Tobias Verlende is the founder and managing director of the German consultancy boutique CorpPearls and co-organiser of Remich’s second Startup Event. He tells us more about his boutique and what to expect from the event.
What is CorpPearls and why are you partnering up with Ville de Remich for this startup event?
CorpPearls is a Berlin-based consultancy/M&A boutique which focuses on the tech and startup sector and helps corporates grow and digitise their businesses by partnering them with startups. In the past 4 years, CorpPearls has already co-organised and co-hosted 8 successful startup match-making events together with the Cluster of Logistics on behalf of the Ministry for Mobility and Public Works. After the successful launch of our first Startup Event last November, CorpPearls and Ville de Remich decided to host a second edition on 26 October 2022.
The city should not be the only place where startups are able to thrive and considering Remich’s agricultural heritage, I believe it would be a great place to develop into a new sustainability hub. Sustainability is such a broad topic that you can have multiple hubs in one country and I think Remich might be well suited to have more startups focusing on sustainable agriculture and wineries.
What do you hope to achieve with this event and what kind of audience members do you wish to attract to this event?
I hope that interested corporates get in touch with the participating startups, network with them and explore whether working with them can boost their business. Any corporates that are interested in sustainability in general and in particular in the agricultural sector, the food sector, consumer products and smart city concepts are more than welcome to join. Also, any corporate that is considering partnering with a startup or is just curious to learn more about different innovations in the area of sustainability.
Which startups will be participating in the event?
- Falcon Valley produces and distributes organic, valuable horse manure-based fertilizers under the label “Lieblingsmist”.
- nZero from the US, which just launched their Europan HQ in Luxembourg is a carbon tracking platform
- FYTA is an IoTcommerce startup for home gardening.
- Vinou digitalizes the production and marketing of wine with the help of a cloud platform.
- Wasch produces and distributes ecological detergents “Made in Luxembourg” from 100% natural ingredients with the goal to reduce the detergent’s ecological impact on the environment.
- Möhrengrün is a vegetarian minced meat alternative, where meat lovers and convinced vegetarians eat together at one table, from one bowl.
- PlattenBaum brings food production to underused urban spaces.
In the past 4 years, you’ve returned to Luxembourg on a yearly basis. What changes have you observed in the ecosystem?
First of all, I have to say that every time I return the Luxembourg ecosystem is stronger than before. I also think that it has everything you need for a functioning ecosystem, from hubs to investors to communication platforms as well as very helpful institutions.
Compared to Germany, it might be smaller but it’s also a bit more intense. It’s also more international which is a good thing because startups are directly encouraged to have a more international mindset.
What are some of the benefits for corporates to partner with startups?
I think one of the main challenges facing corporates today is that they need to digitize their business but it´s difficult to do that. I have the feeling that many corporates are lagging behind in this respect and that partnering with startups is a very good way to solve this problem.
I also think that startups bring a different mindset to the table that can help push corporates to take more risks and innovate more. Of course, this can also be achieved through internal changes, but in my experience, this works out less well than when they partner with startups.
How come so many German startups are participating in this event?
There are five startups from Germany and two from Luxembourg (one of them has its HQ in the US, but has a Luxembourg office for the European market). One of the reasons for this is that Luxembourg does not have a very large network of sustainability startups (operating in the sustainability sector) and since CorpPearls is based in Berlin, a very green city, it made sense that most of the startups are German.
How long do the startups have for their pitch? Is there a prize/competition element to the event?
They all have 5 minutes to pitch their startup which will be followed by 3 minutes of Q&A. This is not a lot of time, but after the event, they will all have the chance to network and matchmake with corporates and participants. Startups will even display/showcase their products at the venue, so it is definitely worth checking out.
For more information on the startups, check out the event brochure below.
