The 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 by FoundersFight.Club might just be the coolest pitch format in the German startup ecosystem.🏆

🥊𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐭 𝐔𝐩The competition pits startups against each other in boxing match style direct face-offs. Each startup is matched with a worthy opponent, creating a series of one-on-one battles. Yes, this includes walk on songs and ideally a boxing ring.🎶

⏱️𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬

1️⃣ Opening Pitch: Each entrepreneur has one minute to present their case

2️⃣ Attack and Defend: The red corner attacks while the blue corner defends for one minute

3️⃣Role reversal: Roles switch, with blue attacking and red defending

⚠️𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭What makes Founders Fight Night truly unique is the absence of traditional pitching tools. There are no screens, no slides, and no visual aids. Contestants must rely solely on their words, passion, and entrepreneurial spirit to make their case.

🎖️𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧After the initial bout judges ask a single "haymaker question" to each contestant and an expert influencer gives a preference trying to sway the crowd in one direction.Ultimately, the audience votes publicly by holding up colored cards to determine the winner.

🕶️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫This format ensures high audience engagement and mimics the real startup world, where the market (represented by the audience) ultimately decides a startup's success. The set up transforms the often dry pitching process into an adrenaline-pumping spectacle, testing not just ideas but also the entrepreneurs' resilience, quick thinking, and ability to inspire under pressure.

Thanks for Jan C. Küster for inviting us to take part in Novembers BUILDINX edition and congrats to figth champion Anna Dieckhöfer from SLAPStack.

What is your favourite pitch event and format?

💥The 6th of November was indeed a political watershed!

⏩ What can we expect going forward, and what does 2025 hold for the German Startup Ecosystem in particular?

🔭In his opinion piece on Business Punk, STYX Co-Founder Florian Fischer ventures a look into the crystal ball.

link to the article: https://lnkd.in/epaEai2E

Autumn update from STYX 🍁 🎃 🏙️

🇪🇸 📈 🚀 Our branch in #Spain is growing. Together with Inger Egeland-Helgøy and Josep R. Novell LL.M., we had a blast at events including The District Show in #Barcelona, where we hosted a side event together with Xavier Mayo and Xavier Simó. Another personal highlight was VDS in #Valencia - a big shoutout to Krloos Rivera, Marcus Hølland Eikeland, Sabine Schoorl MBA 🏳️‍🌈, Jason Scott and many more who made this event a blast!

🇳🇱 🏡 👨🦳 Our portfolio company Nestflow secured funding from Europe's leading #agetech investor Birdhouse Ventures, kicked off by two weeks of insights and learnings in Antwerp, Belgium.

🏦 🚀 🏆 Jury duty in my home ecosystem #rheinneckar - Frederik Haas and his team at Volksbank Kurpfalz eG hosted one of the cooles startup festival in our region attracting more than 300 attendees. I had the pleasure to join the jury of the pitch competition together with Fjolla Myftari and Luis Langner. This was a great opportunity to see again how much this ecosystem has to offer!

😉What do Mercedes-Benz, IKEA and our portfolio company Telescope (Former Ei Solutions) have in common?

All three of them have had first-hand experience with the importance of cross-cultural brand naming!🌏

🚘 When Mercedes-Benz first entered the Chinese market, their brand name was initially translated as 奔死 (bēn sǐ), which unfortunately meant "rush to die". Realizing this was not an ideal message for a car brand, they quickly changed it to 奔驰 (bēn chí), meaning "to run quickly (as if flying)".

🛋️ IKEA, known for its Swedish product names, released a workbench called "FARTFULL" in 2005. While the name made sense in Swedish, with "fart" meaning "speed" or "fast", it had an unfortunate connotation in English. The product was eventually removed from the market.

🌱 Telescope, our Norwegian portfolio startup helping companies to navigate sustainability risk in real estate finance, began its journey under the brand name EiSolutions (Eiendom translates to property/ real estate in Norwegian). In German however, "Ei" translates to "egg" and even more ironically, at last year's Slush conference in Finland, Marit and Gustav introduced themselves as "NoSolutions".

💡Curious about Telescope? check out their new branding in action here: https://www.telescope.eco

With autumn in full swing, Inger Egeland-Helgøy and Erik Walkling went to attend Nordic Fund Day in Amsterdam last week.

What memories does the team take home?

🌟Witnessing Marit Bjerkreim from our portfolio company Telescope (Former Ei Solutions) rock the stage with her pitch as well as meeting Nestflow founder Edgar Alexander Kooter on his home turf.

💭 A harbour tour through Amsterdam's old town on a former refugee ship. We sat tightly packed with a group of 30 on a vessel that, just a few years ago, carried over 200 migrants across the Mediterranean.

👐 Catching up with the vibrant community Emilie Christensen and Nordic Edge have built over the last years. It is always a pleasure!

Our investment in Edgar Alexander Kooter, Ben Myers and their mission to make home equity release fair and accessible dates back not even four months and already their web domain can no longer be found?🤯

No need to worry, the two are alright, and NestEgg is now Nestflow, new name same mission!😉

🚀 Why the rebranding? Check out their official announcement and their new website (👉 www.nestflow.com) to find out more.

Who will we meet at the GROUNDBREAKERS Summit in Stuttgart this Thursday?

🏗️🌿The event will host a wide array of stakeholders in the construction world from leading universities and emerging startups to established industry players and research institutions. Our highlights?

👉 Keynote by Sika Germany GM Daniela Schmiedle

‍👉 Startup pitches from the first Groundbreakers batch and further promising ConTechs like HeatPump23 GmbHIf you're interested in joining, there are still a few tickets available and Johannes Felden is your go-to guy for any questions.

Florian and David sat down for a chat with the StartupValley Magazine to talk about:

👉 a possible roadmap based on agility toward greater sustainability in the real estate sector

👉 how Urban Living Labs align the interests of startups and hidden champions in the early stage

👉 a culture of paying forward as the core of our company culture

STYX BARCELONA made waves at The District Show! 🌊

To close out the third quarter of 2024, Josep R. Novell and Florian Fischer had the opportunity to present our Urban Living Lab concept at The District Show in Barcelona. We are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs with bold ideas to make cities and buildings future-proof and are excited to drive innovation in this vibrant ecosystem. Barcelona's ranking as the EU's second most preferred city for founders (Source: https://startupheatmap.eu/) makes it the perfect location for our super early-stage approach.

🙏 A huge thank you goes out to Xavier Simó and the inlea team for their support.

🏡 German PropTech is booming!📈

☔ Despite a German construction industry's in crisis the PropTech sector is showing impressive resilience and growth. From Jan to Jun 24, the number of PropTech startups increased by >20% YoY, with more than 100 new companies founded in the space.

➡ For Germany this brings the total to over 1,000 active startups tackling challenges in construction and real estate!

🔎 Kudos to VentureCapital Magazin and Mathias Renz for highlighting these developments in their recent newsletter.

[Disclaimer: exact numbers depend on vertical definition and data availability]

🌞⛱ As the sun shines and vacation season is in full swing, August temperatures remind us why decarbonizing, including real estate, is such an urgent matter.

🙌💫 To keep our spirits high, we got together today with our friends at AQUATY and welcomed our incoming intern Rike for a delicious BBQ at our offices in Mannheim's Jungbusch district.

🌊🕶 What activities does your team do to stay cool and connected during the summer?

🏗🏘 The real estate industry is changing, and it is changing fast.

✨ In their piece about innovation drivers in the industry, FinanzNachrichten has amongst others highlighted STYX and our Urban Living Lab approach.

👉 Read the full article here.

July has been another great month and here are some of my personal highlights from the STYX portfolio.

🚰 💧 ⏰ Enzo secured a 2.3M EUR #financinground from existing shareholders STYX and 2bX as well as new investors amongst them Alexander Grimm, Gerhard Frieg and Peter Schneider. Another milestone for Sascha Wolf and Marvin Follmann on their road to smart #property#insurance [Finance Forward reported - link]

🔑 🚪 📲 keyota secured debt financing from our partner Sparkasse Rhein Neckar Nord to bring their digital lock to the market. Personally, I'm a big believer in a mix of debt and equity #financing. Congrats to everyone who made this partnership work Niels Gronau Klaus Junge Clemens Rudolph!

💬 🐨 🚀 After securing a #seedround led by Brandenburg Kapital GmbH we started board work on Mateo's future growth in the omni-channel communication space. As a first investor, I'm happy to support the work of the board led by Sebastian Bertram, Matthias Grychta and Philipp Gabriel Josef Engels as an observer to help Christian, Domenik and Philipp on their entrepreneurial journey. [Startbase reported on Mateo's seed round - link]

One more year, one more successful event. #alhambraventures reaches its 11th edition with a bang. Full 2 days of panels, keynotes, networking and dinners.

Seeing the amazing talent the #startups bring year in and year out makes this event a must in the south of Spain.

And being able to attend keynotes such as the one mastered by Ramón Blanco Duelo on how to deal with failure is a cherry on top.

Well, and dinner under the magnificent Alhambra.

STYX went looking for startups in the #proptech #cleantech scene, and boy were we happy with what we found.

Keep it up Granada and see you next year!

#vc #investment #legal #funds

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❌ An old mantra becomes obsolet!

🗞 In his opinion piece for FOCUS online STYX Founder and CEO Florian Fischer admits, that the path to climate neutrality in the property market is marked by slow progress, high costs, and increasing regulatory requirements.

🔎 Private homeowners must make significant investments in the energy-efficient renovation of their buildings to reduce energy consumption and comply with legal requirements. At the same time, companies are required to implement EU efficiency standards and sustainably renovate their buildings.

➡ He concludes, that the old mantra of always prioritizing cost efficiency, has become obsolete. Only a sustainable transformation, currently associated with noticeable costs, will provide companies in the industry with lasting competitive advantages. The path is anything but easy, but with determination and innovation, it can be managed.

What an event. Thanks Andorra Business for showcasing what this country has to offer.

We were delighted with the level of startups pitching, the high level of professionalism from the organization and the possibility to sit down and have 1-on-1 with the companies.Representing STYX and @nowandbeyond and joined by my co-investors at SIA - Startup Investor Accelerator, we were able to engage in amazing conversations and to discover great projects.

Thanks to josu gomez barrutiaAstghik Zakharyan and the rest of the crowd for a great event. See you next year!

👀 Who else is attending the South Summit in Madrid later this week?

👋 Be sure to connect with our local venture partner, Josep, who will be on site from Thursday to Friday!

Why #Copenhagen is My Urban Spirit Animal 🇩🇰 🐣 🌆

Copenhagen stands out as one of the most livable cities globally, leading the way in placemaking by prioritizing its residents. The city's approach to redevelopment is evident in projects like transforming the old meatpacking district into a vibrant leisure district and the iconic #Nordhavn redevelopment. These initiatives demonstrate acumen in fostering new ways of economic growth within a livable urban environment.

It worries me that the overall mindset in German harbor cities is different. The argument is driven by insecurity about what's next and the possibility of falling behind in competitive location attractiveness. In my opinion, this mindset, which focuses on obstacles, buries opportunities for citizens and the economy.

Personally, I take a lot of inspiration from Copenhagen's leap of faith in transformative projects. Cities should not prioritize containers over #citizens. In a more holistic approach to urban development, livable cities and economic growth are not contradictory.

Copenhagen truly embodies my urban spirit animal. What city resonates with you in a similar way?

👐Lead by Inger Egeland-Helgøy, our STYX trailblazer across the Nordics, Florian Fischer, David Zwilling and Simon Engelhorn had an inspiring time at last week's Nordic Fund Day in Stavanger.

➡The event began with an investor reception organized by Emilie Martinsen Christensen from Nordic Edge. It was a great occasion for the team to catch up and exchange with local and international partners in the ecosystem.

🙏Thanks to Smedvig, Link Venture Capital and SpareBank 1 Sør-Norge who among others co-hosted the reception.

Looking back at the "VC Breakfast" we hosted in partnership with seed + speed Ventures at this year's Q-Summit, agreeing on a key take away was easy: Let's do it again next time around!

🥐🥂🍳It was great to see so many of you making it to the beautiful engelhorn in Mannheim city center to kick-off their second day at the student run startup conference at University of Mannheim. When inviting 25 people translates to 50 attendees it might require some extra chairs, but it also means more conversation to have, more new faces to meet and more old friends to catch up with.

🙏It was a big pleasure to organize the event alongside Isabelle, who together with Isabell represented the early stage fund seed + speed Ventures. Their team around Alexander Kölpin focuses on B2B SaaS models in the DACH region and is full off peers we look up to.

👏The "VC Breakfast" was only a side event to the much larger Q-Summit which delivered a quality program to its participants over the course of two full days. Congrats to Simon, Tristan, Maya - to name a few - and the entire team!

🤝🥨 We are happy to contribute to this years Q-Summit by hosting the VC Breakfast alongside seed + speed Ventures!

🎓 Uni Mannheim Alumni Florian Fischer and Erik Walkling will be around campus for the two days and are looking forward to meet old friends and make new connections.

🙏🥂 Shout out to Isabelle Thierfelder and Simon Thongchai Wenzel for taking the lead in organizing the Friday morning bubbles.

📢 We're thrilled to introduce Josep R. Novell LL.M. as our newest team member at STYX! Join us in extending a warm welcome to Josep as he embarks on his journey as Venture Partner in #Barcelona.

🏘 Deeply rooted in Barcelona's entrepreneurial ecosystem, Josep will lead the local #UrbanLivingLab, engaging with founders from across the Iberian Peninsula who reimagine the urban and execute on visions for future proof cities and buildings.

💡 With over 10 years of legal experience in M&A and Venture Capital, Josep successfully directs Now and Beyond Consulting and is a member of the American Bar Association.

👀 Curious to see Josep in action? Meet him at this weeks MWC Barcelona where he will be joined by David Zwilling and Florian Fischer as well as Xavier Simó from our local partner inlea.

🗓 Inger Egeland-Helgøy will be attending Nordic PropTech Awards on February 1st in Copenhagen hosted by PropTech Denmark.

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👀 Take the chance to meet her in person or see her on stage where she will rock the reverse pitch session.

🎉2023 was a big year for STYX. Take a look below to see what we have been up to.

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🚀By now 2024 is well underway and we have big goals for this upcoming twelve months. Let's go!

👀 What do Mannheim, Stockholm and Madrid have in common?

✅ All three of them carry the official EU-label "Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030". The label recognizes municipalities for successfully developing a climate city contract (CCC), encompassing a holistic vision for city wide climate neutrality, a concrete action plan and a supporting investment strategy.

🥇 The total list comprises ten European cities with Mannheim being the first German municipality to be recognized.

🤝 Proudly based in Mannheim, we are more motivated than ever to contribute to this vision. By validating and implementing GreenTech solutions from startups in our #UrbanLivingLab we are targeting the single biggest contributor to urban CO2 emissions: buildings and real estate.

‍#greentech #climateneutrality #smartcity #eu #greennewdeal #mannheim

🚀 We are a successful Danish proptech but how on earth can we enter the German market?

💭If that is a question you and your co-founders have been sweating over in the past, last month's proptech market entry program by Innovation Centre Denmark, NEXT MANNHEIM and Styx Urban Investments might have provided answers to some of your questions.✨One highlight of the two-day program was surely the German Scandinavian PropTech night which gathered key stakeholders from the real estate industry, proptech startups, corporate investors, business angels and investor to address on of the most pressing global challenges of our time: urban sustainability.

🙌 Shout out to all the startups for their pitches and going along with the no-slide format which made for crisp presentations full of spirited visions for a sustainable urban future. UbiqisenseExigo A/SLifeXEnnogie Deutschland GmbHMELTSkoneLabskeyotavreed GmbH

‍🙏 A big thank you goes out to the co-hosts of the evening, Innovation Centre Denmark and NEXT MANNHEIM, without whom the event would not have been possible.

👉 How did you find your way into the startup ecosystem?🎓 A student initiative like Q-Summit carrying entrepreneurship at heart surely is a great place to start! We recently had the pleasure of hosting their team at our Mannheim office and it was a gratifying experience to engage with such a dynamic group.

🎉 It was especially great to witness the growing interest in the startup ecosystem among students right at the beginning of their academic journey at University of Mannheim. Where in years past consulting and investment banking would have been on top of mind, by now entrepreneurship and startups are in the pole position for many first year students.

👏 Driving this change are student initiatives like Q-Summit, thinc! or creo, an alumni network in ABSOLVENTUM MANNHEIM that has put entrepreneurship front and center in recent times as well as dedicated faculties like the Mannheim Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation .

⛔Researchers, innovators and founders often struggle to reach problem solution fit. Why? They lack access to testing space and real-life feedback.🔒🔑Together with Prototypes for Europe and NEXT MANNHEIM we are providing just that: the Sustainable Living Lab Mannheim.🔓🍃🏘Here public and private properties are provided as test sites for ecologically sustainable hashtag#urbantech products or services.

Prototypes or MVPs are put on the fast lane to be tested with public and private clients from the Mannheim area and have to prove their positive ecological impact through a Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA).🔊👂How can this look like in practice? Recently Marlene Stechl and Mauricio Fleischer Acuña from HopfON, a spin-off from TU Munich visited Mannheim. They showcased their innovative acoustic panels made from hop derivatives.

These panel-shaped products are designed to enhance room acoustics for walls and ceilings while predominantly utilizing agricultural byproducts. During their visit to the MAFINEX Technology Centre the team, accompanied by Daniel Heltzel gathered data on acoustic profiles and will now roll out their MVP for testing across two premises in Mannheim. 📐🔧Moreover, we visited the construction site of Mannheim based sustainable building trailblazers Vision Domes to explore a potential local partnership for HopfON.