German Startup Awards 2023 - all winners

In a festive gala at the Tipi am Kanzleramt in Berlin, the brains behind outstanding startups were honored by the startup association with the German Startup Awards 2023. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave the keynote speech.

These are the winners

• Newcomer of the year: Mona Ghazi, co-founder of Optimo GmbH (Berlin)
• Newcomer of the Year: Dr. Alexander Glätzle, CEO & Co-Founder planqc (Garching near Munich)
• Founder of the Year: Jenny von Podewils, Co-CEO & Co-Founder Leapsome (Berlin)
• Founder of the Year: Thomas von der Ohe, Co-Founder & CEO Vay (Berlin)
• Investor of the Year: Tina Dreimann, Managing Partner & Founder better ventures (Munich)
• Investor of the Year: Fridtjof Detzner, Co-Founder & Partner Planet A Ventures (Hamburg)
• Impact Entrepreneur of the Year: Gülsah Wilke, Co-founder and Managing Director 2Hearts (Berlin)
• Impact Entrepreneur of the Year: Dr. Christoph Schmitz, Founder and CEO Acker (Potsdam/Berlin)
• Special award: Sebastian Matthes, Editor-in-Chief Handelsblatt (Düsseldorf)

The heart of the start-up scene beats for the new, the seemingly impossible and also for the fast. We need an alert and agile start-up scene.

Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany

Mona Ghazi was honored in the Newcomer of the Year category. With her start-up Optimo, she has developed a learning app that supports knowledge transfer and further training in family businesses. The prize for the best newcomer went to Dr. Alexander Glätzle from planqc, who is working on the development of the first German quantum computer based on neutral atoms. His company is enabling a highly scalable quantum technology that allows quantum advantages to be used in an industry-relevant way.

The winners have shown that entrepreneurship requires courage, perseverance, creativity and a spirit of innovation.

Franziska Teubert, Managing Director of the Startup Association

The German Startup Awards honored the founders of the year whose startups have the potential to become future unicorns and global market leaders. Jenny von Podewils, co-founder and co-CEO of Leapsome, was awarded the title of Founder of the Year. Thomas von der Ohe, founder of Vay, was named Founder of the Year. Leapsome is an international platform for people enablement, while Vay offers an innovative door-to-door mobility service with remote-controlled electric cars.

Investor and Investor of the Year

The Investor of the Year award was presented to Tina Dreimann from better ventures, who is committed to helping female impact founders create a better world. The Investor of the Year category was won by Fridtjof Detzner from Planet A Ventures, who supports green technology start-ups and drives solutions to environmental challenges. These awards recognize both investors' commitment to the success of startups and their efforts to effect positive change through their investments.

Impact Entrepreneur

The Impact Entrepreneur of the Year is awarded to entrepreneurs who solve social or environmental problems with their start-ups. Gülsah Wilke was honored as Social Entrepreneur of the Year. She is the co-founder of 2hearts, a platform for talented people with a migration background. Dr. Christoph Schmitz received the title of Impact Entrepreneur of the Year for his social enterprise Acker, which runs educational programs on vegetable growing and sustainability in schools.

Special prize

The special award honours individuals or organizations for their outstanding contribution to the startup ecosystem. This year, Sebastian Matthes, editor-in-chief of Handelsblatt, was awarded the prize. Matthes is one of the pioneers of startup journalism and already reported intensively on startups in the early years of his career. He was also largely responsible for the introduction of the WirtschaftsWoche Gründerpreis, one of the first awards for start-ups in Germany.

Comment on the special prize: "Congratulations to all the winners and especially to Sebastian Matthes. We at Startbase are extremely pleased that the special prize was awarded to a colleague from the field of journalism. We are extremely grateful for every strong voice that reports on startups and are delighted about the recognition and appreciation that this brings to startup reporting as a whole.