Munich's best start-ups: Seven of nine finalists are TUM spin-offs

Kumovis wins Munich Businessplan competition

"PEEK" plastics are an economically viable high-performance alternative to metal in the design and construction of medicinal implants. When Dr. Miriam Haerst, Alexander Henhammer, Stefan Fischer, Stefan Leonhardt and Sebastian Pammer discovered during their research activities at the TUM Chair of Medical Engineering that there was no satisfactory solution on the market for producing PEEK components, they began with the development of a PEEK 3D printer in 2015. They developed a business plan and readied their product for the market with the support of TUM start-up consultants, the entrepreneurship grant Manage&More and the incubator program XPRENEURS of the Center for Innovation and Business Creation UnternehmerTUM, as well as the EXIST research transfer program. 

Interdisciplinary founder team educated at TUM 

All founders studied at TUM: Miriam Haerst and Stefan Fischer Mechanical Engineering, Alexander Henhammer Electrical Engineering and Information Technology and Stefan Leonhardt and Sebastian Pammer Medical Technology. The Kumovis founding team consolidated the experience they gained in these various disciplines in the development of the product and of the start-up. 

Seven TUM spin-offs among the nine finalists

The initiative BayStartUP, sponsored by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology, supports young entrepreneurs in business plan competitions. The various phases of the competition mirror the stages of the founding process. Thus for example in addition to the business idea, marketing and sales concepts, the most decisive Phase 3 also evaluates concrete financing and realization plans. The winning teams in Phase 3 receive 30,000 Euros in prize money. 94 start-ups submitted their business plans; in addition to the winning Kumovis team there were six additional finalists from TUM: 

Plasmion GmbH (3rd place)
Plasmion's patented SICRIT sensor technology enables laboratories to measure samples directly and to freely combine other analytical instruments. This offers a maximum of analytical freedom with simultaneously increased sensitivity of the sensors.

ChargeX GmbH
ChargeX is developing an innovative charging infrastructure for electric cars in the private and semi-public sector. Their modular system for charge management features intelligent control of the charging process.

Cryodynamics
Cryodynamics uses a combination of multi-stage magnetic cooling and closed pre-cooling to generate sustained temperatures near absolute zero. The completely automated system is well-suited for industrial-scale applications thanks to its scalability and sustainability.

KEWAZO
KEWAZO enables cost-efficient and safe transport of scaffold parts in the construction industry. It can be set up by only two people and uses a combination of vertical and horizontal transport.

SoilSpy
Agro-businesses can use the SoilSpy sensor system to directly analyze environmental parameters as well as the concentration of specific nutrients in their agricultural spaces in order to minimize fertilizer quantities and cut costs.

weview
Weview is a video platform for product ratings. Consumers can contribute their opinions on products in the form of videos integrated in the product pages of online shops.

Support in the Entrepreneurship Center 

TUM and UnternehmerTUM support spin-offs from the first idea to the IPO with a range of services unique in Europe. Here start-up teams find an extensive range of opportunities for support, personal exchange with entrepreneurship researchers and have access to a robust network of technology and industry sector experts and investors. Office space and Europe's largest publically accessible high-tech prototype workshop, the UnternehmerTUM MakerSpace, round out the service range available to corporate founders.