Tears, apps and deals: highlights from episode 6/3 of "Die Höhle der Löwen"

Unicorn potential, culinary delights from the roof of the world and much more characterized the third episode of the new season of Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz. And there were also tears of joy.

Unicorn or not?

Jonny Burger and Mehmet Ademi from Zurich (ZH) want to take off with their video creation tool Remotion. Their idea is to automatically generate personalized videos of major events such as the Jungfrau Marathon. Each of the 4000 runners then sees themselves in different stages and at the end of the video their running time is animated. The videos are created using a specially developed editor. Remotion collects half a centime in license fees for each video created. With 4000 participants in the Jungfrau Marathon, this amounts to 20 francs. Nevertheless, the company has already generated an annual turnover of 100,000 US dollars, as Remotion's largest customer generates around 400,000 videos per month. 80 customers already rely on the solution, which requires some specialist knowledge to use. With a capital requirement of CHF 500,000 in exchange for 5 % company shares, Jonny and Mehmet now want to provide "additional programming power" for their idea with unicorn potential. However, Jürg Schwarzenbach immediately questioned the high company valuation. "You have to make a few million in turnover," he clarified. And Lukas Speiser put a question mark behind the customer structure: mostly start-ups. While Jürg Schwarzenbach, Roland Brack and Lukas Speiser dropped out, Anja Graf and Felix Bertram made a counter-offer: 500,000 against 10 percent. However, this was not what Jonny and Mehmet wanted and they ultimately rejected the investment.

Investment with tears

Then it was on to the culinary side: German Anne Riewoldt and Tibetan Dechen Jangma from Adliswil (ZH) want to shake up the market with House of Momos, a delivery service for the Tibetan dumplings Momos. Dechen Jangma came to Switzerland as a refugee in 2012 and met Anna Biewoldt. This led to a close friendship and the founding of the momos delivery service in 2021. The dumplings are made by hand according to Tibetan tradition. And the business seems to be going well: a turnover of 4.2 million Swiss francs in 2023 caused the lions to open their eyes and ears. The two founders are in talks with several major customers and need 500,000 Swiss francs for further growth. In return, they offered a 20 percent stake. The lions and lionesses clearly enjoyed the figures presented and the Momos samples. And Anna Riewoldt and Dechen Jangma knew the answers to all the typical investor questions. But initially they were only able to convince Lukas Speiser: he offered 500,000 Swiss francs in return for a 25 percent stake. He believes in the potential, even if he sees a few challenges with the margins. Then things got emotional: overwhelmed by the offer, Anna Riewoldt burst into tears. Felix Betram let his emotions get the better of him and also offered 500,000 francs in exchange for 25 percent. After a brief discussion backstage, the two decided in favor of Lukas Speiser as investor. The other lions congratulated the decision. These were "the founders of hearts", as Jürg Schwarzenbach put it.

Negotiating skills pay off

In their start-up Studyflash, Nikola Bulatovic, Dominik Gebhard and Florin Barbisch from Muri bei Bern are developing AI-generated flashcards that are tailored to students' lectures and courses. They are designed to help students master the learning material more easily in less time. The concept is simple: students upload their lecture notes to the Studyflash platform and the AI uses them to create the flashcards within a short space of time. The service seems to be popular with the target group: Within five months, 20,000 users have already been generated. Further market potential is to be tapped into with an investment of CHF 250,000 in return for a 10 percent stake in the company. Initially, the five lions and the lioness present were not quite "flashed" by the idea. They expressed concerns about copy protection and the low margin. Lukas Speiser liked the case, as he had already launched a business with flashcards when he was a student. However, he remained outside as an investor. Despite his reservations about the figures presented, Felix Bertram made an offer: 250,000 Swiss francs for 40 percent, with the prospect of a reduction to 30 percent if a sales target of 4 million is reached by 2027. "But here's a tip: I wouldn't do it," he added. While Jürg Schwarzenbach was unable to warm to the idea of an investment, Roland Brack and Nicole Buettner agreed to make the three founders a joint offer: CHF 250,000 in exchange for 20 percent. Felix Bertram's offer was out of the question for the three young entrepreneurs, and they countered Nicole Buettner's and Roland Brack's offer with a counter-proposal: CHF 250,000 for 15 percent, which the lions then accepted.

Does successful marketing require an investment?

Robin Horner and Jeffry Dahinden from Schindellegi SZ entered the lions' den with their company Freeways GmbH. These young entrepreneurs are true marketing geniuses: at the age of just 20 and 21, they have generated sales of over CHF 1 million - with a product that has been around for a long time: Nose plasters that make breathing easier. They seem to have struck a nerve, as the two young men have achieved 80 million views on social media with their product in Switzerland alone, and this with a starting capital of just 5,000 francs. The two men's demand came across as correspondingly self-confident: 500,000 francs in exchange for 10 percent of the company. To convince potential investors of their product, Robin and Jeffry pulled out all the stops, including acrobatic ones. And the figures had an even greater impact: The first million in turnover was achieved with 34,000 customers, and the two put the profit margin at 25 percent. Do they still need an investment? This is to be used primarily for marketing. After all, the product itself is not new and hardly differentiates itself from others, except in terms of color and shape. Therefore: "Whoever is the loudest will be heard the most," says Robin Horner. But then the two of them had to drop another bombshell: Freeways is not the only brand they market. Roland Brack made it clear: "This is simply uninvestable". All the other lions agreed with this view and no deal was made. In the end, Robin Horner and Jeffry Dahinden were left without a deal, but they left behind a den of lions that was very impressed by their marketing coup.

A friendly family business

Marie Jane and Marco Eberle from Unterterzen in St.Gallen use onion juice to strengthen the immune system. The miracle bulb has an anti-inflammatory effect. That's why Marie Jane has developed socks with nets into which onion slices can be slipped. They sleep with them and swear by the positive effect. Onion pouches for use on other parts of the body, e.g. ears, are now also available. The two have also devised other herbal mixtures to ensure a good sleeping atmosphere. With an investment of 30,000 Swiss francs in return for 10 percent of the company shares, the aim is now to conquer the DACH market with these products. The lionesses and lions ask many skeptical questions, for example about the market potential. The couple put this at 1 percent of the population, as many people have long been familiar with onions as a household remedy. However, Felix Bertram doubts whether this is enough and sees the product more as a fun gift idea. Lukas Speiser would have liked some more scientific proof of its effectiveness. However, Marie Jane and Marco Eberle were unable to provide this. The answers to the figures were more concrete: the socks have so far generated a turnover of 4,000 francs per year, excluding expenses. With production costs of around two francs and a sales price of just under 18 francs, there would be a considerable margin. In the end, however, there was only a lot of sympathy for the product and the family business. Even a lot of personal conviction is not enough for an investment.

When recruiters recruit investors

Goodbye CV: The job matching app Kanbii from René Lehmann and Carlos Müller (the two other co-founders Robert Onesim and Martina Fornara did not appear on the show) creates a job profile based solely on skills and to a certain extent eliminates prejudices. This means that no personal information is shared before a match is made. The idea is that skills are not tied to specific sectors, as the two of them immediately demonstrated using the profiles of the lionesses and lions present. This means that all five would be suitable investors for Kanbii. On the app itself, job seekers and job providers can find each other by simply swiping left or right. Kanbii needs an investment of 90,000 Swiss francs in exchange for 20 percent of the company shares to get the business off the ground. There are now 1700 users on the platform and 23 jobs have been placed so far. Nicole Büttner was impressed by the solution, but still asked the two of them about the figures. They want to achieve a turnover of 60,000 francs in the first year, double that in the following year and increase it by a further 30 percent in the third year. Lukas Speiser saw too little potential for disruption and dropped out as an investor. Felix Bertram took the same line and also decided not to invest. Tom Zimmermann attested to the founders' great business knowledge, but did not consider the app to be a major game changer and also withdrew. That left Nicole Büttner and Bettina Hein: while the former pulled out despite initially signaling interest ("not ambitious enough sales targets"), Bettina Hein allowed herself to be lured out of the reserve. "I believe that the 'No CV' concept has a future," she said and made an offer: 90,000 francs, but in return for a 25 percent stake in the company. The founders accepted this deal - a "perfect match", it seems.

Conclusion of this program: Again, lots of good ideas, but also the realization that parallel projects or opaque investments are "investor poison". And whether you really have unicorn potential is faster calculated than realized.

You can watch the program here: https://www.oneplus.ch/catalog/1000604