News week 17 - 2024

Gitti Conscious Beauty launches crowdinvesting campaign. Innovation partnership between FIASCO and PlanSo. Strategic partnership between Sachpool and Cherrisk. 20 years of Manage and More. BayBG increases investment in Wenzel Group. Freelancer Compass 2024: Hourly rates rise to 102 euros. Plan-B NET ZERO with €30 million turnover in first financial year. Zenjob and compleet form partnership. let's dev and anyhelpnow form partnership. Winner of the Startup Champs 2024.

Gitti Conscious Beauty launches crowdinvesting campaign for its 5th anniversary

Berlin-based startup gitti Conscious Beauty is launching a crowdinvesting campaign on April 30 to mark its 5th anniversary. For the first time, this offers the community the opportunity to participate in the company and help shape the beauty industry. The initiative, supported by the WIWIN platform, aims to raise €1 million in capital to drive gitti's growth. Investors receive an annual return of 8% and the opportunity to support sustainable product developments. With a focus on expansion and internationalization, the company aims to strengthen its position in the beauty industry and further engage its community. Further information and contact details can be found on gitti's start base profile.

Freelancer Compass 2024: Hourly rates rise to 102 euros

The current Freelancer Compass 2024 shows that the average hourly rate for freelancers in the D-A-CH region has risen to 102 euros, with women contributing significantly to the narrowing of the gender pay gap with an above-average increase of six euros. Despite an increase in gross revenue and profit, many freelancers are less satisfied with their economic situation, possibly due to the general rise in prices. However, overall satisfaction levels remain stable, with technical skills, particularly AI expertise, continuing to be key to higher income and satisfaction. Remote working is gaining in importance, with a majority of respondents seeing the freedom to choose where to work as conducive to focus and creativity.

20 years of Manage and More

The "Manage and More" scholarship program from UnternehmerTUM, Europe's start-up and innovation center, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Since its inception in 2004, 800 students have participated in the program, of which 240 graduates have gone on to found companies. The program combines talented young people, first-class training and a close network of alumni and UnternehmerTUM to provide intensive support for start-up projects. Over 18 months, participants are intensively developed in their start-up personality by exploring their motivation for entrepreneurship and developing digital products, services and new business models.

Innovation partnership between FIASCO and PlanSo

FIASCO GmbH and PlanSo GmbH have entered into an innovation partnership to jointly offer a solution for body and paint stores. PlanSo is a provider of a cloud-based operating system for the automotive industry, while FIASCO offers digital automotive claims management. The partnership includes the integration of a white-label solution from FIASCO into the PlanSo operating system, which enables vehicle owners to report damage digitally. This solution also includes AI-supported calculations.

Plan-B NET ZERO records €30 million turnover in its first financial year

Greentech startup PLAN-B NET ZERO (PBNZ) has announced its preliminary revenue figures for 2023. Despite challenging market conditions, the company achieved total revenue of around €30 million in its first year of operations, accompanied by a positive EBITDA. For the current year, the company is aiming for an increase to €120-150 million. PBNZ is focusing on inorganic growth through investment negotiations with four green energy companies. PBNZ invites other potential partners along the entire renewable energy value chain to join and benefits from individual support in areas such as sales, marketing, financing and organization.

Strategic partnership between Sachpool and Cherrisk

Sachpool GmbH, a broker pool for property insurance, and Cherrisk, a provider of digital property and travel insurance, have announced a strategic partnership. This collaboration aims to improve the insurance offering for brokers in the property insurance sector. By integrating Cherrisk's digital property insurance products, Sachpool's partners will gain access to customized products that leverage technology and customer-centric concepts.

BayBG increases investment in Wenzel Group

Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft BayBG has announced that it is increasing its investment in the Wiesthal-based Wenzel Group. The Wenzel Group specializes in measurement technology and software for quality assurance, which is used in various industries such as the automotive industry, aircraft and mechanical engineering as well as plastics and medical technology. The additional capital will be used to expand sales and drive the company's further international growth. As an equity investor for SMEs, BayBG supports companies in their innovation and growth projects and in optimizing their capital structure with an invested volume of over €395 million.

Zenjob and compleet in partnership

Zenjob and compleet have entered into a partnership to simplify HR staffing. By integrating compleet's vendor management system, Zenjob has been able to further automate and accelerate the recruitment process. The automation rate increased from 43% to 95%, reducing the average placement time from 7.5 hours to 1.4 hours. This collaboration enables companies to find qualified talent quickly and fill open shifts efficiently.

Partnership for growth: let's dev and anyhelpnow

Brothers Christian and Karl-J. Wack, founders of let's dev, have decided to acquire five percent of the shares in anyhelpnow, a service platform startup from Saarland. With its focus on app development and user experience design, let's dev will act as a development and strategy partner to support the growth and scaling of anyhelpnow. This partnership will enable anyhelpnow to expand its platform, grow services and develop new technologies while the team from Karlsruhe and Kirkel-Limbach work together to realize the founder's vision.

Winners of the Startup-Champs 2024

The winners of the Startup-Champs 2024 have been announced, with the Hamburg-based company PARTICIPAYED being named the overall winner. The pitch competition"Startup Champs goes FinTech" took place as part of the Fintech Festival FIBE Berlin, which was held in Berlin for the first time. A jury selected the winners from three companies from each of the German startup strongholds Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Cologne. Berlin, represented by the companies NAO, U Impact and tilta, secured the regional prize with the victory of tilta. Among other things, this company will represent Berlin at the international startup conference Slush in Helsinki in November 2024. The Startup Champs, an initiative of Berlin Partner, KölnBusiness, Hamburg Invest and Munich Startup/WERK1, were awarded for the fifth time this year.