Cologne, 29.08.2024 - On Wednesday evening, the three best start-ups from Cologne's universities were awarded at the pitch final of the “C3 Campus Competition Cologne” at InnoDom Cologne. Following a multi-stage pitch competition, they can look forward to an investment offer of €100,000* each.

Winners of the competition

1st place: ENTENDIX provides easy access to complex building systems and enables sustainable, digital and efficient building energy management.

2nd place: VisaFlow develops digital visa and immigration services for workers from abroad.

3rd place: equaly is an app and community that helps to better share care work in partnerships.

The new audience award also goes to equaly. The team wins a spot at SLUSH, one of the top international events for start-ups.

Who was in the C3 final?

Eight teams qualified for the pitch final in the preliminary round. They are now part of the third batch of the Gateway Accelerator. In addition to the three winners ENTENDIX, Visaflow and equaly, these are the following five teams:

• Accesstra - an AI-based solution to make websites accessible
• LUBYO - B2B SaaS platform for New Work and legally compliant working for companies and individuals
• PhilUp - Platform for enterprise resource planning and task management in the hospitality industry
• Pixit - Professional business headshots in high quality and personalized, powered by AI
• Save the Grain - Innovative drying and storage methods in sub-Saharan Africa

We are very happy to have the eight C3 finalist teams in our Gateway Accelerator, to be able to follow their progress and to continue to support them on their journey.

The C3 Campus Competition Cologne

The competition is organized by Gateway University Cologne in cooperation with Sparkasse KölnBonn, Kreissparkasse Köln and Gateway Förderverein.

The investment offer for the top three teams comes from the Campus Capital Fund. The fund, managed by STS Ventures, is designed to promote spin-offs from NRW universities.

*subject to due diligence