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ruhrSUMMIT Award

The ruhrSUMMIT Award is on!

National and international start-ups were able to apply for the ruhrSUMMIT Award until 30 April 2024! The 9 best start-ups will be invited to the grand finale at ruhrSUMMIT on May 28, 2024, where they will pitch live in front of a jury of experts. We will announce the winners directly at the ruhrSUMMIT.

The award is endowed with a total of € 10,000, with the first 3 places receiving respectively € 5,000, € 3,000 and € 2,000. We would like to thank our generous sponsor Aulinger Rechtsanwälte und Notare for providing the prize money.

Follow the exciting pitches on the ruhrSUMMIT Stage and be there for the award ceremony at 5.45 pm!

What is the procedure?

  • Submission has closed by April 30, 2024.
  • A jury of experts will evaluate the pitch decks based on defined evaluation criteria.
  • The best 9 teams will be invited to the final.
  • ruhrSUMMIT Award takes place at the ruhrSUMMIT on May 28, 2024, in the Jahrhunderthalle, Bochum.
  • The 9 Finalists will be pitching in front of a live jury comprised of experts.
  • The winners will be announced rigth at the ruhrSUMMIT.

JURY

Axel Staudt has been a lawyer since 2001 and is responsible at Aulinger for the Start-up / Venture Capital department and handles M&A transactions for national and international clients. Axel Staudt has many years of experience in seed, Series A and follow-on financing as well as exit and buy-out transactions. Projects involving foreign investors make up a significant part of his daily work, so he can of course also advise in English. Axel Staudt not only advises investors in the field of private equity and venture capital, but also supports companies and founders in the start-up phase and in ongoing consulting. As he is familiar with the perspective and (legal) requirements of private equity and venture capital investors, he knows what start-ups need to pay attention to from the outset with a view to investor participation and an exit. After many years in Berlin and Düsseldorf, Axel Staudt is a partner at Aulinger and is based in Essen since 2021.
Heike Snellen has been with KPMG since October 2006 and has supported a large number of clients in the context of transactions, particularly in the area of company valuation. Heike heads the business valuation team at the Düsseldorf office. She is also a member of the KPMG Venture Services team. Here, Heike supports start-ups and investors in the preparation of financial plans and in determining value in the context of financing rounds.
Katja Ruhnke grew up in a family of entrepreneurs in Munich. As a trained musical theatre performer and studied cultural management, she worked on and behind the stage for 10 years. Entrepreneurship also caught up with her early on in the cultural sector; with her own theatre production company, she brought Shakespeare plays to the stage in the form of theatre tours. Eventually, her path led her back to Munich and the family business. In her search for new business areas, she was infected with the idea of start-up financing in the summer of 2019 and founded CK Venture Capital GmbH together with her sister. As business angels, they primarily invest in impact start-ups via the investment vehicle. Their portfolio now includes 20 start-ups. In autumn 2021, she published her first book "Female Money- Wie Investorinnen die Startup Welt verwandeln" (Female Money- How female investors are transforming the startup world) and can also be seen as a keynote speaker and panellist at various events. In January, she and Conny opened the CK Workspace, a shared office with an associated incubator for start-ups. She sees it as her task to promote the development of new ideas and visions and to ensure more diversity in the ecosystem. In autumn 2023, she was awarded the Golden Nose as Business Angel of the Year by the Business Angel Network Germany e.V. (BAND).
As Managing Director, Marc heads the Transfer and Entrepreneurship Center Worldfactory at Ruhr-University Bochum. Since 2019, the Worldfactory has also been operating as an Excellence Start-up Center of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and is one of the most successful entrepreneurial universities in Germany. In addition, the Worldfactory operates a makerspace on Mark 51°7, is expanding RUB's patent portfolio and initiating collaborative projects between business and science. After studying spatial planning, Marc worked for various business development and project development companies before joining Worldfactory in 2017. In addition to building business networks and start-up ecosystems, Marc has relevant knowledge in location development. He not only knows the national and international entrepreneurship scene within the university landscape, but also contributes his expertise in topics such as internationalization, innovation and digital transformation.

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