We’re back after the summer break! Recently the 129th Rheinland Pitch – Germany’s largest startup pitching event – kicked off the next season in Cologne.
And the winner was… ImmIQ!
ProAvatar & Soforce sharing second place with the exact amount of votes.
Photos by Thomas Leege
Recently I had the honor and pleasure to win the international bid to tender with +ANDERSEN & ASSOCIATES to help EU4Innovation East & Expertise France help their selected batch of startups for VIVATECH 2026 in Paris prep for the conference, including investor pitching, competition pitching, and startup conference planning & strategy for reaching their goals and maximising the ROI of attending.
EU4Innovation East is a regional project enhancing the competitiveness of the startup ecosystems in five Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. At its core is a comprehensive strategy to foster high-performance incubators, expand funding and market opportunities, strengthen community ties and amplify the visibility of EaP startups.
Expertise France is the French public agency for international development cooperation. It is a subsidiary of the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group and the second-largest agency of its kind in Europe.
Recently I was invited to StartupDorf’s regular meetup in Düsseldorf to share a little about what startup founders need to know about pitching.
That’s it! Well, not quite – but you’ll have to take my “Pitching Masterclass” for the rest… ;)
BTW: If you’re a StartupDorf member, you can get my Pitching Masterclass online course at a whopping 50% discount – just talk to them about how – valid until end of 2026!
Recently I had the honor and pleasure to be invited to discuss the future of AI with e.g. top innovation managers at Bertelsmann, Siemens, KPMG, Steinbeis University, and others at the “The Drift and the Shift” in Münster.
BTW: As an “AI slop” apropos, I noticed and pointed out the official AI forecast report created by KPMG (that they presented at the event) contained an image showing Taiwan as Chinese – and I had to ask if that was also an official (ominous) forecast… or just slop.
The recent 126th edition of the Rheinland Pitch took place in partnership with the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences (HSD) and their Gründungszeit program.
Cellgo GmbH, TenderFlow, Oberheim Speakers, and wemote mad it all the way from the application process and through pre-pitch filter to contend on stage at HSD.
And the winner was… CELLGO!
Go team!