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The winners of Energy Start-up Bavaria 2024
Three winning start-ups drive Bavaria's energy future forward
We are delighted with the winners
- 1st place: CellCircle UG from Randersacker, winning 10,000 euros in prize money
- 1st place: tozero GmbH from Munich, winning 5,000 euros in prize money
- 1st place: Qkera GmbH from Garching near Munich, winning 3,000 euros in prize money
CellCircle UG is a Fraunhofer ISC spin-off founded in 2022 and this year's winner of the competition. The start-up develops innovative battery recycling processes to recover the functional materials of lithium-ion batteries non-destructively for direct reuse in new battery cells. CellCircle is also committed to more reliable life cycle assessment in order to better distinguish sustainable solutions from standard processes. Further information can be found at cellcircle.de.
tozero GmbH has been recovering critical materials from battery waste and reintegrating them into the battery supply chain since it was founded in 2022. The proprietary hydrometallurgical process avoids the use of strong acids, eliminates waste streams and reduces CO2 emissions. The start-up achieves a high quality and recovery rate for lithium and graphite, providing a sustainable solution for the battery industry. Further information at www.tozero.solutions.
Qkera GmbH was founded in 2023 as a spin-off of TUM and MIT and develops solid-state electrolytes for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries. This enables Qkera to bring safer and more powerful batteries with 30-50% higher energy density to the mass market at affordable prices, thus driving the energy transition forward. The technology is an innovative, low-cost and scalable approach to synthesizing ceramic oxide solid-state electrolytes that can be integrated into existing battery production processes. Further information can be found at qkera.com.
Award ceremony at the Munich Startup Demo Night
The award ceremony took place as part of the Munich Startup Demo Night on November 27, 2024 in the TonHalle Munich with over 800 participants and 70 exhibitors. Six highly innovative energy start-ups, including encentive, SOLAR MATERIALS and SPiNE Energy, made it to the finalists and were able to present themselves to numerous guests and investors from the start-up scene at the event before the jury announced its decision on the winners.
Dr. Carsten Rudolph from BayStartUp and Dr. Rainer Seßner, Managing Director of Bayern Innovativ, opened the awards ceremony. Hubert Aiwanger, Bavarian State Minister for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, then honored the winners. "Our winners this year focus on batteries - whether as electricity storage or for use in e-mobility. The focus is on the sustainability of batteries. Three ideas that make an important contribution to the success of the energy transition in Bavaria," said Aiwanger.
About the competition
The start-up competition is a joint initiative of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bayern Innovativ GmbH, BayStartUp GmbH, Bayernwerk AG, the Association of the Bavarian Energy and Water Industries (VBEW) and Verbund AG.
The competition partners congratulate the winners and wish them every success in the further development of their innovative ideas.
Congratulations!
