Today's Tuesday (March 10th) the popular VOX founder show "Die Höhle der Löwen" starts its seventh season. At 8:15 p.m., numerous start-up entrepreneurs again venture in front of the investors and negotiate grants and company shares. A lion in particular has been able to get the most deals in recent years. These are the most exciting facts from six seasons.
The most successful startups from "The Lion Cave"
A number of start-ups have already introduced themselves in the history of the show: everything from fashion brands to vacuum cleaner attachments to a back shower was included. Six companies really started after the show, as the broadcaster VOX told the news agency spot on news.
These include "Little Lunch", "Waterdrop", "Smartsleep," Rokitta's Rostschreck "," ArtNight "and" Ankerkraut. "Frank Thelen (44) and Judith Williams (48) were able to convince themselves of" Little Lunch "in 2015 – both invested The organic soups are now on many supermarket shelves, but the company "Waterdrop" wants to help people drink more. They developed a micro cube that turns water into a delicious fruit drink. Ralf Dümmel (53) and Dagmar Wöhrl (65) were thrilled and invested 500,000 euros each in 2018.
The spice company "Ankerkraut" was well received in 2016. Today, the high-quality spice mixtures are available nationwide. "Smartsleep" is a combination of nutrients that is taken before sleep. These are intended to reduce symptoms of fatigue. "Rokitta's Rostschreck", on the other hand, is a stainless steel cleaner, while you can attend an art workshop via "ArtNight".
383 start-ups in six seasons
In the previous six seasons, according to VOX, 383 start-ups have introduced themselves to the lion. Most companies came from the areas of food and non-food products – i.e. cosmetics and consumer goods. In total there were 178 deals in "The Lion's Den".
The judge with the most deals
Ralf Dümmel made most of the deals. No wonder: He has been sitting in the armchair of the VOX show since 2016. The managing director of DS Produkte sells several million euros every year with non-food items and has a flair for successful product ideas. His biggest success so far: the Soummé company, which presented a deodorant against heavy sweating in 2019. The company had a turnover of millions in just one year.
Most of these deals were offered
The highest single investment was made by Carsten Maschmeyer (60). For the German startup dwins GmbH and their "Finanzguru" app, he spent half a million euros in 2018. It is a free app that can be used to manage all accounts and contracts. The highest investment of several lions, however, was "Smartsleep". The company received a total of 1.5 million euros from Carsten Maschmeyer and Ralf Dümmel – which obviously paid off.
These lions have been there so far
The first season of "The Lion's Den" started in 2014. Lencke Wischhusen (34), Judith Williams, Vural Öger (78), Jochen Schweizer (62) and Frank Thelen (44) were selected as the first lions. In the second season, the wealthy investors kept their positions.
Then in 2016 the first change: In the third season, travel entrepreneur Vurual Öger gave way to Carsten Maschmeyer, who founded an investment company especially for the participation. Lencke Wischhusen also vacated her place and Ralf Dümmel followed.
Next Jochen Schweizer said goodbye. While he was building his Jochen Schweizer Arena, Dagmar Wöhrl has been fighting for the best deals since the fourth season. In season four and five, Judith Williams was often represented by her business partner Georg Kofler (62) due to an illness.
Since 2019 there has been a new face: Nils Glagau (44) supports the pack as an investor – which increases the number to seven lions. And soon there will be another change: Tech investor Frank Thelen announced his exit in November 2019. His successor: Nico Rosberg (34). The ex-racing driver will be there from autumn 2020.