In the new “Lion’s Cave” episode, Carsten Maschmeyer celebrates his sweetest pitch. A vegan sauce ensures nerve-wracking minutes.
The new episode of “Die Höhle der Löwen” (May 15, 8:15 p.m., VOX and RTL+) starts with a lively mother-son team. Janine Wesener (41), founder of “SauberGarten” and developer of cleaning kits for children, brought her twins Levy and Jonah with her. “One day I was so frustrated that I tried to juggle household and children,” says the single mother. And so she invented the child-friendly, biological cleaning sets to mix yourself for playful cleaning and cleaning fun.
The twins accompany the founder into the lion’s cage and show how easy it is to mix the cleaning sets. Jonah concocts a toilet cleaner made from natural ingredients that you can even eat. All lions can try the all-purpose cleaner “Putzvolcano”. “SauberGarten” is still in its infancy, and there are no sales yet. In order to be able to establish her company on the market, Janine needs 75,000 euros. In return, she offers 20 percent of the shares.
Carsten Maschmeyer (63) is enthusiastic. “It was the sweetest pitch I’ve seen in the ‘Lion’s Den’ in all these years,” he enthuses. But: “I’m not the right investor for such sweet products, so I’m getting out.” Nils Glagau (47) does not believe that playful cleaning will work in the long run. “That’s not enough USP for me, I’m out.”
Cosmetics queen Judith Williams (51) does not want to invest either. “I’m put off by all the different parts, it makes it complicated. As loving as it is, you haven’t sold anything yet, so I’m out.” Department store king Ralf Dümmel (56) has just invested in a sustainable cleaning agent manufacturer who wants to develop cleaning agents for children, so he says no too.
Remains new lioness Janna Ensthaler (38), who struggles with herself. But “SauberGarten” also sees them more in the toy shop. “It’s not my thing, so I’m out.” No deal, the founder is visibly disappointed.
“MyGutachter” or when Ralf Dümmel fell into a microsleep…
Burhan Epaydin and Leonard Scheidt developed the “myGutachter” website. The procedure for assessing accident damage was too cumbersome for the founders, but that should change with “myGutachter”.
And this is how it works: The online report for motor vehicle accidents can be completed via the website: step by step, all information about the accident such as the mileage, how the accident happened, people involved, photos of the damage to the car, police report and other documents are entered. A live assessment via video chat is also possible. A motor vehicle expert then creates the digital accident report, which is immediately sent to a partner lawyer. The latter contacts the opposing insurance company and thus submits the claim for damages.
In order to take their company’s marketing to the next level, the founders need 150,000 euros and offer 20 percent. So far, four reports have been prepared, the turnover is 2,600 euros. Due to an illness there are only four lions in the cage. Dümmel was once in a situation where he needed “MyGutachter”: He fell asleep at 200 km/h and hit a heavy-duty truck. The car was scrap, he was lucky and only broke his leg. He still doesn’t want to get in. “I think you’re cool, the product is cool, but that’s not my business case.”
Glagau agrees. “You guys are really smart, but there will be insurance companies that won’t make it easy for you, the sales aren’t convincing either, so I’m out.” Schulz suspects that 150,000 euros will not be enough, he also gets out. What remains is Maschmeyer, who bites. “You offer a real solution to the problem, that’s a lot of work, I’m offering 150,000 for 25.1 percent.” The founders take action.
“veprosa” or when lions scent big profits …
Founder Alissa Kübler suffered from an eating disorder and simply couldn’t find a balance in her diet. Together with her husband Dominik, she developed “veprosa”, a vegan high-protein sauce, as a healthy and protein-rich alternative to conventional, often very greasy sauces. “veprosa” consists of vegetable protein and is a real protein bomb with a protein content of sometimes over 30 percent.
It is available in four different sauces – tomato, light sauce, green pesto and yellow curry sauce – and can be prepared in just three minutes. The founders developed their sauces in their own kitchen. Each costs 3.49 euros. “veprosa” has been on the market for nine months, and in the past two months the two have made sales of 15,000 euros. In order to get bigger, the newly married couple needs 100,000 euros and offers 13 percent of the company shares.
The lions try the variants and are enthusiastic. But Maschmeyer gets out immediately. “You are strong as a lion, but I don’t invest in food, I’m out as an investor.” Dagmar Wöhrl (69) also gets out. 13 percent is not enough for her. Glagau, on the other hand, bites. “The vegan world has been with our company for a long time. You backed the right horse and it tastes good. I want you as a founder, I’ll give you 100,000 for 13 percent.”
Dümmel, who openly shows great interest, follows suit. “The vegetarian sector is growing, the market is huge, I’ll give you 100,000 and I want 18 percent.” Colleague Schulz also smells big business. “I’m the youngest and newest lion, if anyone knows about food, it’s me. I’m the right one for you. I want 13 percent, so I’ll give you 200,000 euros.”
Three offers for “veprosa”. The founders actually want Dümmel by their side, but he wants 18 percent. When Dümmel realizes that the deal could fail, he quickly improves and would also give 100,000 for 13 percent.
The founders are on the phone. Dummel gets nervous. He obviously wants the deal badly. And the surcharge. When the founders announce that they have chosen Dümmel, he jumps up jubilantly. “I am happy.” The founders too.
For “Vole Light” the light goes out in the “Lion’s Den”.
And let there be light: Niko, Max and Joachim Wendel, father and two sons, invented “Vole Light”, garden lights that can be lowered into the ground. In Germany there are around 16 million detached and semi-detached houses and probably even more garden lights. These often get in the way, get in the way when playing in the garden or even when mowing the lawn – this annoyed the family from Obereuerheim so much that they developed “Vole Light”. The intelligent garden lights are controlled via an app, the individual garden lights are connected to each other via a cable. The housing parts are made of recyclable plastic, the metal parts are made of stainless steel and the lamp head is made of aluminium.
In order to further develop “Vole Light”, the founding trio needs 110,000 euros and offers 10 percent of the company shares. Dummel is excited. “What a great idea.” But when the department store king heard that the starter package costs 350 euros plus money for the transformer, his enthusiasm waned. “I think it’s cool if you could do it in series, but the price is so high that you’re not suitable for the masses, so I’m out.”
“1,600 euros for four lamps,” calculates Maschmeyer and gets out. “I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you, for me this is the Rolly Royce of garden lighting. I don’t see that for the private garden, so I’m out.” Glagau does not believe in widespread success, Schulz loves light, but also has problems with scalability and is also getting out. No deal for “Vole Light”.
At “O-Spring” almost all lions don’t like the loan
Michael Müller (44) was annoyed that he always needed a second person to hold the sack for waste disposal – because filling the sacks alone was tedious. So the “tinkerer” developed the “O-Spring” – a tension spring that keeps the bags open.
The “O-Spring” sack holder system enables easy tidying up without outside help and makes gardening and waste disposal much easier. The tension spring for holding sacks and bags open is made of coated stainless steel and is now available in three different sizes: The tension spring holds sacks from 10 to 120 liters open, various brackets and hooks ensure that the sack stays in place and on everyone surface can be attached.
In order to be able to establish the sack holder on the market, Michael needs the support of the lions in the amount of 50,000 euros. In return, the founder offers 20 percent of the company shares. The set costs 29 euros, but is not yet on the market. So far, the founder has invested 250,000 euros, money that comes from a kind of loan from family members. Dummel doesn’t like that at all. “The company basically starts with minus 250,000.”
Schulz doesn’t like the loan for 250,000 euros either, he gets out. Glagau too. Maschmeyer follows. Wöhrl isn’t convinced either and wouldn’t take it up herself, so she gets out too. Dummel remains. “It’s a total mass product, it’s a problem solver. I believe in you, I’ll give you 50,000 for 30 percent.” The founder breathes a sigh of relief and agrees. Deal.