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Bielefeld, June 5, 2025 – The winners of the OOTB.NRW Award 2025* (*Out of the Box NRW Award) have been announced: The three most innovative digital startups from North Rhine-Westphalia were honored today in the grand finale at the Hinterland of Things conference in Bielefeld. The award recognizes scalable business models, technological excellence and the courage to embrace digital transformation and is one of the most highly endowed startup competitions in Germany.
1st place: Valoon. The startup enables efficient and secure communication on construction sites directly via WhatsApp using a construction site-specific project chat. “I’m delighted to have won first place in the Ruhr region. The ticket for Slush is awesome. I’ve never been there before and didn’t even understand what was happening. It’s amazing,” says founder Marvin Rosian.
2nd place: ChemInnovation. With its METIS software, ChemInnovation uses AI to automate the analysis of GC-MS data in the chemical industry.
3rd place: comuneo. Comuneo is a digital platform for the data-based planning and implementation of municipal projects for modern local government.
“I didn’t look at the others beforehand and only saw their pitches today. I thought they were all extremely strong and am therefore all the more happy that we were able to prevail here,” says Rosian.
A total of EUR 50,000 in prize money was provided by NRW.Bank and awarded to the three winners. They also received a media equity package from media partner Startup.Insider and a one-year subscription to the AddedVal.io platform. As a special surprise, the first-place winner from NRW.Global Business received a ticket to the “Slush” technology conference in Helsinki in November.
The award reached its climax with today’s final: the top 10 startups, selected from more than 100 applications, presented their business models live to the jury and audience on the stage of the Hinterland of Things conference in short pitches this morning. Jan Thomas (Startup Insider) and Meike Neitz (Event Host & Expert for Startups) hosted the final.
“These three startups have prevailed – against strong competition, with a clear vision and impressive implementation power. They are emblematic of what Reclaim means: taking responsibility, seizing opportunities, shaping the future. The pitch competition is one of the highlights of this conference – not only because great ideas take to the stage here, but also because it shows that a new generation of entrepreneurs is emerging in NRW that doesn’t wait, but takes action. It is precisely this spirit that our business location needs,” says Dominik Gross, Managing Director of Founders Foundation gGmbH.
Johannes Velling (MWIKE), Ulrich Schmitt (HTGF), Vera Knauer (Orthomol Innovations), Claas Heise (NRW.BANK) and Lara Daniel (Pulse Advertising) formed the jury and evaluated the startup pitches. Their assessment was complemented by a strong network of experts, including Markus Sudhoff, Ersin Üstün, Ella Heising, Alessandro Benassi, Ingmar Stock, Sebastian Köffer, Michelle Twardzik, Markus Gick, Peter Hornik, Iris Wilhelmi and Johannes Gräf. During the final, the OOTB.NRW special prize was also awarded for the first time, which went to André Christ, the founder of leanIX.
Press Office Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: presse@mwike.nrw.de
Anna-Luisa Korte, Director Brand & Content Founders Foundation gGmbH, anna@foundersfoundation.de
Images can be requested from Jana Ruhkieck, Founders Foundation gGmbH, at jana.ruhkieck@foundersfoundation.de
Hinterland of Things Conference: The heart of B2B entrepreneurship
The award ceremony took place for the second time at the Hinterland of Things conference in Bielefeld’s Stadthalle. The conference is one of the most important German platforms for B2B tech innovations and therefore an ideal breeding ground for start-ups. Under the motto “Reclaim!”, over 2,000 visitors came together in Bielefeld to rethink the German pioneering spirit, strengthen Europe’s economic resilience and shape the future of technology together.
With two stages, panels, keynotes, masterclasses and top-class networking formats, the conference brings family businesses, startups, investors and political decision-makers into dialog.
Since 2018, the event has been organized by the Founders Foundation gGmbH. The conference is dedicated to the mission of strengthening the innovative power of German SMEs through cooperation with the start-up world and creating concrete business opportunities.
OOTB.NRW – An initiative for the digital future of NRW
The OOTB.NRW Award was initiated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIKE), is sponsored by NRW.BANK and organized by the Founders Foundation gGmbH. The grand finale will take place as part of the annual Hinterland of Things conference. Together, all partners pursue one goal: to enable start-ups from NRW to gain visibility, network and grow – right in the heart of the German SME sector.
The Founders Foundation sees itself as a talent incubator for the next generation of successful tech entrepreneurs. With its educational programs, events and formats such as OOTB.NRW, it is building a sustainable startup ecosystem for the whole of NRW.
