“The Lion’s Den”
This offer is an absolute first
Founder Louis Kleemeyer, mentor Karin Schallert and Louis’ father Marco at “The Lions’ Den”
© RTL / Bernd-Michael Maurer
In “The Lion’s Den” a green guy doesn’t get a deal, but he does get a very special, never-before-seen offer.
Episode four of this year’s season of “The Lions’ Den” (VOX) offered two new deals, exciting negotiations and several interesting founder ideas. An innovative concept for the reuse of human feces attracted particular attention. The lions resorted to an unprecedented form of support for another founder Business idea.
There is a premiere in “The Lions’ Den”.
They want to encourage other people with disabilities: founder Louis Kleemeyer, 23, his father Marco, 55, and mentor Karin Schallert. With the Internet platform Unique United, they have developed a central and clear place where providers of jobs, training and leisure opportunities and people with disabilities can find each other. Louis’ start to life was more than rocky: at the age of two days, he stopped breathing and suffered several health problems. But they couldn’t stop him from a successful path to becoming a founder. For the next step in the history of Unique United, he and his companions raised 210,000 euros for 35 percent of the company shares.
Inspired by Louis’ enthusiasm, Janna Ensthaler, 40, and Carsten Maschmeyer, 64, came up with an unusual proposal for the founders: “It’s not a real investor case. At the same time, we don’t want to just let you go again. That’s why we have an idea “that have probably never existed before,” Maschmeyer made it exciting. “We want to provide you with your first employee of your choice. Please not Elon Musk, he’s a little too expensive. Otherwise, you’re free to choose. We’ll cover the costs for one year.” It goes without saying that the three founders took action. And Carsten Maschmeyer summed up: “You are the first who don’t have a deal, but are leaving here with one more new employee.”
“Strong seller, but weak numbers”
Ice plays a central role in Andreas Siebrecht’s, 59, life. The founder from Weilerswist has created GelatoPack, a patented delivery and take-away packaging for ice cream creations and milkshakes. His invention is intended to solve a problem for all ice cream lovers: How do I transport the delicious balls without them melting? The secret of GelatoPack lies in the two cooling and battery zones of its product. Even at 40 degrees in the shade, ice should remain transportable for at least an hour. For the market success of its award-winning packaging, Siebrecht needed 250,000 euros for ten percent of the market share. The lions do enjoy the ice cream sundaes they brought with them. However, GelatoPack is not yet on sale. “Strong seller, but weak numbers,” summarized Carsten Maschmeyer. Super salesman Siebrecht didn’t want to let that stop him: “I’m looking for visionaries, not a pencil sharpener in the bank.” “Andreas, you’re awesome!” said Ralf Dümmels, 57, in praise. Nevertheless, none of the lions dared to invest in Andreas’ food packaging.
There is a lot of excitement surrounding the détente deal
“Germany recorded over 4.5 million sick days due to burnout last year alone.” The founding couple Beixi Jia, 32, and Julian Stodt, 39, from Hamburg joined the company. With Mind Vacations, they counter this with their type of mindfulness meditation, which is influenced by the couple’s Asian origins. They want to introduce newcomers and meditation professionals alike to the world of tea meditation and thus ensure relaxation and inner centering. Your Mind Vacations Box contains a meditation cup and ten organic tea sachets. In the accompanying app, those seeking relaxation will find all sorts of mind journeys and tea meditations. In order to continue growing their company, they needed 80,000 euros and in return offered 20 percent of the company shares. The lions left their leather chairs, sat on the cushions and let the founders guide them through the meditation. “I’m fascinated by your topic,” said the completely relaxed Dagmar Wöhrl, 69. And Janna Ensthaler added: “But the packaging has to become more sustainable. And I already have a few good ideas and contacts.” She and Dagmar offered 80,000 euros for 40 percent as a start to exciting negotiations. Finally, the founders and the two lionesses agreed on 30 percent of the company shares for the deal.
“Ralf, you’re the right one!”
Tinkerer Dr. Matthias Meinhold, 71, from Nuremberg is a passionate doctor. In his practice, but also as a dog owner, he often deals with tick bites. After ten years of development, he presented his Ticksafe tick gripper. This can remove ticks so effectively that the tick can be completely removed without leaving pathogens behind in the skin. The Ticksafe tick gripper can be used on humans and animals and is already successful on the market. For even more sales power, Dr. Meinhold had a lion or lioness at his side and offered 25 percent of the company shares for 100,000 euros. The sole entrepreneur initially had difficulty finding a lion. Ralf Dümmel, 57, was thrilled: “You have a fantastic product. You can sell it almost anywhere.” Meinhold finally accepted Dümmel’s offer of 100,000 euros for 30 percent: “Ralf, you’re the right one.”
Novak Djokovic also invests in Waterdrop
Dagmar Wöhrl has been working with the three founders of Waterdrop from Vienna since 2018. Their cube-shaped extracts for sugar-free, low-packaging, water-based micro-drinks have a brilliant success story behind them: “From a start-up to a global company,” says Dagmar Wöhrl. With sales of more than 100 million euros, the company has grown significantly since the Lion’s Den deal. And: Tennis star Novak Djokovic, 36, has had a new investor and brand ambassador on board since the beginning of 2023. “We are now represented globally in over 25 countries and will continue to promote internationalization,” said founder Martin Murray, giving an outlook on the future of Waterdrop.
Just past the fertilizer shop
Making money from feces? Forester and founder Florian Augustin, 31, has turned this old business dream into reality. With Finizio, the 31-year-old presented the toilet of the future. The dry toilets work without water or chemicals. Instead, the sustainable “towns” produce recycled fertilizer from the collected waste. “We Germans flush over a billion cubic meters of water down the toilet every year. That corresponds to the volume of 400,000 Olympic swimming pools,” said Florian, explaining the dimensions of the current handling of faeces.
He is already profitably setting up his dry toilets at major festival concerts by “Ärzte” and “Toten Hosen”. In the future, he wants to sell the odor-free fertilizer he produces on a large scale. He offered eight percent of the company shares to Finizio for 500,000 euros. The catch to the deal: The fertilizer does not yet have EU approval and therefore cannot yet be offered. “You are not yet ready for investors today,” said Carsten Maschmeyer, summing up the sore point of the project. Nils Glagau also regretted: “I can’t help you with toilets, I would have been there with fertilizer.” Conclusion: A feces deal with the human business would have been within reach. Can the EU be softened by the broadcast?
Sources used: VOXinstagram.com