Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and SME Management (CENTIM)

Final of Start-up Cup 2025 - Ready for the best ideas from H-BRS?

Date

Thursday, 09 October 2025

Time

17:00 - 20:00

Location

Audimax - Campus Sankt Augustin

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On Thursday, 9 October 2025, the Audimax will be transformed into a stage for the five best start-up teams at H-BRS from 5 to 8 pm! Experience live pitches, an inspiring keynote speech and the awarding of prize money of up to €2,500.

Get your ticket now and be there live!

Only five minutes to present an idea or product convincingly - our five final teams will face this challenge on 9 October. Be there live, experience exciting pitches and vote for your favourite team in the audience award.

The five best teams of the Start-up Cup 2025 have already impressed us with their pitch deck, now they have to wow our external jury in the live pitch. The first three places will receive cash prizes of €1,000 to €2,500. In addition, two valuable special prizes will be awarded and your vote will count for the Audience Award (the "Award of the Hearts")! At the beginning of the event, we are also looking forward to an exciting keynote speech by Ronja Hoffacker, one of the founders of equaly, an app for fairer sharing of care work, known from the Lion's Den.

Keynote von Ronja von equaly

Ronja Hoffacker is co-founder of equaly, an app for the fair distribution of care work in partnerships. Together with Louisa Plasberg, she launched the company in 2023, inspired by her own experiences and the desire to implement equality in everyday life. Shortly after its launch, equaly began cooperating with large employers – it now has over 20 companies as partners, including several DAX-listed corporations. In May 2025, the founders appeared on Die Höhle der Löwen (The Lion's Den) and attracted a lot of attention. Today, equaly primarily offers workshops and programs for companies that want to visibly strengthen the compatibility of family and career.

Die Finalteams

Die fünf besten Teams stehen fest! Aus vielen starken Pitch-Decks, die von Studierenden, Alumni und Beschäftigten eingereicht wurden, konnten diese fünf Ideen unsere interne Jury am meisten überzeugen. Sie werden im großen Finale ihren Pitch vor der externen Jury und dem Publikum präsentieren.

Zahndrops - hydroxyapatitbasierte Zahnpasta in Tablettenform: Marius Unsel (Masterstudent Informatik) und Jens Selent (extern)

succo di zesta - Zitrussaft auf Basis von Zesten: Karol Genczyk (BWL-Student), Luc Robuste und Tobias Kipp

mobilityHQ - innovatives Mobilitätsdashboard für Städte und Kommunen: Lena Recki, Paul Bossauer, Kalvin Kroth und Felix Peters (alle wissenschaftliche Mitarbeitende)

bürokrAI - Bürokratieabbau mittels KI: Carsten Neußer und Benedikt Huth (beide Informatik-Studenten)

Project Neptune - Rückgewinnung von Wärme und Ressourcen aus industriellen Wasserströmen: Jan Hornig (studiert BWL) und Tim Hornig (studiert Nachhaltige Ingenieurwissenschaften)

The jury

Our jury is made up of experts from the start-up scene, financing and sustainability. It evaluates according to clear criteria: Innovation, feasibility, team & presentation.

Ronja Hoffacker (equaly)

Ronja Hoffacker, Co-Gründerin @ equaly und Keynote-Speakerin

Katharina Jenne (Wirtschaftsjunioren Bonn/Rhein-Sieg)

"Als Sozialwissenschaftlerin und Strategieberaterin freue ich mich sehr darauf, aus einer neuen Perspektive zu sehen, mit welchen Herausforderungen sich die Teilnehmenden beschäftigt haben und welche Ideen sie entwickelt haben, um diese anzugehen."

Katharina Jenne, Vertreterin der Wirtschaftsjunioren Bonn/Rhein-Sieg und Beraterin @ Jenne Consulting

Prof. Dr. Ralf Meyer (Hochschulgesellschaft Bonn-Rhein-Sieg)

Prof. Dr. Ralf Meyer, Vertreter der Hochschulgesellschaft Bonn-Rhein-Sieg und Professor für Business Administration und International Financial Management @ H-BRS

Axel Nitsch (HTGF)

"Die Teams aus unserer Region haben so viel Arbeit in den Start-up-Cup gesteckt. Ich bin wie immer sehr gespannt, die kreativen und neuen Business Ansätze kennenzulernen. Und ich freue mich auf die kritischen und konstruktiven Diskussionen mit den anderen Jurymitgliedern."

Axel Nitsch, Principal / Prokurist @ HTGF

Prof. Dr. Martin Sieber (CENTIM)

Prof. Dr. Martin Sieber, Co-Direktor @ CENTIM

Impressions from previous years

H-BRS, Maxim Politow

Final

The five final teams pitch their business idea live in front of the audience and our external jury in the final. This is followed by a short Q&A session in which the teams answer the jury's questions. The final evaluation by the jury is based on set evaluation criteria, which include the overall impression of the presentation (adherence to the time limit, presentation skills, creativity and teamwork) and the answers to the questions/discussion. After all teams have pitched, there will be a deliberation phase by the jury, who will then announce the top three places and the winners.

Timeline

16:30 check-in
17:00 opening
17:10 keynote by Ronja Hoffacker from equaly incl. time for Q&A
17:40 Pitches round 1
18:20 Break & Networking
18:40 Pitches round 2
19:20 Jury discussion & Audience voting / Break for snacks & Networking
19:45 Award ceremony & Closing

More information about the Start-up-Cup

Looking back: That was the Start-up Cup 2024

For once, six teams made it to the final of the Start-up Cup 2024 - the quality of the entries was simply too high. The winner was LymphDot, followed by ForestFireProtect and Huntin. The evening once again showed how great the innovation potential of H-BRS students and graduates is. In addition to exciting pitches, there was an inspiring keynote speech by JackyF founder Julia Huthmann, snacks, drinks and plenty of opportunity to network

Click here for the report from 2024.

The Start-up-Manufaktur is an initiative of CENTIM and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection as part of the EXIST programme (Logos: Exist.de)