"Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz" 3/1: Of gin, grass flip-flops and too high ratings

The third season of "Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz" (The Lion's Den Switzerland), which has been broadcast on Tuesdays on 3+ since October 26, 2021, started with the Zurich-based company UMAMI. Without chemicals, the startup grows so-called "microgreens". These are growing vegetable seedlings, which are said to have a much stronger aroma than the adult plant. The trick: For the cultivation, founder Denis Weinberg and his team rely on an aquaponic ecosystem that houses fish, shrimp, plants and many other organisms. The whole forms a vital nutrient cycle and is the heart of production. Indeed, UMAMI's products met with enthusiasm from the lions in terms of taste. They wanted 300,000 Swiss francs from the investors for a 3 percent stake in the company. The founders put the low production costs and the large market potential, which generally applies to the food industry, on the line. Lion Lukas Speiser was initially very enthusiastic, but then found the valuation too high and dropped out. Anja Graf and Jürg Schwarzenbach also found the business model exciting, while Bettina Hein expressed skepticism and also dropped out. Anja Graf and Jürg Schwarzenbach then finally offered the 300000 francs, but wanted 10 percent of the company. But the two founders did not go for it.

A project of the heart and a "product the world doesn't need".

The lions appreciated the professional impression the first founders had made on them. It was then more about a project of the heart with "Edelwhite Gin" with Canadian-born owner Barb Grossenbacher. She had founded the company with her best friend Sandra, who passed away two years ago. In any case, the product she has now further developed on her own, which reflects the Entlebuch UNESCO Biosphere with 27 herbs ("botanicals" in gin lingo), has it all. The tasting was also well received by the lions. Barb Grossenbacher sold 5000 bottles of her gin last year. She now wants an investment of 75,000 francs so that she no longer has to go it alone. Both Jürg Schwarzenbach and Roland Brack offered a deal. In the end, Roland Brack won the bid because he demanded "only" 10 percent of the company and not 15 percent like Schwarzenbach.

The "Grass FlipFlops" by founder Reto Schaufelberger are made of artificial turf and feature country flags. Although the lionesses and lions put question marks behind the sustainability and meaningfulness of this product, they still found the idea quite creative after a "trial run". Jürg Schwarzenbach, in particular, was open to the idea of artificial turf, as he had once campaigned for such a pitch at the local soccer club. It was he who wanted to contribute 30,000 Swiss francs in exchange for a 20 percent share in the company. After a brief telephone consultation with his wife, Reto Schaufelberger agreed to the deal.

When a lioness extends her claws...

So far, there has been little evidence of "tough" questions from investors to the founders, or they could be answered professionally. In this respect, Anja Graf then shifted up a gear in her assessment of the family calendar app "SHUBiDU". With this app, founder Sonia Eterno wants to fight against the paper and appointment chaos of family organization. However, Anja Graf, herself a mother of four children and thus actually part of the core target group, was not at all enthusiastic about the product. She criticized above all the lack of synchronizability with already existing apps, e.g. Whatsapp. "I don't know if I want something additional," she said with a visible frown. And that it should be up to women or mothers alone to manage family schedules, she eloquently resisted. "I told my children early on: look for yourself, because I don't have time for everything!" She doesn't need a solution like SHUBiDU for that. Sonia Eterno, on the other hand, wants to see her solution as a hub that pulls in information from all the other tools, so to speak, and also actively involves the working husbands. The further explanations of the functionalities, however, were not able to convince Anja Graf. It was also not always clear to the TV viewer how and by whom the whole thing should be operated and at what point it would become chargeable... Lukas Speiser felt that the heated discussion was too much of a "mental overload" and took his leave. Since, in addition to Anja Graf, who also did not want to join for the reasons mentioned, Jürg Schwarzenbach also left, Bettina Hein and Roland Brack remained. They saw great market potential behind SHUBiDU and were prepared to invest 300,000 Swiss francs in exchange for a 20 percent share in the company. Then it got exciting: Sonia Eterno once again calculated the potential and made a counter-offer for a 12 percent share in the company. In the end, the two lions agreed with her on 15 percent.

Was it arrogance?

The pitch of the start-up "Tilbago" began with an impressive performance. A dance performance with light show was supposed to motivate the lionesses and lions to invest. "Tilbago" is an artificial intelligence-based cloud solution that enables companies to efficiently collect payments - one of the many new FinTech startups, in other words. During the subsequent discussion with the founders David Fuss, Oliver Wolf, Tom Studer and Harley Krohmer, however, incomprehension soon spread among the investors. The Lucerne entrepreneurs hid behind a great deal of "confidentiality" and were unwilling to provide any key figures. Had a major investor who had already bought into the company tightened the reins here? Or were the four gentlemen convinced that they could convince the lions with a lot of marketing talk? And last but not least, the request for an investment of 500,000 Swiss francs in exchange for a 3.5 percent stake was not immodest either. In short: The investors did not make an offer. Lion Tobias Reichmuth put it this way: "This is a no-fun topic for me. I prefer to invest in companies that I enjoy."

Giving startups a platform

And how much fun was it for the viewer? After the first episode of the third season, we can say this: The format provides an insight into the diversity of Swiss companies and also shows the innovative strength of many entrepreneurial people who, thank goodness, still exist in our country. Much of it remains somewhat superficial, and one could wish for one or two additional questions from investors to the startups - but ultimately it's all about the show, and the negotiations are probably even tougher behind the scenes. Using the account app "Neon" from the first season of "Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz" (The Lion's Den Switzerland) as an example, it was shown that sustainable corporate successes can indeed be celebrated behind the scenes of the start-up show. We'll stay tuned and look forward to the next show.

Interviews with two investors on "Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz" can be found at here. Information about the next shipments: https://www.3plus.tv/die-hoehle-der-loewen-schweiz