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Episode review from 05.10.2020

Mybimaxx

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

They are asking for €80,000 for their fitness start-up and are offering 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", which means they often perform exercises incorrectly and strain their bodies, causing damage as a result. Her fitness bandage is designed to prevent this.

By slightly constricting the blood vessels, less oxygen-poor blood flows back into the heart after the oxygen has been used up in the muscle cells, resulting in an oxygen deficiency. This is then transmitted to the brain, which in turn emits growth hormones, allowing the muscles to grow faster.

The two offer their product for €79.90 in a set of two; the sets are available 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. However, Nils Glagau is highly critical, asking what the USP of the product is and saying that this technology has been around 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 very quick-witted and defend themselves: unlike competitors, they have built in safety protection to prevent arteries from being pinched off. They also explain how reducing the training weight lowers blood pressure and thus also reduces the risk of thrombosis.

Despite their solid argumentation, it is unfortunately 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 information, visit: /organization/mybimaxx-gmbh/

MeShower

She pitches her start-up in a bathrobe and all 5 investors are enthusiastic and fight for a deal. Jaqueline Torres Martinez is a mother of two and worked as a pharmaceutical representative for a long time. Now she devotes all her heart and soul to her startup MeDusch.

During her time as a pharmaceutical representative, she realized how the demand for classic cold baths was decreasing. According to studies, she reports, 70% of Germans prefer to take a shower rather than a bath. It's quite clear that cold baths are slowly becoming outdated.

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

As a pharmaceutical representative, she has naturally developed a product that is free from parabens, silicones and microplastics. She proudly and confidently presents it and the lions eat out of her hand.

They are all thrilled. Especially Jaqueline's enthusiasm and ambition: she reports that she started a 14-day pre-sale in pharmacies, visited 100 pharmacies during this time and sold 1600 units of her shower foam.

She sells a shower foam for €7.95. She asks for €75,000 in start-up capital and offers 20% of her company shares.

But what she gets in the end is much more. After long bidding and outbidding the 5 investors, she finally closes a deal with Carsten Maschmeyer and Ralf Dümmel. The three salesmen's hearts have found each other. And the two are the perfect accelerators for her, as they have 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 are getting on board.

Finally, Ms. Williams emphasizes once again how proud Jaqueline can be of what she has achieved. 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.

Find out more at: /organization/medusch/

Schmuki

If you have children, you probably know the problem. After a long and eventful day in the kindergarten or sandpit, your own child often looks like the sandpit itself. Mud and dirt are all over their clothes and shoes. Nobody wants to put their child in the car like that. At least that's the hypothesis of the Schmuki founding team.

The two friends Marc and David have therefore developed Schmuki, an innovative dirt bag for children. The two then demonstrate how it works. Or rather, they got help from Naila, a 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 in the car without any problems.

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

Together with David, the idea developed into a market-ready product. The dirt bag for children between 3-6 years old, which fits in every child seat. It is made of polyester, has 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.

They currently have a market price of €29.99 with production costs of €7.20. However, they would like to achieve an RRP of €19.99 in the long term.

When the lions ask how many Schmukis they have already sold, the answer is honest but sobering: 15. It turned out that the print on their current production was coming off during washing, so they had to stop selling them and start a new production run. But there is also good news, as they have ordered new colors.

And now the discussion begins: Dr. Kofler intervenes first and notes that this is a relatively easy product to copy and asks about possible competitions. However, the founders have already protected their design pattern, the only problem is with a patent, as it is not a technical innovation that they are bringing to the market.

This is exactly where the shoe pinches, all 5 investors are worried about the imitability of the product. But Judith Williams emphasizes: "If every product that can be imitated had to be patented, then there would only be one of each product"

And she is right. Investor Nils Glagau is less hesitant and makes the founders an offer straight away: he offers 100,000 and wants 35% of the company shares.

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

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

And so Marc and David decide in favor of Mr. Dümmel and are more than happy!

Ella's Basenbande

Behind this somewhat peculiar name lies a whole gang, as Ella, the founder, calls her team. This includes her chef Konrad and her son Marcin. But her gang doesn't do anything crooked - on the contrary, they are all about healthy eating. And power woman Ella explains how this came about:

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 become a specialist in anesthesiology. But that wasn't all: in 1991 she founded her own clinic, which she ran for 20 years. During her time there, she reports that she learned a great deal about nutrition and how many common diseases are solely due to poor nutrition. The now 68-year-old wanted to counteract this problem and so, in her retirement, she studied various forms of nutrition and decided to found her own start-up.

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

The Mediterranean vegetable pan, potato curry and other dishes are freshly cooked and filled directly into jars, in which they can be kept for 40-50 days. A jar of vegetables retails for €4.99.

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

And their success so far is impressive: the gang has already sold 9,000 glasses in the past two months, even beyond Germany's borders.

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

Nico Rosbergis particularly worried that the product will only be able to serve a small niche market.

But then Nils Glagau intervenes, he is sure that this diet will work regardless of which diet you follow, there is general agreement on establishing 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 brief consultation, Ella proudly announces: "Nils, welcome to our gang!"

More information at: /organization/ella-s-basenbande/

Pocket Sky

The last pitch this week comes from two Viennese who want to combat the winter blues, spring fatigue and jet lag. With their silicone bands, which are worn like glasses, the body is prevented from producing the sleep hormone melatonin and therefore stays more awake.

Mark Wallerberg and Michael Geyer want 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 their eyes used to it and then with strong blue light. The lions test the product and are very enthusiastic.

After the founders' offer, however, the enthusiasm quickly wanes again: the Viennese offer €200,000 for 20% of the company shares.

The first critical questions 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 their product stops the rise in melatontin levels, but they have no further results. As a result, all the investors dropped out, saying it was simply too uncertain for them and that they first needed some studies on the effectiveness of the product before they could advertise and reach a mass market with it.

So, despite a very innovative idea, the two unfortunately come away empty-handed.