Investors and the public want to know exactly what's going on and put start-ups to the test

"We are revolutionizing respiratory treatment," announced Elçin Can Çavuşoğlu, Co-founder & CEO of the start-up Breathment, in his pitch at the Investor Summit Bodensee. With a digital health platform that supports patients with COPD and asthma, they want to close gaps in care in chronic respiratory medicine. Breathment relies on artificial intelligence and uses the front camera of the smartphone to monitor patients in real time and guide breathing exercises. The aim is for every patient to be able to improve their own quality of life from the comfort of their own home using their smartphone. In cooperation with leading European healthcare systems, including AOK, this solution is set to usher in a new era of mobile respiratory therapy.

The event offered young companies from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg the opportunity to present their innovations and network with potential investors. Despite the original ideas, the audience did not shy away from asking critical questions, which enabled the founders to explain their concepts in detail. Several extraordinary concepts surpassed nervous voices during the pitches.

Dr Anna Christmann, Federal Government Commissioner for Digitalization and Start-ups, welcomed the participants with a motivating digital message from Berlin. She emphasized the importance of events such as the Investor Summit for Germany as a location for innovation and underlined the financial support of ten billion euros from the federal government to support start-ups on their path to success. "I am delighted that activities such as the Investor Summit Bodensee are taking place at Zeppelin University. It is important to fill innovation with investment," she explained. Her wish: lots of good investments for the projects presented.

Artificial intelligence was the focus of many pitches and was a key feature of the event. A special highlight was the kick-off, where all twelve start-ups were creatively presented in a rap song. Maks Giordano hosted the entire day with charm and ease, giving the event a special atmosphere.

Another special impression was made by the start-up Devanthro, which is responding to the care crisis with its "Robody". This robot can be controlled remotely using VR goggles and thus offers a revolutionary solution for the care sector. In line with the motto "You can not be in two places at once", which was printed on the T-shirt of co-founder and CEO Rafael Hostettler, the start-up showed that care could be possible over long distances in the future - even from the Maldives. Visitors were also able to control a Robody in Munich from the Zeppelin University campus.

Another promising start-up was Shit2Power. With their pioneering approach, they turn sewage treatment plants into power plants, creating a revolutionary link between waste management and energy production. Using state-of-the-art technologies, sewage sludge is converted into valuable energy, which not only reduces environmental pollution but also creates a sustainable source of energy.

Shit2Power sees wastewater not just as a waste product, but as an unused resource, explains the co-founder and CEO of Shit2Power. A company co-founded by a student at Zeppelin University also made it to the jury.

At the end of the day, one pitch-enthusiastic investor aptly summarized the enthusiasm of many: "If you can do it like this, I'll buy you." The summit was a complete success, and it will be exciting to see which of the ideas presented will find their way into everyday practice in the coming years and perhaps even make a name for themselves as "unicorns" (start-ups with a valuation of over one billion US dollars).

Germany currently has 32 such companies, and it is quite possible that one of the start-ups presented here will soon be one of them.

In addition to Breathment, Shit2Power and Devanthro , Eversion Technologies, Global Changer, Proservation, MySympto, HydroSKIN, CereGate, Trusted Accounts and Valid also took part in the Lake Constance Investor Summit as pitching start-ups.