Lions cut their teeth on high company valuations

Stefan Wermelskirchen and Andreas Galliker from Hünenberg (ZG) wanted to convince outdoor enthusiasts Tobias Reichmuth and Roland Brack in particular to invest in conversion ideas for offroaders. Under the "Offroad4u" brand, the two have developed cabs that can be used to convert common pickup trucks for off-road tours. Stefan Wermelskirchen created the design himself. Various sizes of these bodies are currently on offer. 250,000 Swiss francs against a 25 percent share in the company - that was the capital requirement with which the two entered the lion's den. And there the usual critical questions awaited them: Is the market for pickups big enough? What are the sales expectations? And how does marketing the product go together with running a garage business and offering tours? Tobias Reichmuths recommended, "Make one company for your bodies," but dropped out as an investor. The other lionesses and lions also dropped out. The two took the verdict sportingly and are convinced to continue on their chosen path. "Then we'll just focus on organic growth instead of rapid growth," they conclude.

Double investment for children's fashion

Pascal Arnold and Adriana Blasi from Büron (LU) entered the race with Kidis, Secondhand Kinder- und Frauenmode. On their online platform, well-preserved children's and women's fashion can be bought and sold. The two wanted to invest 100,000 Swiss francs against 10 percent company shares. The potential is great - too many children's clothes are only worn for a short time and then end up somewhere in the basement - and the annual growth of 1.5 percent of the total second-hand market also seemed a convincing argument. Two of the lions were enthusiastic about the sustainable thinking of the start-up, while Lukas Speiser had doubts about the scalability and therefore did not want to invest. Anja Graf and Jürg Schwarzenbach also dropped out. Roland Brack made an offer of 100,000 Swiss francs, but in exchange for 15 percent of the company. Tobias Reichmuth was prepared to add another 50,000 francs. In total, an investment of 150,000 francs was involved. Even though Pascal Arnold and Adriana Blasi had to give up a higher share of their company, they did not turn down the offer. Once again, the link between sustainability and fashion seemed to catch on. In the third season, Adretto, a rental platform for men's suits, received an investment from Jürg Schwarzenbach, who expressed his satisfaction with the further development of this company in an interview.

Well sold, but without investment

Verreaux Swiss, that's the name of Soresh Mauludi's company from Zug. He has developed an innovative kitchen strainer, and it came about like this: He was so nervous on a date that he neatly burned his fingers while draining spaghetti. The idea for the S One kitchen strainer was born, for which Soresh Mauludi now asked for an investment of 100,000 Swiss francs in exchange for a 10 percent stake. The product is made of high-quality chrome steel and should fit on any pan, as he also demonstrated to the lionesses and lions. However, the mechanism seemed somewhat cumbersome to TV viewers, and Lukas Speiser also remarked that, after all, pasta could simply be poured off together with the boiling water into a conventional kitchen strainer placed in the sink. Proud is also the price: 49 francs. But the founder turned a deaf ear to all the investors' warnings about price elasticity when the product is scaled up. And even with the company's valuation of 1 million francs with just 200 products sold, he did not create good conditions for an investment by one of the lions or lionesses. The inevitable happened: Soresh Mauludi had to leave the lions' den empty-handed.

No moving away from high company valuations

With Hegias, represented by Tuan Nguyen and Patrik Marty from Zurich, it is possible to load a 3D building project intuitively into virtual reality at the touch of a button. The planned project can thus be viewed and experienced from all perspectives. 500,000 Swiss francs at 2.5 percent company shares, that was the capital requirement of the two. The live demo of the gadget met with much goodwill, especially from Bettina Hein. Indeed, the idea seemed captivating. In particular, non-professional builders can use it to get an idea of the building much more easily than from conventional building plans. But what about the professionals? Tuan Nguyen and Patrik Marty were already able to name well-known construction and real estate companies with which they work. Nevertheless, the criticism from Anja Graf, who realizes many construction projects with her company Visionapartments, was scathing. "Any CAD program can visualize better," was her impression. Moreover, she has very good experience with conventional planning tools. "Why do we need VR for that?" was her heretical question. The two company founders had to concede that there was certainly still potential for development. But there was something else that bothered the lionesses and lions: the high company valuation. The company was valued at 20 million Swiss francs, yet it had only generated sales of 300,000 francs. Nevertheless, Bettina Hein offered 500,000 francs, albeit in exchange for a 5 percent stake, because she thought the product was cool, as she said. And Roland Brack also wanted to join with half a million against a 5 percent share in the company. But the two entrepreneurs declined because - as they said - their hands were tied when it came to valuing the company. As an outsider, one could only assume: Was there possibly already another investor involved?

When a lioness allows herself to be "viganized"....

The vegan online store vigan, launched by Patrick Embacher and Pia Sommer from Chur, already seems to be successful: Hundreds of vegan products are already sold via this platform, including 30 of their own. The start-up has already won over 13,000 customers, as the two founders revealed in the broadcast. Now it is to go however further forwards: 250'000 francs against 5 per cent company participation they need for it. Still more customer circles are to be "viganisiert". Of course, they also offered a tasting round, the investors were allowed to taste - and were amazed by the Lyoner. But they still had a few question marks about the business model: What exactly was the situation with own and third-party products on the platform? What role should white label products play? And how much competition is there already? For Tobias Reichmuth, who is otherwise very fond of vegan and vegetarian products, the concept was still not tight enough; he therefore did not want to invest. The other lions also agreed with him. Only Anja Graf allowed herself to be "viganized": she made an offer of 250,000 francs, but wanted a 10 percent share in the company in return. Pia Sommer and Patrick Embacher did not hesitate for long and jumped into the deal.

Company valuations too high for the second

The start-up maison (Schweiz) GmbH from Zurich wants to tackle the problem of unused workstations in offices: Companies with vacant workstations can rent them out via the maison.work platform. With an investment of 400,000 Swiss francs against a 10 percent company share, the three founders Marc Schwery, Dominic Frei and Remo Stahl from Zurich wanted to take off. After all, their idea is actually clever: Not only can vacant workspaces be used via their service, but in this way office communities can also be formed that can mutually enrich each other. But all this sounded a bit half-baked to Roland Brack: Somewhere between classic real estate platforms and coworking spaces - with a dash of Airbnb and dating platform. And the high company valuation also caused some frowning. Because only 319 workstations in 19 locations could be rented out - transactions totaling 140,000 francs, roughly, the three calculated. Anja Graf thought that the idea itself could work, because she had also started out in a similar way. But the high company valuation kept her from investing, as did Lukas Speiser. Roland Brack and Jürg Schwarzenbach also refrained from investing. Patrick Mollet hesitated the longest. But his problem was: he is already invested in the coworking platform tadaa and would have a conflict of interest. So in the end, no deal materialized. But this did not diminish the self-confidence of the three company founders, they want to continue to do their thing. But in the end - and this is also a conclusion to the entire season - one had to ask oneself again and again: How on earth do such high company valuations come about?

More information on upcoming shows: https://www.oneplus.ch/detail/1000604