News

17. 12. 2025
Four founders of the start-up A/D-Evolution, standing next to each other on Jungfernstieg, with the Binnenalster in the background
Important milestone: A/D-Evolution receives EXIST start-up grant

A/D-Evolution GmbH has reached an important milestone on its start-up journey. Since December 2025, the team led by founders Finn Wellershaus, Colja Vorhoff, Alexander Becker, Daniel Osterholz and Daniel Pieper has received the EXIST start-up grant from the Federal Ministry...

15. 12. 2025
VisioPlan

We develop immersive digital twins and 3D marketing solutions that bring buildings to life in the early project phases, making complex decisions intuitive and understandable for prospective buyers. In this way, we create a new form of planning and presentation...

02. 12. 2025
The four founders of Colipi GmbH, TUHH start-up
Two successes for COLIPI: award win and strategic industry partnership

The Hamburg biotech startup COLIPI, which was founded in 2022 by Jonas Heuer, Max Webers, Philipp Arbter and Tyll Utesch from Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH ), is setting new standards for sustainable innovation. The team, which was supported in...

26. 11. 2025
Photo by Christine Tiedemann, Network Manager Startup Port
Founding is not witchcraft – Christine Tiedemann in a hei.expert:inneninterview
„Gründen ist kein Hexenwerk – es ist Herz, Hirn und Haltung. Und jede:r kann’s lernen. Du musst nur loslegen“, so die Quintessenz und gleichzeitig der Aufruf von Christine Tiedemann an Gründer*innen im Interview mit der hei.Hamburger Existenzgründungsinitiative. Christine ist Verbundmanagerin beim Startup Port, dem Zusammenschluss der Gründungsservices von zehn Hochschulen und Forschungseinrichtungen der Metropolregion Hamburg.
20. 11. 2025
Die drei Gründer von Lunar: Alejandro Poiqui, Lukas Ganss und Timon Pitz
Lunar: AI-powered visual aid for blind and visually impaired people
With its innovative AI-supported visual aid, Hamburg-based startup Lunar aims to make everyday situations easier for blind people and promote inclusion. To this end, the three alumni of the University of Hamburg, Lukas Ganss, Alejandro Poiqui, and Timon Pitz, have received EXIST funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF), and can now concentrate on further developing their portable AI device.
29. 10. 2025
Next step: pickz ai receives EXIST funding for AI-supported eyewear consulting
pickz ai has reached the next milestone on its start-up journey: The Hamburg-based start-up has been awarded the EXIST start-up grant and will be funded by the program for one year from 1 November. The young company has developed a solution for opticians and their customers that digitizes the entire consultation process for finding the right glasses. The AI-supported application provides support from the initial search for preferred models, through the needs analysis for the respective eyes and individual eyesight, to the purchase of glasses.
24. 10. 2025
VAARHAFT takes second place in the start-up award
Great success for Vaarhaft. The start-up took second place in the Founder's Award, which was presented for the 19th time by the Junior Chamber of Commerce of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. The Founder's Award comes with prize money totaling €20,000+ and coaching sessions. Vaarhaft has developed software that detects fake photos and videos within seconds. This is particularly important in the age of AI, which makes it easy to create deceptively real photos and videos.
08. 10. 2025
3D Spark wins Deutsche Bahn for its CO2 reporting tool
The Hamburg-based start-up 3D Spark can celebrate a significant success: Deutsche Bahn has approved the young company's CO2 reporting tool for the production of on-demand spare parts. The solution enables precise, automated calculation of the carbon footprint per component – broken down by material, manufacturing process and post-processing. This allows Deutsche Bahn to make sound decisions on reducing its environmental impact while also making production processes more efficient.