Last week on: "The Lion's Den" ...

Magdalena Hinze Magdalena Hinze | 15.10.2020

Episode review from 05.10.2020

Mybimaxx

First to enter the den are Bastian and Lukas, two founders from Stuttgart. The two brothers have developed Mybimaxx, a fitness bandage that promises to build the same muscle mass in half the workout time and with a quarter of the weight.

For their fitness startup they ask for 80.000€ and offer 25% of the company shares.

The two came up with the idea because Lukas was an ambitious professional athlete, but had to end his career early due to numerous injuries. This gave rise to the idea that many athletes train according to the motto "a lot helps a lot", thus often perform exercises incorrectly and strain their bodies and subsequently also harm them. With their fitness bandage this should be avoided.

. (Photo: © mybimaxx, 2020)

By slightly constricting the blood vessels, after oxygen has been depleted in the muscle cells, less oxygen-depleted blood flows back into the heart, creating an oxygen deficiency. This is then sent to the brain, which in turn sends out growth hormones, causing the muscles to grow faster.

They offer their product for 79,90 € in a set of two, available are the sets for arms, legs and calves.

The reaction of the lions: Judith Williams is enthusiastic, she herself has recently started weight training and would like to achieve the same results with less effort - she clearly sees a market. Nils Glagau, however, is highly critical, asking himself: Where is the USP of the product and thinks that this technology has existed for a long time. Dr. Georg Kofler

also expresses his concerns about a change in blood pressure or circulatory problems.

However, the two founders are quick-witted and defend themselves, saying that unlike competitors, they have built in safety protection to prevent arteries from being pinched off. In addition, they explain how reducing exercise weight lowers blood pressure and therefore reduces the risk of thrombosis at the same time.

Despite solid reasoning: unfortunately, it's not enough for the investors and Mybimaxx has to go home without a lion deal, but the two firmly believe in their product.

For more info check out: /organization/mybimaxx-gmbh/

MeDusch

In a bathrobe, she pitches her startup and all 5 investors are excited and fighting for a deal. Jaqueline Torres Martinez is a mother of two and was a pharmaceutical sales rep for a long time. Now she dedicates all her heart and soul to her startup MeDusch.

(Photo: TVNOW / Stefan Gregorowius)

During her time as a pharmaceutical representative, she realized how the demand for classic cold baths was dwindling. According to studies, she reports, 70% of Germans prefer to shower rather than bathe. Quite clearly, a cold bath is becoming so out.

But Jaqueline finds a solution: she simply brings the cold bath into the shower and develops a shower foam purely from essential oils. Eucalyptus clears the airways, menthol soothes a cough and with additional ingredients such as almond and avocado oil, the shower foam is also supposed to care for the skin.

As a pharmaceutical representative, she has naturally developed a product that is free of parabens, silicones and microplastics. Proudly and confidently she presents it and the lions are eating out of her hand.

Everyone's excited as hell. Especially with Jaqueline's enthusiasm and ambition: she reports she started a 14-day pre-sale in pharmacies, visiting 100 pharmacies in that time and selling 1600 units of her shower foam.

She sells a shower foam for 7,95€. She demands 75,000€ start-up capital and offers 20% of her company shares.

But what she ends up with is much more. After a long time of bidding and outbidding the 5 investors, she finally closes a deal with Carsten Maschmeyer and Ralf Dümmel. The three sales hearts have found each other. And the two are the perfect accelerators for her, as they already promoted Aspuraclip a mini inhaler as a duo and made it big. They now plan to do the same with Medusch.

With €100,000, 30% of the company shares and a nationwide poster campaign, they get in.

In closing, Ms. Williams emphasizes once again how proud Jaqueline can be of what she has accomplished. The founder is moved to tears and leaves the show with two big investors on board, as well as a lot of praise and enthusiasm for her startup.

(Photo: TVNOW / Stefan Gregorowius)

See more at: /organization/medusch/

Schmuki

Anyone who has children probably knows the problem. After a long and eventful day in the kindergarten or sandbox, your own child often looks like the sandbox itself. Mud and dirt are everywhere on the clothes and shoes. No one wants to put their child in the car like that. At least that's the hypothesis of Schmuki's founding team.

The two friends Marc and David have therefore developed the Schmuki, an innovative dirt bag for children. How it works, the two then also directly demonstrate. Or rather they got help from Naila, professional playground user, as the two call her. After the girl has really soiled herself while playing, she is stowed away in the Schmuki and can now be put into the car without any problems.

Marc came up with the idea at the time because he has a son himself and was faced with the task of bringing his son home every day and keeping his car clean at the same time.

(Photo: ©Schmuki, 2020)

Together with David, the idea developed into a marketable product. The dirt bag for children between 3-6 years, which fits into any child seat. It is made of polyester, covered with a water-repellent coating and can be washed at 30 degrees in any washing machine.

So far so good, the two founders make their offer: 100,000€ for 20% of the company shares

.

Currently they have a market price of 29,99€ with a manufacturing cost of 7,20€. However, they would like to get to an MSRP of 19,99€ in the long run.

When the lions ask how many Schmukis they have already sold, the honest but sobering answer comes: 15 pieces. With their current production it had turned out that the print comes off during washing and so the two had to stop their sales and initiate a new production. There is good news though, in the process they ordered new colors right away.

And now the discussion starts: Dr.Kofler

intervenes first, noting that this is a relatively easy product to copy and asking about possible competitions. But the founders have already protected their design pattern, it is only with a patent that there are difficulties, because it is not a technical innovation that they bring to the market.

That's exactly where the shoe pinches, all 5 investors are worried about the imitability of the product. But Judith Williams

points out, "If every product that was imitable had to be patented, then there would only be exactly one of each product"

And right she is. Investor Nils Glagau

is less hesitant and makes an offer directly to the founders: he offers 100,000 and wants 35% of the company shares.

Suddenly Ralf Dümmel

is also more than enthusiastic. He tells, also he has 3 children and a lot of cars eingesaut. He asks the founders where they were 20 years ago when he had the problem. With great enthusiasm, he praises the founders and makes them an offer: 100,000 for 40%.

However, he stresses he wants them to keep a majority together and promises to make something really big out of it and their 60% will be worth really big if they invest with him.

And said done Marc and David decide for Mr. Dümmel

and are more than happy!

Ella's base gang

Behind this somewhat peculiar name hides a whole gang, as Ella, the founder, calls her team. This includes her cook Konrad, as well as her son Marcin. But her gang doesn't do anything crooked, on the contrary, everything revolves around healthy nutrition. And how it came to this explains power woman Ella:

Born in Poland, she studied medicine after graduating from high school and came to Germany at the age of 25. Together with her three-year-old son, no knowledge of German but a medical degree, Ella was ready for a better life.

Her first stop was to get her residency in anesthesiology. But she didn't stop there in 1991 when she started her own clinic, which she ran for 20 years. During her time there, she reports, she learned a great deal about nutrition and how many common diseases can be traced back solely to poor nutrition. The now 68-year-old was keen to counteract this problem, and so it came about that in her retirement she studied various forms of nutrition and decided to found her own startup.

(Photo: © Uplegger Food Company )

Her goal is to bring a 100 year old nutritional form: the alkaline diet, back into society and especially into the fast food sector. Together with her son Marcin and chef Konrad, she developed dishes that are 100% alkaline, certified organic, completely without sugar or additives, and fit in a small jar.

Freshly cooked, the Mediterranean Vegetable Skillet, Potato Curry

and other dishes, are packed directly into jars where they will keep for 40-50 days. A jar full of vegetables retails for €4.99.

With the support of the lions, they plan to mass produce their already polished concept and further expand their distribution system. Their offer: €150,000 for 15% of the company's shares

.

And their successes so far are nothing to sneeze at: the gang has already sold 9000 glasses in the past 2 months, and even across Germany's borders.

The investors are enthusiastic about the concept and especially about the founder. However, there is great agreement about the problem of a reasonable cold chain. Four of the five lions are very skeptical about this and are therefore out of the investment.

Nico Rosberg

is also worried that the product will only be able to serve a small niche market.

But then Nils Glagau

intervenes, he is sure that this food will work no matter what kind of diet you follow now, there is general agreement to establish more and more vegetables in every diet. He feels very close to the topic and has the perfect network for this product and does not want to let the team go home without an offer. He offers 20% for 150,000€ and after a short consultation Ella proudly announces, "Nils, welcome to our gang!"

More info at: /organization/ella-s-base-gang/

Pocket Sky

The last pitch this week comes from two Viennese guys who want to fight the winter blues, spring fatigue or jetlag. With their silicone bands, which you wear like glasses, your body is prevented from building up the sleep hormone melatonin and thus stays more awake.

(Photo: ©Pocket Sky, 2020)

Mark Wallerberg and Michael Geyer want to use it to help people who struggle with constant fatigue, and promise an effect after just 20 minutes. The so-called "Pocket Sky" first irradiates the wearer with the warm light of a sunrise to get his eyes used to it and then with strong blue light. The lions test the product and are very enthusiastic.

After the offer of the founders, however, the enthusiasm quickly flattens: 200,000€ for 20% of the company shares

offer the Viennese.

The first critical inquiries come from Nico Rosberg: he wants to know to what extent the effect of the product has been scientifically proven. Unfortunately, the founders can only prove that the increase in melatontine levels is stopped by their product, but they do not have any further results. As a result, all investors drop out, saying that it is simply too uncertain for them and that they first need some studies on the effectiveness of the product before they can advertise and reach a mass market with it.

So despite a very innovative idea, they unfortunately come up empty.


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Startup 2020 Monheim a. Rhein Medusch Manufacturing and sales of medical cold showers as a counterpart to classic cold baths.

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