Those starting up a company need to be patient. That was true in this particular case, too. In spring 2023, Inventife founders Robin Göbel and Max-Felix Müller were at the recording of the Vox program “Die Höhle der Löwen” (Lion’s Den; an offshoot of Dragon’s Den). More than a year later, in June 2024, the TV station actually broadcast the program.
The two founders, who live and work on the German-Swiss border, had brought their innovative room sensor system with them to the recording. Their invention is firstly intended to help private households and offices to save energy. Secondly, the integrated motion and fall detection system also aims to provide valuable support in retirement or nursing homes.
They spent several hours answering questions from prominent investors, including Carsten Maschmeyer and Nils Glagau, at the TV studio in Cologne. This pitch was then condensed to just under 15 minutes for television. The experienced investors took a critical look at the founding team and their invention.
The electrical engineers, who know each other from studying together at the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University, faced questions on both the technology and the market launch strategy, which they answered capably. Göbel and Müller came with the aim of receiving 200,000 euros in exchange for ten percent of the company shares.
But, one by one, all of the TV investors dropped out. Some feared that competition in the smart home market would be too tough. Others simply did not see themselves in a position to contribute relevant know-how as well as capital. In this interview, the two founders talk about what it was like for them appearing on the TV show – and what has happened since it was broadcast a few weeks ago.
VDE dialog: Unfortunately, you had to leave the “Höhle der Löwen” without a deal. What were your thoughts after the recording?
Max-Felix Müller: I was rather disappointed, of course. I was so excited that I only really realized on the drive home that it hadn’t worked out.
The TV show features many startups with less technically sophisticated products. How did you feel about that?
Robin Göbel: We knew that it would be difficult for a deep-tech startup to get a deal because it requires high investments and that is difficult for a “lion” to decide on the show. But we were asked if we would like to take part in “Höhle der Löwen”, and we wanted to use the opportunity to gather feedback. The rejection was therefore more of an incentive for us to prove to the “lions” that we are a great investment case after all.
More than a million people watched your television appearance. What effects and reactions did the broadcast bring?
Müller: After the broadcast, many interested people visited our website to find out more about the Inventife system. To be honest, there were far more than we had expected. This shows us that we are creating added value for our customers with our system’s ability to detect accidents in a matter of seconds, notify relatives and understand how the accident happened. We are still processing the inquiries.
The search for investors did not work out in the “Höhle der Löwen”. What does that mean for your capital-intensive hardware startup?
Göbel: We are making good progress and slowly expanding our team – we took on our first employee a few months ago. So far, we have financed ourselves from our own resources. So far, it’s still working quite well because we are experienced electrical engineers and it’s not our first time working on this kind of product development. That gives us a good idea of what to expect. And we can do a lot ourselves, which allows us to reduce costs here and there. However, we are still on the lookout for investors to accelerate our growth.
