Three SMEs winning the SME & Start-up Pitch Event @CLIB

The SME & Start-up Pitch Event @ CLIB took place in two parts: a training session on 18 August and a pitching competition on 25 August. A total of 10 SMEs took part, with eight participating in the pitching competition.

On that day, Georg Lentzen from b.value AG gave an overview of development in biotechnology. He started with the substantial investments in the 2000s, where the dream was to produce biofuels or biobased bulk chemicals. He pointed to the boom in synthetic biology as a gamechanger in biotech as well as the current challenges posed by the global crises. Current trends, he said, are regionality, the safety of supply chains, and the independency of fossil gas and oil. If start-ups can present scalable business models and realistic milestones, they can still get VC funding, even in these challenging times.

All eight pitches were very well prepared and structured, with a variety of business ideas from feedstock databases, modifications of pharmaceutical APIs, to biotech applications and the production of bulk chemicals.

The very well-deserved winners were COLIPI (sustainable oils made by yeast cells fed with CO₂-grown bacteria), Lignovations (colloidal lignin), and Peelon (natural coating to preserve fresh fruit and vegetables). They all secured a spot at the MPowerBIO Final Event/TechTour Bioeconomy 2022 in Wuppertal, Germany on 05 October.
The SME & Start-up Pitch Event @ CLIB was supported by MPowerBIO and BioeconomyVentures.