When lionesses and lions fight over a startup...

Leonardo Reinhard and Sven Affeltranger from Küsnacht in Zurich kicked off the third show of the current season of "Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz" with their "InClub" experience app. Whether it's a barbecue, game night or ski day, the "InClub" app allows users to organize and find private events. Users meet in real life. In this way, the founders want to combat the often-cited loneliness of Generation Z. According to the two founders, 60 percent of this generation feels lonely at least once a week. Despite many likes and followers on today's social media channels, this problem is even intensifying, they say. With their experience app - "the Airbnb for experiences" - the two have already taken first place in the app store charts several times. 15,000 users, 450 experiences, support from Swisscom and Oracle, and a highly motivated team behind the two founders should help the app achieve further success. In order to close the current financing round, Leonardo and Sven would like to convince the lions to invest 155,000 Swiss francs in exchange for five percent company shares. First came the usual questions about sales and positioning. How, for example, can "hanging out" be commercialized? The two did not tire of emphasizing the uniqueness and the focus on the young target group from 14/15 years. Bettina Hein jumped right in and offered the desired investment, Roland Brack also offered 155,000, Tobias Reichmuth was also convinced and made the same offer. The two also inspired Lukas Speiser with their energy. They were then spoilt for choice and decided on Bettina Hein and Lukas Speiser. The young entrepreneurs thus left the studio with twice what they had aimed for.

A lot of goodwill, but still no deal

Marcel Roesch from Thun entered "help2type", a typing aid for the visually impaired. His startup enables blind and visually impaired people to type on their smartphones. Founder Marcel Roesch is almost blind himself. He has developed a tactile keyboard that can be attached to any smartphone. It connects via Bluetooth and works for both iOS and Android. The product sounds promising. His goal: to find a strategic partner in the "Höhle der Löwen": 20 percent for 280,000 Swiss francs was Marcel Roesch's idea. And the potential he explained in his pitch seems great: in Switzerland alone, there are 300,000 people affected. At a selling price of 200 francs, this would result in a volume of 60 million francs. Marcel Roesch put the cost price at just over 70 francs. As is so often the case, it was Tobias Reichmuth who put the fine figures to the test. What struck him a bit was the relatively low number of units sold within the last two years. The high price also caused question marks. Or is the need within the target group not so high after all? Lukas Speiser praised the product, but did not see it as an investment case for himself. Tobias Reichmuth was of the same opinion. Anja Graf said she would buy the product, but the financial proportions were not right for her to invest in it either. Jürg Schwarzenbach at least made himself available to make an assessment with the founder. But there was no investment from him either, nor from Roland Brack. Conclusion: Many words of praise, and one or the other investor's heart bled at having to turn down a project because the sales figures were not convincing.

A trendy idea finds favor with the lionesses and lions

Sarah von Aesch and Raphaell Schär from Brugg (AG) then presented the online garden "MyFeld". It works like this: The start-up sells garden plots every season, where customers determine online what should be planted. They then get the vegetables delivered to their homes - even the crooked ones not just the straight carrots. The target group: anyone who likes to eat home-grown vegetables but doesn't have their own garden. And last but not least, "MyFeld" wants to help reduce foodwaste. Their capital requirements, with which they confronted the lioness and lions: 375,000 for five percent company shares. With this, they want to achieve a 1 percent market share of the entire vegetable market in Switzerland.

For their concept, the two earned praise from the lionesses and lions. Since 2020, the founding year, sales of 120,000 francs have been achieved (2021 season). Then came the critical questions from the investors: Jürg Schwarzenbach, for example, questioned the high valuation. And the sales development also caused some frowning. Anja Graf doubted the scalability and dropped out. Lukas Speiser took the same line and also refrained from investing. Tobias Reichmuth, on the other hand, made an offer: 375,000, but against a 10 percent stake. Roland Brack and Jürg Schwarzenbach were also prepared to make the same offer. But Sarah and Raphaell preferred Roland Brack together with Tobias Reichmuth. Jürg Schwarzenbach then withdrew and let the other two lions go first. That's how a deal was made.

And once again a "Unfortunately no

"SavaSano Natur Pur" - Sandro Savastano from Zug is behind this line of natural cosmetics. The young entrepreneur produces high-quality natural cosmetics and natural oils: from organic ingredients, by hand, without water and preservatives. In the future, the founder wants to produce without electricity, obtain a pharmaceutical approval - and become a business unicorn. To achieve this, Sandro, who abandoned his pharmaceutical studies in favor of his business idea, wants an investment of 250,000 Swiss francs in exchange for ten percent company shares. The lionesses and lions then immediately put the product to the test: How does it feel on the skin? But the investors were much more interested in the cost structure. The manufacturing costs range from 33 to 56 Swiss francs, and the price range between the cheapest and most expensive product is between 88 and 216 Swiss francs. Considering the size - or should we rather say "smallness" - of the boxes on display, this is quite a large sum, as the lionesses and lions had to admit. When asked about the future and the exact purpose of the investment, Sandro's answers seemed a bit vague. And then the vision of a business unicorn? Jürg Schwarzenbach recommended to first look for a suitable team. Despite praise for the high quality of the products, in the end no one was willing to invest. Especially since the actual company had only recently been founded by Sandro Savastano. The timing and the difficult scalability probably proved to be too "investment-hostile".

Met the taste

Swiss hummus from fabas: Behind it are Anik Thaler and Tobias Vogel from Dietikon (ZH). "Radically local" is the motto of the start-up, which produces hummus from Swiss legumes. The founding duo know all the farmers personally and think "the grow must go on." 100,000 Swiss francs against ten percent company shares: That was the capital requirement with which the two ventured into the lion's den. With this investment, they want to make the brand and the product better known in Switzerland. During the tasting, the lions were surprised at how good the hummus tasted to them. But then it was back to the numbers. Anja Graf asked about pricing. It turned out that the margins are still a bit low. The turnover was stated by Anik and Tobias at 75,000 Swiss francs, with an upward trend after Alnatura, among others, added the product to their range. In order to be able to refinance the whole team and the overhead, it would need a turnover of 800,000 francs up to 1 million.

The evaluation round followed: Lukas Speiser saw problems with scalability and stated that the product was primarily limited to a niche. He therefore dropped out. Patrick Mollet thinks the product is great, but did not want to invest. Roland Brack also dropped out due to a lack of expertise in the food sector. Anja Graf, on the other hand, was very enthusiastic and offered the required 100,000 francs. Jürg Schwarzenbach would probably also have been prepared to make an offer. This is how the deal between the lioness Anja Graf and the young entrepreneurs came about.

Save the best for last: When lionesses and lions almost fight over an investment

"Re-Zen" is the brand name for the portable sparkling water bottle developed by Christian Kaeser and Linus Lingg from Aarau (AG). The former ETH students have developed a bottle that allows you to make your own sparkling water on the go - completely without PET and disposable plastic. Self-confident and with a valuation - which they themselves admitted was high - they entered the lion's den: 100,000 francs in exchange for a company share of 1.6 percent. Roland Brack's forehead was already wrinkling... The product literally has it all: A bottle with modules or adapters for fizz, taste or even water purification was presented to the lions. But do Mr. or Mrs. Swiss want to drink sparkling water on the go? At first, the lionesses and lions were skeptical. But Tobias Reichmuth had to admit that the pricing was quite attractive compared to sparkling water from the retailer. After all, 15 centimes for 3 or 5 dl is quite reasonable, as Christian and Linus calculated. And another highlight: To produce sparkling water, the two also rely on commercially available CO2 capsules, such as those from Sodastream. But the price of a bottle is still 100 francs. Tobias Reichmuth, however, praised the high quality. "A brilliant idea," he noted. Then, however, still follows the question about the high valuation. This was based on the potential and the expected revenues, he said. "We always hear that from all the startups here," was Bettina Hein's scathing reply. But then Christian and Linus delivered figures: 1 million by the end of 2022, 3 million by the end of 2023, and by 2025 they want to have sold 115,000 units with 20.5 million in revenue. Tobias Reichmuth then asked: Why only 100,000 francs capital requirement? He therefore made an offer: 200,000 francs against a 3.2 percent share in the company. Bettina Hein and Roland Brack were even prepared to join in with 300,000 for 4.8 percent. In the end, because Lukas Speiser did not want to participate, Jürg Schwarzenbach was left. Tobias Reichmuth immediately offered to join forces with him for an offer of 500,000 francs. It developed almost like an "offer battle", which happens quite rarely on the show. In the end, two offers were on the table: 400,000 at 6.4 percent "flat" from Bettina Hein and Roland Brack against another 400,000 francs at 6.4 percent, intended as a "convertible loan" from Tobias Reichmuth and Jürg Schwarzenbach. But the two founders saw an opportunity: Why not secure the literal lion's share for a large financing round today? And that's how it happened: the four lionesses and lions mentioned above joined forces and jointly donated 800,000 Swiss francs of capital in exchange for a 14 percent share in the company. Thus the deal of the evening was perfect.

Update October 22, 2022:

After the broadcast, however, the two company founders turned down the offer from the four lions. It was learned that the young company had found another investor who was better suited to their ideas.

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