Latest / Blockchain Germany – Web3 Startups, Crypto Innovation & Venture Capital by Startuprad.io™ / GSA News May 2024: $7.5B in New VC Funds
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- WEBVTT 00:00:05.097 --> 00:00:12.617 Welcome to StartupRad.io, your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German 00:00:12.617 --> 00:00:17.357 startup scene with news, interviews, and live events. 00:00:19.797 --> 00:00:23.817 Hello and welcome, everybody. This is Joe from StartupRad.io, 00:00:23.957 --> 00:00:28.257 your startup podcast and YouTube blog from Germany, welcoming becoming another 00:00:28.257 --> 00:00:33.137 guest from Frankfurt in our series Tech Startups Germany with the European Enterprise 00:00:33.137 --> 00:00:35.277 Network Hessen. Hey Max, how are you doing? 00:00:35.537 --> 00:00:38.517 I'm fine, thank you very much for the invitation. Happy to be talking to you today. 00:00:38.857 --> 00:00:43.437 Totally my pleasure. As I said, our enabler today is Hessen Trade & Invest and 00:00:43.437 --> 00:00:44.477 the Enterprise Europe Network. 00:00:45.097 --> 00:00:50.237 This recording was made possible by Hessen Trade & Invest and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. 00:00:50.677 --> 00:00:54.997 These organizations have made tremendous contribution to helping startup businesses 00:00:54.997 --> 00:01:00.297 succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find friends 00:01:00.297 --> 00:01:01.557 to ongoing partnerships. 00:01:01.837 --> 00:01:06.517 By taking advantage of these resources, startup companies can network and develop 00:01:06.517 --> 00:01:10.297 innovative strategies for success on the international stage. 00:01:10.517 --> 00:01:17.317 The dedicated support of HDI and the enterprise work HESN is paramount in providing 00:01:17.317 --> 00:01:21.077 startup businesses with the tools for lasting success. 00:01:21.317 --> 00:01:26.057 You can learn more or in the show notes down here below, wherever you're looking 00:01:26.057 --> 00:01:27.637 at this or listening to this. 00:01:27.757 --> 00:01:33.477 For everybody who's watching, sorry for the red eye, but allergy season is up on us again. 00:01:34.817 --> 00:01:41.577 Now that we have everything out of the way, I'm sorry, that was a lot of initial stuff. 00:01:42.857 --> 00:01:46.517 Maximilian, would you like to introduce yourself and how you, 00:01:46.577 --> 00:01:51.857 an Austrian guy, ended up setting up a AI startup here in Frankfurt? 00:01:52.457 --> 00:01:55.477 Yeah, sure. Thank you very much. So hi everyone. My name is Max. 00:01:55.577 --> 00:01:59.217 I'm 26 and I'm originally from Austria and Vienna, as Sarah already mentioned. 00:01:59.597 --> 00:02:02.437 And yeah, we came up setting Scavenger here in Frankfurt. Actually, 00:02:02.657 --> 00:02:06.237 I was doing an internship already more than a year ago here in Frankfurt, 00:02:06.377 --> 00:02:11.137 where I fell in love with the city and we got to know the props in this stage 00:02:11.137 --> 00:02:12.597 to our very good lawyer, Dr. 00:02:12.657 --> 00:02:16.737 Jan-Felix Kumker, who was of big help of all the bureaucracy that's going on 00:02:16.737 --> 00:02:21.097 around founding a startup and who suggested us because we really trusted him 00:02:21.097 --> 00:02:24.237 to set it up here in Frankfurt where he gave me of help the whole time. 00:02:24.597 --> 00:02:26.877 So yeah, started here and stayed here. 00:02:27.257 --> 00:02:32.617 As everybody can tell, not everybody from Austria need to have an accent like Schwarzenegger. 00:02:32.677 --> 00:02:38.757 I have to admit right now, I do believe his accent is kind of an act that people 00:02:38.757 --> 00:02:42.917 instantly recognize, oh, that's him, kind of branding stuff. 00:02:44.996 --> 00:02:50.576 You studied in Vienna and Bocconi, but what I found very interesting, 00:02:50.796 --> 00:02:56.476 you have been a professional athlete for some time, according to your LinkedIn 00:02:56.476 --> 00:02:59.176 profile, which, by the way, we are also linking down here. 00:02:59.416 --> 00:03:03.396 Can you talk a little bit about that, what you did here and what kind of sports? 00:03:04.776 --> 00:03:09.276 Sure, of course. Very happy to. So, yeah, I was playing hockey from a very young 00:03:09.276 --> 00:03:10.916 age, actually from four years on. 00:03:10.916 --> 00:03:13.636 And yeah went through like on the 00:03:13.636 --> 00:03:16.716 national level to an international level and was captain of 00:03:16.716 --> 00:03:19.516 the austrian youth hockey national team here played a 00:03:19.516 --> 00:03:22.296 couple of european championships one thing in 00:03:22.296 --> 00:03:26.616 the end it was four championships of the austrian in the austrian level and 00:03:26.616 --> 00:03:30.216 yeah it was a really great time looking back into it and yeah i miss it from 00:03:30.216 --> 00:03:35.216 time to time and we're talking about here field hockey not ice hockey right 00:03:35.216 --> 00:03:38.356 we're talking about field hockey for me it's always clear but for For someone 00:03:38.356 --> 00:03:41.416 who didn't play field hockey, obviously, ice hockey is the first thing that comes to mind. 00:03:42.496 --> 00:03:48.196 Okay. You did a few internships, including at Deloitte, where we did not meet. 00:03:48.456 --> 00:03:55.236 And you have been at the Financial Times Challenge. What was this all about? 00:03:55.796 --> 00:03:58.696 Yes, it was actually a very cool initiative by the Financial Times. 00:03:58.796 --> 00:04:01.996 Back then, it was supposed to be in London. And luckily, obviously, it was COVID. 00:04:02.116 --> 00:04:04.416 And I was doing it back from my living room. 00:04:05.256 --> 00:04:08.376 Nevertheless, the challenge was really, really cool. It was for three days on 00:04:08.376 --> 00:04:13.496 where you had to basically the Financial Times gave you the most pressing issues 00:04:13.496 --> 00:04:16.916 of the time and you were supposed to build a startup around it that more or 00:04:16.916 --> 00:04:17.836 less solves those issues. 00:04:18.116 --> 00:04:23.536 So I would say it was totally cool. You were given experts and access to a lot 00:04:23.536 --> 00:04:28.216 of knowledge from experts from the Financial Times and could build in a natural 00:04:28.216 --> 00:04:31.316 startup in three days that then got accessed by Shoeis. 00:04:33.737 --> 00:04:38.857 What was your startup idea? Our idea was actually back then because it was the 00:04:38.857 --> 00:04:43.737 time a detector that detects particles in the air to make like an early detection 00:04:43.737 --> 00:04:46.157 system for transmittable diseases like COVID. 00:04:47.297 --> 00:04:52.617 I assume it will still be useful in the future. And then you started your own 00:04:52.617 --> 00:04:54.397 company in January 2020. 00:04:55.117 --> 00:04:59.737 Stopped that and started with Scavenger AI according to your LinkedIn profile. 00:04:59.737 --> 00:05:04.457 Can you take us through this journey because you stopped one company and then 00:05:04.457 --> 00:05:07.857 you instantly start with another in an AI company? 00:05:08.117 --> 00:05:11.677 How did you meet your co-founder? How did you get started with the idea? 00:05:12.417 --> 00:05:16.217 Definitely. So back then, my background is a bit of a different one. 00:05:16.297 --> 00:05:19.897 I actually studied business law, which has way more of a law focus than a business 00:05:19.897 --> 00:05:22.857 focus, which is also the reason why I worked first at Deloitte because I said 00:05:22.857 --> 00:05:25.857 I wanted to get a bit of a background more into business. business and then 00:05:25.857 --> 00:05:29.657 also started the first company, which back then was called Walking Art. 00:05:29.917 --> 00:05:32.917 And it was my first steps into entrepreneurship, I would say, 00:05:32.957 --> 00:05:36.557 together with a colleague of mine, what we saw during COVID that like the art 00:05:36.557 --> 00:05:42.317 sector is struggling a lot because artists don't have access to art or exhibitions anymore. 00:05:42.437 --> 00:05:45.077 And they're art fans. So we said, OK, we're more or less in a nutshell, 00:05:45.137 --> 00:05:50.297 do an online art gallery where they can host online exhibitions and so on, which was very nice. 00:05:51.117 --> 00:05:55.217 But then I joined because it was actually a case that was way more interested 00:05:55.217 --> 00:05:59.757 in the business side and I joined Bocconi University in Italy to study management there. 00:05:59.957 --> 00:06:03.777 And as then the work required a lot of personal meetings with the artists, 00:06:03.837 --> 00:06:05.357 it was a local business focused on Vienna. 00:06:05.837 --> 00:06:10.737 It was not possible anymore. But luckily in Bocconi, I met my lovely co-founder 00:06:10.737 --> 00:06:17.517 Felix, who is leading the tech part at Scavenger, who I reached out to very, very early on. 00:06:18.317 --> 00:06:24.137 And yeah, he was a fan of the idea. We talked We talked to it a lot. 00:06:24.697 --> 00:06:29.517 And yeah. So over long nights and early mornings, we talked in coffee chats 00:06:29.517 --> 00:06:33.437 at Bocconi University about it and in the end decided to fund Scavenger together. 00:06:35.481 --> 00:06:40.561 I see. So basically, you're an Austrian guy and your co-founder is German? 00:06:40.981 --> 00:06:42.761 Yes, my co-founder is German. He's from Aachen. 00:06:44.421 --> 00:06:49.941 From Aachen and from Austria, and you end up setting up a company in Frankfurt. 00:06:50.181 --> 00:06:51.581 That is pretty interesting. 00:06:51.981 --> 00:06:57.581 How did you get started? Can we first talk about what Scavenger does and then 00:06:57.581 --> 00:07:00.401 how you got the idea to do actually something like that? 00:07:00.401 --> 00:07:08.661 Because for me personally, to have a business lawyer doing AI is quite a stretch. 00:07:09.981 --> 00:07:13.181 Definitely. So Felix and me both, before doing our master's, 00:07:13.181 --> 00:07:14.401 we worked in big corporates first. 00:07:15.021 --> 00:07:18.021 And we were basically coming back from our summer internships where we worked 00:07:18.021 --> 00:07:18.881 in big corporates before. 00:07:18.961 --> 00:07:23.061 And we saw a problem that all of the companies say that data is super important, 00:07:23.221 --> 00:07:24.841 yet nobody really likes to deal with it. 00:07:25.061 --> 00:07:27.921 So you end up that all of the companies have tons of data. 00:07:27.981 --> 00:07:30.801 They create more and more data every day. but they lack the 00:07:30.801 --> 00:07:33.441 time and they lack the resources to actually draw any insights out of 00:07:33.441 --> 00:07:36.561 it and that was a problem that i'm sure your listeners like also 00:07:36.561 --> 00:07:39.201 know of that is really difficult if in a company you have to 00:07:39.201 --> 00:07:42.621 take a decision but do not have the necessary insights into your data to actually 00:07:42.621 --> 00:07:46.221 take that decision so yeah long story short we came back from that summer internship 00:07:46.221 --> 00:07:51.061 we exchanged in that idea um and luckily you get very early on an initial funding 00:07:51.061 --> 00:07:55.281 like i was still then working at my internship in frankfurt at a venture builder 00:07:55.281 --> 00:07:57.961 we focused on software and i where Where I got more in touch with that, 00:07:58.061 --> 00:08:01.361 Felix was working before two years as a lead in software development. 00:08:01.641 --> 00:08:03.861 So he also had a bit of more experience in that field. 00:08:04.341 --> 00:08:08.041 And so, yeah, Felix built a short POC overnight. We reached out to early investors, 00:08:08.141 --> 00:08:12.661 got from Carteligent and Volker Feud and Ash Cowher, a very early investor early 00:08:12.661 --> 00:08:14.521 on, that believed in the idea. 00:08:14.641 --> 00:08:18.461 Where back then it was just Felix, me and the pitch deck and the POC that he built overnight. 00:08:20.001 --> 00:08:23.881 And yeah, then we quit our jobs because we thought it might make more sense 00:08:23.881 --> 00:08:27.701 to work on this full time than before work and after work. And yeah, here we are. 00:08:29.761 --> 00:08:31.201 It is quite interesting. 00:08:34.081 --> 00:08:40.361 If I wrap it up, my understanding is from what you guys are doing is you have 00:08:40.361 --> 00:08:46.981 three distinct AI tools that help you analyze data you have from your own company, 00:08:47.861 --> 00:08:51.941 cleaning up data, doing statistical analyzes, and, 00:08:53.243 --> 00:08:57.743 generate an output in simple language. 00:08:59.163 --> 00:09:04.983 In which languages is this available? And can you take us a little bit through the journey? 00:09:05.123 --> 00:09:11.503 It's like two of those tools. Are they for cleaning, for aggregating data, or how does it work? 00:09:12.083 --> 00:09:16.083 Yeah, definitely. So in the end, what we want to do is offer customers a one-stop solution. 00:09:16.643 --> 00:09:19.983 So they can upload, as you mentioned before, they can upload any kind of data. 00:09:20.043 --> 00:09:23.123 Any kind of data sounds generic, but it's on purpose. It is generic, 00:09:23.283 --> 00:09:27.403 so you can imagine you can upload 27 excels, three PDFs, a word, 00:09:27.563 --> 00:09:30.343 whatsoever, or connect your company databases to it. 00:09:31.703 --> 00:09:35.443 Once you've done that, you can ask a very simple question. Like normally what 00:09:35.443 --> 00:09:38.303 I'll use is asking something like, okay, how can I improve my profit? 00:09:38.663 --> 00:09:41.503 From user perspective, that's everything you need to do. And then, 00:09:41.523 --> 00:09:44.703 as you mentioned before, we in the back actually have developed three different 00:09:44.703 --> 00:09:49.003 AI tools that are connected together in one workflow to solve the problem of 00:09:49.003 --> 00:09:50.363 the user in less than 10 seconds. 00:09:50.363 --> 00:09:53.803 But you can also only use one out of the three tools if you want to. 00:09:54.283 --> 00:09:57.483 And yeah, actually very correct, as you mentioned before. The first tool, 00:09:57.563 --> 00:10:00.943 it all starts with data cleaning, where we have a tool that automatically detects 00:10:00.943 --> 00:10:04.703 anomalies inside the data sets, also does all of the statistical data cleaning 00:10:04.703 --> 00:10:06.763 and separates numerical from textual data. 00:10:07.863 --> 00:10:11.463 Second, we save the textual data. We forward the numerical data to the next 00:10:11.463 --> 00:10:15.423 tool, which is more or less the key of Scavenger AI, which first has an algorithm 00:10:15.423 --> 00:10:18.863 that detects based on the question you asked and based on the data that got 00:10:18.863 --> 00:10:22.083 uploaded, what's the right mathematical numerical test to run. 00:10:22.363 --> 00:10:25.643 But then we don't stop there. We don't run one. We run like hundreds of tests 00:10:25.643 --> 00:10:28.423 simultaneously. Choose the one which has the highest statistical fit. 00:10:28.943 --> 00:10:32.723 Also save that where already the textual data is waiting. And lastly, 00:10:32.723 --> 00:10:35.963 we have an interpretation agent that enriches all of it with industry data, 00:10:36.123 --> 00:10:38.563 looks at the question, looks at what outcome we have generated, 00:10:38.683 --> 00:10:42.343 and translates all of it into a nice looking dashboard that answers the question 00:10:42.343 --> 00:10:43.303 that the user asked before. 00:10:44.124 --> 00:10:49.924 That is pretty interesting. How far along are you? You guys just trade but erased 00:10:49.924 --> 00:10:51.724 by the way that was the trigger. 00:10:52.284 --> 00:10:59.944 While we're talking today you raise 1.1 million euros in pre seed funding investors includes HTGF, 00:11:00.084 --> 00:11:05.264 the high tech corner for by the way, everybody who liked to get to know the 00:11:05.264 --> 00:11:07.044 CEO down here in the show notes, 00:11:07.144 --> 00:11:09.944 we link our interview with him and calm storm 00:11:09.944 --> 00:11:14.124 ventures from vienna um so 00:11:14.124 --> 00:11:19.964 you're in pre-seed how far along are you and what kind of data can you work 00:11:19.964 --> 00:11:25.004 with and how do your clients look like is it like the handyman from around the 00:11:25.004 --> 00:11:31.324 corner or is it like the big international banks definitely so um both actually 00:11:31.324 --> 00:11:33.364 all of the options you mentioned below. 00:11:34.524 --> 00:11:39.084 So yes, all of them basically. 00:11:39.364 --> 00:11:44.144 So the way what we say at the moment, we launched our first MVP back in November 2023. 00:11:44.764 --> 00:11:48.764 And this MVP we're at the moment trying out and testing out with pilot partners. 00:11:48.884 --> 00:11:52.064 Why are we doing that? Because we say, okay, we want to be as close as we can 00:11:52.064 --> 00:11:56.564 in development to our potential and future customers while we already generate 00:11:56.564 --> 00:11:59.664 from that value for them. So actually a win-win situation ideally. 00:12:00.064 --> 00:12:03.804 How our customers look like I'm actually unluckily not allowed to do some big 00:12:03.804 --> 00:12:07.364 name dropping here, but we're working with big enterprises. 00:12:07.484 --> 00:12:12.064 So like the big ones that you actually know, too, like the classical SMEs in Germany. 00:12:12.404 --> 00:12:16.704 And yeah, based on that, because in the end, the software itself is very, very flexible. 00:12:16.884 --> 00:12:20.584 It's a very mathematical software that with the LLM layer that we put on top, 00:12:20.704 --> 00:12:25.384 make it accessible for also people who don't necessarily studied statistics 00:12:25.384 --> 00:12:31.384 or mathematics to understand it, which then I would say in big enterprises, 00:12:31.544 --> 00:12:33.284 we always talk to head of departments, 00:12:34.104 --> 00:12:37.604 and in smaller companies, SMEs, we always talk to the C-level executives. 00:12:39.344 --> 00:12:43.564 And yeah, because you also asked before and I totally forgot to answer it, 00:12:43.584 --> 00:12:48.124 like the software at the moment is available in English, but it's no problem to switch language. 00:12:48.224 --> 00:12:52.624 It also works in Italian, German, French and Spanish, if I remember correctly 00:12:52.624 --> 00:12:56.504 so far, but we're happy to add another language if the language barrier should 00:12:56.504 --> 00:12:57.544 not be covered by that yet. 00:13:00.764 --> 00:13:03.984 There is right now a lot of, 00:13:06.312 --> 00:13:11.072 tools out there. There's like a sea of tools in data analytics and AI. 00:13:11.592 --> 00:13:13.572 How are you guys different here? 00:13:14.532 --> 00:13:18.352 Definitely. I mean, we are obviously in a blind. We do look at the competition 00:13:18.352 --> 00:13:19.952 and we see that it's a very crowded space. 00:13:20.372 --> 00:13:24.452 Yet one thing we've always tried to mention, and like we really want to live 00:13:24.452 --> 00:13:27.972 by that, is that in the end you have a technology, like at the moment it's artificial 00:13:27.972 --> 00:13:31.572 intelligence that you want to use, not for the sake of using artificial intelligence, 00:13:31.732 --> 00:13:35.952 but to actually solve the problem of a user, which in the end is how you solve 00:13:35.952 --> 00:13:36.792 it, the user doesn't care. 00:13:37.232 --> 00:13:40.492 So the way that we say it is like, yeah, we've developed in the end, it's free. 00:13:40.572 --> 00:13:44.652 I tools that I powered, which are at the moment the best possible way to solve 00:13:44.652 --> 00:13:47.452 the problem for the user, but as described before, 00:13:47.592 --> 00:13:50.592 we have developed this one step solution that is powered by the free tools where 00:13:50.592 --> 00:13:54.372 the user doesn't have to do anything else than throw all of the data in, 00:13:54.452 --> 00:13:59.372 ask the questions and we do all the analytics more or less like a consulting project for them. 00:14:00.652 --> 00:14:05.292 You're not permitted to drop names, but can you drop industries and what kind 00:14:05.292 --> 00:14:08.552 of industries are your customers right now working? Yes, definitely. 00:14:09.632 --> 00:14:12.832 So we're working a lot in the food and beverage sector. We're working a bit 00:14:12.832 --> 00:14:18.292 in the sports sector as well, because there's a lot of data available. 00:14:18.632 --> 00:14:20.612 And we're working also with the classical, 00:14:20.792 --> 00:14:24.352 I would say like German hidden champions, let's say it like that. 00:14:26.612 --> 00:14:31.952 Scalability is often a challenge for AI startups. How do you guys plan to scale 00:14:31.952 --> 00:14:34.492 in terms of operations and infrastructure? 00:14:35.852 --> 00:14:39.492 Definitely. So in terms of infrastructure, Felix and the tech team here did 00:14:39.492 --> 00:14:42.732 a really, really great job and set everything up in a very modular structure. 00:14:42.952 --> 00:14:48.092 In tech terms, it's called microservices, which allows us to have a very, 00:14:48.152 --> 00:14:49.712 very scalable approach of the software. 00:14:50.612 --> 00:14:55.192 Also at the moment, which is one of the reasons why we get the cool investment 00:14:55.192 --> 00:14:59.792 is that we're really set up for scalability and our costs in that case are very, very low. 00:15:00.852 --> 00:15:03.972 So that's very nice. In operational levels, like always, it's something you 00:15:03.972 --> 00:15:07.092 have to do with time. We are going to grow like with the investments, we're going to grow. 00:15:08.088 --> 00:15:11.128 20 people because obviously operational load is getting heavier 00:15:11.128 --> 00:15:14.508 but like we're also covered with the investment to um 00:15:14.508 --> 00:15:18.688 to lift that definitely um talking 00:15:18.688 --> 00:15:21.828 about investments after pre-seed it usually suggests 00:15:21.828 --> 00:15:28.728 that you want to do a siege round what are you guys long-term goals and when 00:15:28.728 --> 00:15:34.388 you go to the website you can basically register to be a test client do you 00:15:34.388 --> 00:15:39.168 have any guesstimate when you'll be open to all clients out there? 00:15:39.928 --> 00:15:44.408 Yes, that's a very perfect transition. Love to love to tease it out here at this point. 00:15:45.328 --> 00:15:50.248 So, yeah, actually, at the end of Q2 2024, so like in end of June, 00:15:50.328 --> 00:15:52.648 we're going to launch the whole software life. 00:15:53.048 --> 00:15:57.208 So from then on, you can actually you don't need to be a test partner anymore, 00:15:57.288 --> 00:15:58.788 which obviously also has its advantages. 00:15:58.968 --> 00:16:01.088 So if you still want to be a test partner, happy to welcome you. 00:16:01.848 --> 00:16:05.268 Yet from end of June 2024, the whole software is going to go live. 00:16:07.208 --> 00:16:08.488 I see. I see. 00:16:10.808 --> 00:16:16.168 What other plans do you have? We're now drifting a little bit into the Outlook 00:16:16.168 --> 00:16:18.688 area in terms of geography. 00:16:18.988 --> 00:16:24.588 But I would believe everybody from the European Union is pretty safe in throwing 00:16:24.588 --> 00:16:29.968 your data into the analytics tool because you're based in the European Union. 00:16:31.188 --> 00:16:34.068 Do you plan to expand for international clients? 00:16:35.328 --> 00:16:38.748 Yes, definitely. First grade that you mentioned, at the moment, 00:16:38.788 --> 00:16:41.628 which is very, very important for all our customers that we have so far, 00:16:41.728 --> 00:16:46.368 is that all our servers, our databases are actually in Frankfurt in Germany 00:16:46.368 --> 00:16:49.088 as well and are 100% GDPR compliant, 00:16:49.388 --> 00:16:51.608 which obviously is huge. 00:16:51.808 --> 00:16:54.668 So I would say like all the due to, as mentioned before, the language barrier 00:16:54.668 --> 00:16:58.028 and because we're already set up very, very well in terms of data security, 00:16:58.328 --> 00:17:01.808 which in Europe obviously is way more protected than when you look to the Asian 00:17:01.808 --> 00:17:03.328 market or the American market. 00:17:03.628 --> 00:17:06.848 And so I would say like also in case of those crucial issues, 00:17:06.988 --> 00:17:08.508 we're already set up for expansion here. 00:17:09.871 --> 00:17:15.491 Mm hmm. And you already have four investors. 00:17:16.251 --> 00:17:21.611 I was wondering, and for most people who are listening to this are wondering, 00:17:21.751 --> 00:17:23.691 are you open to talk to new investors? 00:17:24.631 --> 00:17:29.031 Yes, definitely. I mean, like before the round, after the round and vice versa, I would say. 00:17:29.471 --> 00:17:34.491 So we're always open to talking to new investors, actually, like straight after the pre-seed round, 00:17:34.591 --> 00:17:39.131 straight after the closing, we already went into talks with new investors for the seed round, 00:17:39.131 --> 00:17:42.051 which I mean still is far away like should be closed 00:17:42.051 --> 00:17:45.671 at the end of 2025 um but it's 00:17:45.671 --> 00:17:48.671 also always great to talk to investors and interesting people during 00:17:48.671 --> 00:17:51.871 times where there is not the regular fundraising chaos so yeah 00:17:51.871 --> 00:17:57.371 very happy to also get in touch now the regular fundraising chaos ah yeah I 00:17:57.371 --> 00:18:04.471 see um usually a lot of people are out here uh looking for potential employers 00:18:04.471 --> 00:18:08.931 are you guys also looking for new people out there, for new hires? 00:18:10.051 --> 00:18:14.811 Yes, definitely. Always. We know that one of the key assets we have at the moment is great people. 00:18:15.051 --> 00:18:18.851 And our product and our company is only as good as the people that we have on board. 00:18:19.591 --> 00:18:24.511 So yes, 100%. We are actually trying to, as I said before, we're trying to grow 00:18:24.511 --> 00:18:30.351 from 10 to 20 people this year, meaning that we have still 10 spots available, if you're hearing this. 00:18:31.251 --> 00:18:35.071 Still, there is a bit of a focus on the tech team, yet we're also slow and steady 00:18:35.071 --> 00:18:36.691 then you're trying to set up the business side. 00:18:37.031 --> 00:18:39.991 So actually, no matter which background, we're always happy. 00:18:40.091 --> 00:18:42.851 We also have a spontaneous application field at the moment on the website. 00:18:43.171 --> 00:18:45.651 So always happy to receive application from bright people. 00:18:47.059 --> 00:18:52.639 Everybody who'd like to talk to you, we do have the LinkedIn profile of you 00:18:52.639 --> 00:18:58.579 linked in our blog post, as well as your career website in our show notes here. 00:18:58.919 --> 00:19:02.899 Since this is an interview with Hessen Trade and Invest, 00:19:03.179 --> 00:19:09.819 you would be, if you would like to address the decision makers here in the state 00:19:09.819 --> 00:19:15.259 by like one question, one idea for improvement, something like that. 00:19:16.239 --> 00:19:22.599 What would you say to them? What would be your wish for the future? 00:19:23.239 --> 00:19:27.059 Definitely. So first of all, I think that actually there are a lot of cool things 00:19:27.059 --> 00:19:30.659 going on right now in Frankfurt with the lately founded AI Hub, 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:33.279 the CAI Hub, and also has an AI and so on. 00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:36.939 Yet I do think that especially in the early stage of a startup, 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:38.979 like the less bureaucracy you have, the better. 00:19:39.239 --> 00:19:43.219 As also in the tech market, speed to market is absolutely crucial. 00:19:43.679 --> 00:19:46.839 And I remember we as well, we were sitting in front of a lot of applications 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:48.899 that back then, like it takes a lot of time. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:52.839 You're not allowed to be funded, like officially incorporated back then. 00:19:53.099 --> 00:19:57.939 So I think those bureaucratic hurdles are quite steep at the moment still. 00:19:58.279 --> 00:20:02.679 So reducing that and making it actually easier for startups to catch up with 00:20:02.679 --> 00:20:06.419 competition as fast, because as mentioned before, speed is one of the most important 00:20:06.419 --> 00:20:07.539 things during this phase. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:17.759 I see. So get more speed. But I have to admit that would be something I say all over Germany. 00:20:17.899 --> 00:20:20.399 Not sure what they can do about it here. 00:20:21.679 --> 00:20:25.659 Maximilian, it was again a pleasure to have you here. Thank you for Hessen Trade 00:20:25.659 --> 00:20:30.339 & Invest and Enterprise Year Network for sponsoring this podcast. 00:20:30.739 --> 00:20:33.639 It was a pleasure to have you here. Thank you. Thank you very much for the invitation. 00:20:33.879 --> 00:20:36.059 It was really fun. Thank you. Have a good day. Bye bye. 00:20:39.239 --> 00:20:40.259 Thank you. 00:20:40.560 --> 00:21:06.346 Music.