MAINTECH Startup Summit 2019

On Thursday, April 11, 2019, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management hosted its second MAINTECH Startup Summit together with EXCON Services and Fintus GmbH. 15 start-ups presented their ideas, mainly in the field of FinTech, InsurTech and LawTech. Frankfurt School students as well as alumni and other interested parties from the Rhein-Main area could apply.

At the event, the audience chose the ten best ideas. The jury, composed of Professor Dr Florian Ellsäßer, Dr. Werner Jackstädt Assistant Professor of International Entrepreneurship, Joanna Karajanov, Chief Information Officer and responsible for the AI Initiative, both working for Frankfurt School, Viktor Luckner, Senior Portfolio Manager at Profunda Verwaltungs-GmbH, Ram Shoam, Founder of Accelerator Frankfurt, and Neal Swaelens, Business Development Manager at Santiment, evaluated the performance of the start-ups in the second round.

The start-up Read-O, a so-called book-advisor, using artificial intelligence and natural language processing to reinvent search and review for books and other media, founded by the Frankfurt School students Simon Farshid and Jonathan Mondorf won the first prize – 5.000 euro. Lofino, an app that enables employees to submit an invoice won 3.000 euro and the second prize. Parloo, a platform that helps to plan events, came third and was awarded with 2.000 euro.

Lessons learned: Finanzguru about factors of success for your own enterprise

As guest speaker, Benjamin Michel, Frankfurt School alumnus and founder of the successful app Finanzguru, talked about important factors in order to get investors for your own start-up. “When you found your own business, look for long-term partners who will also help you in difficult times. Moreover, the investor should push your company with criticism and new ideas,” emphasised Benjamin Michel.