The TRIP Accelerator Program powered by STIFT started its third round today with 10 innovative start-up projects. Within the next six months, the business models will be accelerated and made investment ready through expertise, budget and network.
Today, the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia (STIFT) opened the third cohort of the Thuringian Regional Innovation Program, TRIP, which has been successfully developing start-ups to Investment Readyness and networking them with stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem since 2019.
Around 60 guests from the start-up community, VC scene and industry gathered today at the kick-off event “Start Your TRIP” to discover the new start-up generation and exchange ideas with each other. The event took place in the Erfurt Innovation Space of TRIP partner Mehnert Lab in compliance with the appropriate hygiene rules.
After the short welcome round by the organizer, the motivated applicant teams presented themselves to the colourful TRIP community in a pitch. Innovative concepts and solutions for various challenges of today and tomorrow were presented. The pitches were followed by a greeting from the delegation trip to Scandinavia under the patronage of Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee. Afterwards, ten start-ups were officially accepted into the TRIP program with a full ticket and three projects with an associated ticket as well as provided with a starter kit for the next months. Further applicants convinced the jury so much that they received an individual package to accelerate their innovation, like community-access or coaching.
Congratulations to all 13 teams who are part of the TRIP-Class 21/22!
Start-ups with a full ticket:
- LOKK UG (haftungsbeschränkt) (Weimar)
- Revincus GmbH (Jena)
- 4Pilots GbR (Jena)
- Coachwhisperer GmbH (Jena)
- JANOVA GmbH (Jena)
- IDloop (Jena)
- IGNITION (Jena)
- NOVU AI (Ilmenau)
- Iceberg Images (Miesitz)
- TaskCards (Schmalkalden)
Associated start-ups
- KiBaNoK (Geisa)
- Löschigel (Andernach)
- HeyHerbert (Ilmenau)
This year’s new TRIP Class is again very diverse and has strong potential to stimulate important transformation processes in society and create new markets. The newcomers’ business models cover relevant future topics: from Med-Tech, AI Solutions, HR solutions and GreenTech, to Digitalization of Crafts and Sports Innovations and Security Solutions. Many of these innovations are cross-industry and can deliver breakthroughs in multiple application fields, including the automotive and mobility industries, which are the thematic focus of the 3rd cohort.
Immediately after the kick-off, the start-ups will embark on a six-month journey full of networking, learnings and challenges. In addition to numerous workshops and 1:1 coaching sessions on business model development, strategy and financing, the teams will receive up to €4,500 in equity-free seed money for their next milestones. In addition, they are networked with other start-ups, industry and investors both in Thuringia as well as nationally and internationally. The goal behind this is to bring the teams to Investment Readyness in the shortest possible time and thus create a sound basis for rapid scaling.
For particularly scalable projects, there are an additional three months of the Final TRIP phase with a focus on VC financing. The final highlight of the program is a pitch at one of Germany’s largest start-up events – Investor Days Thuringia, which will take place in Erfurt on June 14 and 15, 2022.
About TRIP
The Thuringian Regional Innovation Program TRIP was initiated in 2019 by the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia (STIFT) as part of the ThEx innovativ project to strengthen Thuringia’s startup community, accelerate innovation, and connect stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem. Since then, the accelerator program has already advanced 26 start-up teams from diverse fields such as IoT, AI solutions, mobility, new materials, green tech and space tech and successfully networked them with the VC community.
The TRIP program has a large community of innovators, investors and established companies and is supported by strong partners such as EY, German Accelerator, Mehnert GmbH, LEG and the sponsoring partner beteiligungsmanagement thüringen gmbh. TRIP is funded by the Thuringian Ministry of Economic Affairs as part of the ThEx innovativ project with money from the European Social Fund (ESF) and state funds.
More information about TRIP can be found at: https://trip.community/en/.
Contact
Christiane Kilian
Project Manager ThEx innovative
c/o Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia (STIFT)
Peterstraße 3 | 99084 Erfurt
Tel.: 0361/7892374 | e-mail: christiane.kilian@stift-thueringen.de
Photo Flashback
Photos: Thomas Müller
