The startups Berglin, Flairroots, FreshBean, MyTopCareer, Halide Club, Loop, Papuche, SENVO, and Turo competed against each other at this year’s Demo Day and presented their business plans to the Business Angels Club Berlin-Brandenburg (BACB). A total of 19 candidates with more than ten different nationalities participated in the startup competition. Over 60 percent of the participants were women. The teams took part in over 20 workshops during the five-month program to develop their startup ideas.

The Summer Entrepreneurship Program (SEP) helps entrepreneurial talents at ESMT to develop and elaborate their own business ideas: finding co-founders, analyzing trends, identifying problems, and finding solutions. The teams benefit from expert mentoring, access to the ESMT and Vali Berlin network, and a structured program of workshops by entrepreneurs and thought leaders from Berlin's startup scene. On Demo Day, the talents and teams present and pitch their visions in front of an audience and a jury. This year's jury members include Henry Sauermann, holder of the ESMT Chair in Entrepreneurship and director of the Institute of Endowment Management and Entrepreneurial Finance at ESMT; Daria Markova, global startup support lead at Seedstars: Christian Bogatu, venture partner at Idinvest Partners and co-founder of KIWI; and Sebastian Schwenke, managing director of the Business Angels Club Berlin-Brandenburg.   

“The personal and professional development of the teams is exceptional, and I am thrilled with what the teams have achieved in the past five months,” says Baris Efe, Manager and Co-Founder of Vali. “The participants in this year’s group are working on innovative solutions in a variety of industries, including sustainability, logistics, B2B software as a service solutions, and circular economy. This highlights the potential we have at ESMT: entrepreneurial and diverse talent on the one hand, and an excellent faculty an outstanding alumni community of serial entrepreneurs and subject matter experts providing resources and knowledge to our talents on the other. This special constellation makes ESMT an inspiring and stimulating environment for founders and entrepreneurs from all over the world.” 

About Vali Berlin 

Vali Berlin is the Entrepreneurship Hub at ESMT Berlin and empowers entrepreneurs to create a better tomorrow. Vali advances responsible entrepreneurship with four pillars: shaping entrepreneurial culture, educating entrepreneurial leaders, supporting founders and joiners, and connecting entrepreneurial stakeholders.