The lion’s den
The lions pull out their purse for “mysleepmask”
Georg Kofler (left) and Nico Rosberg put the “mysleepmask” to the practical test.
© TVNOW / Bernd-Michael Maurer
At “Die Höhle der Löwen”, investors are presented with products again. For “mysleepmask” they even pull out their private wallet.
Five start-ups present the current season of “Die Höhle der Löwen” (VOX and TV Now) their creative business ideas again. The celebrity investors Judith Williams (49), Dagmar Wöhrl (67), Carsten Maschmeyer (62), Ralf Dümmel (54), Nico Rosberg (35), Georg Kofler (64) and Nils Glagau (45) can convince three products: a practical sleeping mask, natural cosmetics based on coffee grounds and a wine master.
“mysleepmask” immediately found prominent buyers
Fabian Karau from Frankfurt am Main, a graduate industrial engineer who has been working as an event manager for more than twelve years, is the first to venture in front of the pride of lions. With his start-up “mysleepmask”, which he has been running part-time for four years, the Hessian wants to enable people with migraines to effectively relieve pain and wake up refreshed after a good night’s sleep. To achieve this, the young entrepreneur, who himself has suffered from migraine symptoms for a long time, developed a sleeping mask made of organic jersey fabric with a unique shape and pockets for cooling or warming pads.
Nico Rosberg in particular, whose wife Vivian has suffered from migraines for years, is interested in Karau’s idea and buys a mask from him – just like Georg Kofler, who is particularly impressed by the darkening effect of the product. Kofler believes that the mask will also find sales among non-migraineurs. However, Kofler feels that the price of around 55 to 70 euros is “pretty expensive”, and Maschmeyer is concerned about the risk of imitation. Nico Rosberg and Ralf Dümmel ultimately invest the desired 100,000 euros – albeit for 40 instead of 20 percent of the company shares – as a team.
The “Sminno” brothers impress
The two brothers Khesrau and Sohrab Noorzaie from Kassel fled as children from the war in their home country Afghanistan. They started their own business as students of mechanical engineering and industrial engineering and have remained so thanks to their start-up “Sminno” (made up of “Smart Innovation”). What it is about? “We bring the comfort you know from your car to your two-wheeler”, explain the cockpit system with hands-free system to the lions, which allows cyclists to make calls with both hands on the bike handle and avoid fines.
The complete package of a voice-controlled app, with which various applications can be used mobile, and a patented smartphone holder, the world’s first of its kind, impressed Judith Williams immediately. The fact that the sound is amplified by the shape and materials of the bracket and that the product can be used in seven languages is also impressive – so much so that the passionate cyclist immediately took the practical test. Their branch is not the tech sector, however, and the other Lions do not want to invest the 500,000 euros for 15 percent of their shares, which the brothers are hoping for, due to the high valuation.
“Mellow Noir” natural cosmetics convinced Williams
With his sustainability start-up “Mellow Noir”, the chemical engineer Julian Köster from Mettmann even wants to present an absolute novelty to beauty expert Judith Williams. Under the motto “Make new from old”, the founder transforms coffee grounds – and their effective ingredients – into natural cosmetics. The aspect of sustainability is particularly important to Köster. He therefore obtains the coffee grounds for his products from cooperating cafés, dries them himself and uses his extraction process to extract the coffee oil. In addition, the packaging is recyclable and a tree is planted for every product sold.
“Mellow Noir” offers a moisturizer that has already been dermatologically tested and is available online for just under 20 euros each. Kösters Naturkosmetik survived the practical test, which is why even Georg Kofler wants to make 100,000 euros for 30 percent of the company’s shares instead of the offered 20 percent. Ralf Dümmel is also interested in the same percentage, Judith Williams, on the other hand, demands another five percent more. In the end, however, the decision is noticeably easy for the 28-year-old founder: “Ms. Williams, I look forward to our collaboration.”
Hubert Koch and his “Winemaster” grab Ralf Dümmel
As a mechanical engineer and electrical engineer, Hubert Koch actually has nothing to do with wine. Nevertheless, a few years ago he “fell in love with the wine trade”, as he says. In his act he offers fine wines that cost up to 5,000 euros. He still has the same problem as his colleagues in the lower price segment: once the bottles are open, the content quickly becomes bad. According to Dagmar Wöhrl, Kochs receives a “unique, innovative” start-up from Ralf Dümmel 100,000 euros for 30 percent of the shares for his “Winemaster” cling bottle.
At the end it gets musical: the trio Carina Eigner, Patrick Rupprecht and Markus Wenzl appear in lederhosen and rock. With the digital waterproof music book “Marschpat” and the app that goes with it, the Lower Austrians want to “digitize and revolutionize” brass music. However, the concept fails. The subscription model seems implausible, the device itself can be replaced by iPad and Co. The wish for 300,000 euros for 20 percent of the shares therefore remains unfulfilled and causes Carina to cry. However, the founder promptly received encouraging words and a hug – from the lions Carsten Maschmeyer and Judith Williams.