mobile video will reach $25 Billion by 2021, according to the latest research by Strategy Analytics. Growth in mobile video revenue will be driven by advertisers seeking to reach an increasing audience of users that are consuming video on their smartphones and tablets. The report, “Global Mobile Video Forecast: 2010-2021,” also predicts users of mobile video to more than double to 2 Billion users by the end of 2022, equal to 36 percent penetration among the global mobile users. Wei Shi, Analyst, Wireless Media Strategies noted, “The strongest growth in mobile video revenue will come from advertising-funded content as advertisers look to catch up with the increasing quantity of video consumption. Advertising spending on mobile video will grow at a 28 percent CAGR.
IMPB AG - The purpose of the company is the research and development of future-oriented projects of all kinds as well as the acquisition, financing, holding and management of participations; may acquire, exploit or manage patents, trademarks and licenses, or make or provide financing. The APID-Project: Manufacturers use APID, the Blockchain-based "Advanced Product Information Datasystem", to map and process all information and parameters across the entire value chain and lifecycle of a product. This begins with the theoretical development of the product and ends with its disposal or recycling. In doing so, APID assumes that every object has an electronic image on the Internet through which the objects communicate and interact (concept Internet of Things, IoT).
Processing functions of the APID product book (transactions) are mapped by smart contracts. Smart contracts monitor specific parameters and, based on them, release or trigger further events. The following parameters can, for example, be monitored and controlled with the APID: purchase price, scaled price, refund for sales targets achieved, delivery conditions such as transport costs etc., access to product data or extended PoS product data (eg also via plug-ins in e-commerce systems), tracking of product batches (traceability of delivery routes), checking the product's stock levels at retailer and wholesaler, automatic reordering if stock quantity X (IoT) falls below, payment processing after conditions, Billing of recycling fees via dual system.
We decided to skip the coffee break and continued with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Tobias Ortmaier from the Institute of Mechatronic Systems at the Leibniz University Hannover and his thoughts:
„Big Data Analytics is not „Garbage in – Knowledge out“
Professor Ortmaier showed in an example how data analysis can easily fail and come to wrong conclusions not solving any problem at all: In a production process in the automotive industry it turned out that one machine-part in the automated process weakened over time and caused to slow down the production of each car by a second. This resulted in a loss of sales of 150 million Euros a year! The internal data-analysis came to the conclusion that the quarterly employee-meetings were the culprit! Nonsense!
So Professor Ortmaier and his team developed a process to analyse data within the production process precisely and to enable the company to react to even the slightest errors very quickly! He showed videos of the process in their lab-facilities and it was more than impressive! My personal impression: it is very encouraging to see how Universities are paying attention to improve production processes and thus play a real positive role in securing and advancing industrial processes – the backbone of German industry!
Thank you very much Professor Ortmaier for these insights!
Then Stefan Fazekas from WARP-Innovation hosted another panel discussing
„Bringing innovative biz ideas on the path of growth sustainably“
Stefan loves networking for creating mutual biz relationships enabling sustainable benefits for all contributing partners.
By conducting Warp-Innovation Boost Camps with start-ups, spin-offs and corporate teams - where possible in mixed mode - Warp enables up to 10 teams per camp to boosting their biz idea up to a go2market oriented roadmap in co-working mode amongst each other and together with them as their facilitators. Creating and operating Warp-Innovation Boost Spaces - both virtual and physical – Stefan and his team aim at win:win oriented collaboration between established and emerging organizations, related services and investors. The Warp-Innovation Core Team is made up by four members, interrelating with several associate partners, established cooperation partners in complementary fields and a growing network of ambassadors dealing with Warp-Innovation Services within their geographical regions.
Stefan was joined on the podium by Ertan Can from HR Ventures, Sven Klose from Invest-Impuls and Carel Limburg from Jackson Mobile
After a short introduction round which showed the audience immediately the depth of experience the panel members have to offer, Stefan asked each of their opinion regarding the role they can play in helping to serve startups on their path. Sven explained how he, after founding a company and learning from mistakes, ended up in VC to make sure he could advise and help companies find the right investor and choose wisely. Ertan outlined how the focus of the SME backing his fund has changed over the years from investing directly into now only investing in other funds. He reasoned that it was just too hard to match corporate and startup philosophies and approaches. Carel has vast international experience and stressed that you got to have a good gut-feeling when investing.
The outcome after the discussion really was that as a startup you have to be very careful in picking an investor and your goal should be to come as far as possible by bootstrapping or finding supportive partners with a mindset that matches yours or better compliments it. Another point was the often discussed evaluation of a company to determine the size of participation for investors. Also triggered by a question from a startup that is currently seeking 3 million plus to finish its technology-platform and ran into walls because initial VC investments tend to be between 1-1.5 million max. Here I think a statement from Ertan is worth being recorded: Calculate how much you need for the next 18 months, document the milestones you will achieve during that time and don’t give away more than 20% for that!
Thank you Stefan for moderating and Ertan, Sven and Carel for being so open and supportive!
And then it was already over! We did not only see very interesting companies and stimulating keynotes and a great panels but noticed that the interaction in the networking breaks was initiated by all sides: investors who wanted more answers after the questions already asked in the sessions, companies actively seeking the contact with investors and services approaching possible partners with their extensive experience and their networks!
We then met in the lobby and let the day fade out with a glass of wine or beer still exchanging business cards and ideas!
Thank you Eike Döring and your team for making everyone feel so welcome at EY Hannover!
Please give us some Feedback and let us know if you need support and assistance since we at CONTINUA and as the host of the EVM can help you in developing your business plan or improve your presentation and last but not least introduce you directly to investors. Call us anytime +4930-440386-0 to discuss your options and of course if you need help approaching other participants!
Markus Kuntze Katja Rowedder Birgit Jungwirth