Start-up Meet & Talk
In this series of events organized by TUM Entrepreneurship and TUM Alumni & Career, TUM alumni provide a look behind the scenes of their young companies.
![[Translate to English:]](/fileadmin/user_upload_87/_processed_/4/d/csm_hivan-arvizu-soyhivan-MAnhvw0nDDY-unsplash_f350f1fdff.jpg "[Translate to English:]")
In a relaxed after-work atmosphere, you will gain insights into the beginnings and personal stories of TUM start-ups. Together with the founders, you can openly exchange experiences, stumbling blocks and possible first steps on the topic of founding in a small group. Get a taste of start-up air at the companies on site and let yourself be carried away by the founding spirit of the founding teams.
17.07.2025: Meet & Talk - Insights from DeepDive
In this series of events organized by TUMentrepreneurship and TUM Alumni & Career, TUM Alumni provide a look behind the scenes of their young companies. This time with TUM Alumni Felix Pörnbacher, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of DeepDrive.
On July 17, the TUM Community will have the chance to get to know the company DeepDrive and its co-founder and co-CEO TUM Alumni Felix Pörnbacher up close at DeepDrive. In a relaxed after-work atmosphere, you will gain insights into the beginnings and personal history of the TUM start-up and can take an exclusive tour of the production facility.
DeepDrive develops and produces innovative electric motors that are revolutionizing the mobility of the future. The company focuses on creating efficient, cost-effective and sustainable drive solutions for the automotive industry. With its patented dual-rotor technology, DeepDrive addresses the key challenges of modern electric vehicles: the technology enables ranges of over 800 km, helps car manufacturers to save over 1 billion euros in large-scale production and at the same time significantly reduces CO₂ emissions.
DeepDrive was founded in 2021 by seven visionaries, six of whom had already met during their studies at the Technical University of Munich and their time together at TUfast, TUM's student motorsport team. After gaining years of experience in large-scale automotive production, the founders decided to start their own company to disrupt the electric motor.
They were supported by the TUM Accelerator Program XPRENEURS, which played a crucial role. The program helped to significantly accelerate DeepDrive's journey, further increasing the pace and significantly shaping the future development of the company through its valuable network.
The company is currently working with 8 of the 10 largest car manufacturers on initial series applications, driving the electrification of mobility. DeepDrive is financially supported by leading investors from the automotive and financial sector, US-VC Leitmotif, BMW i Ventures, the Corporate Venture Capital Unit of Continental, UVC Partners and Bayern Kapital.
Have an open discussion with founder Felix Pörnbacher about experiences, stumbling blocks and possible first steps in the start-up process and get a taste of the start-up air at DeepDrive.
We look forward to your registration.
At a glance
- Date: 17.07.2025, 18:00 - 20:00
- Location: DeepDrive GmbH, Carl-von-Linde-Straße 23-25, 85748 Garching near Munich
- Participation: only possible with TUM Online ID and prior registration
- Registration under the following link
On May 13, the TUM Community will have the chance to get to know Capmo and its co-founder, Managing Director & CTO TUM Alumnus Sebastian Schlecht up close and personal at Capmo. In a relaxed after-work atmosphere, you will gain insights into the beginnings and personal history of the TUM start-up.
Capmo is one of the largest software providers for the construction industry in the German-speaking world. The Capmo platform brings together all parties involved in construction projects as well as all documents, data and tasks in one place. With its innovative software, Capmo simplifies the complex daily routine of construction and enables the efficient management of construction projects. Capmo is one of the first providers on the market to integrate a comprehensive project management platform with innovative AI technology.
Capmo was founded in early 2018 by Sebastian Schlecht and his three co-founders, who met while studying together at the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM). Capmo supports the construction industry on its path to digitalization and has already successfully completed over 60,000 construction projects. Since its foundation, the young company has grown to over 100 employees and most recently successfully completed a Series B financing of 26 million euros in 2021.
Sebastian Schlecht emphasizes: "Both TUM and the CDTM were absolutely essential for our foundation. Above all, the strong network and the active support in the form of office space during the start-up phase were very important. This helped us to concentrate fully on the construction industry and win our first customers."
Have an open discussion with founder Sebastian Schlecht about experiences, stumbling blocks and possible first steps in the start-up process and get a taste of the start-up air at Capmo.
On March 12, we will be guests at Munich's most successful scale-up Celonis.
On this day, the TUM community will have the chance to get to know Celonis and its co-founder and co-CEO, TUM Alumnus Bastian Nominacher (Master Finance and Information Management).
In a relaxed after-work atmosphere, you will gain insights into the beginnings and personal history of the TUM start-up.
Celonis was founded in 2011 as a project of three motivated TUM students. Alexander Rinke, Bastian Nominacher and Martin Klenk were investigating the IT service desk processes of Bayerischer Rundfunk as part of the student consultancy Academy Consult e.V. when they came across Process Mining. Process mining itself is a discipline that has long been known in science and has now found its way into business with Celonis.
Celonis now has a market value of USD 13 billion, employs 3,000 people worldwide and is the market leader in process mining technology.
It was a long journey for the three young founders from student start-up to first customers to global market player. It was characterized by a lot of boot strapping and creativity.
Bastian Nominacher takes you on an evening through the scale-up story of Celonis. He explains why the DNA of Celonis is academic at its core, students are the future of process mining and how Celonis has become the billion-dollar company it is today.
Find out more about Bastian Nominacher and Celonis in our alumni story at www.community.tum.de/en/celonis/
On October 23, the TUM community will have the opportunity to get to know the company Isar Aerospace and its CEO and co-founder, TUM alumnus Daniel Metzler (Master Aerospace 2019). In a relaxed after-work atmosphere, you will gain insights into the beginnings and personal history of the TUM start-up.
Isar Aerospace develops orbital space launch vehicles with the vision of engineering the future of space flight. Daniel Metzler has co-founded the company in 2018 to develop the first purely privately financed European orbital launch vehicle to provide flexible, sustainable and cost-effective access to space and lower the barriers for commercial space access.
Before founding Isar Aerospace, Daniel led a team of 40 students at the rocketry research group WARR (short for Scientific Workgroup for Rocketry and Spaceflight), a scientific workgroup situated at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Back then, Daniel and his co-founders already developed rocket engines for which they received first client requests – underlining the global surge in demand for flexible and affordable launch services.
Daniel is beyond that an advisor to the European Space Agency and European governments on NewSpace strategy and commercialization.
Join founder Daniel Metzler for an open exchange of experiences, stumbling blocks and possible first steps in founding a company. We look forward to your registration.
On 2nd of May, the TUM community will have the opportunity to get to know the company Retorio and its co-founder, co-CEO and TUM alumnus Dr. Patrick Oehler (PhD Economics 2019) up close at Retorio. In a relaxed after-work atmosphere, you will gain insights into the beginnings and personal history of the TUM start-up.
The Munich-based AI startup offers an AI coaching platform that supports companies to identify and train successful behaviors of sales, service and leadership teams.
Patrick Oehler was born in Munich. After graduating from high school, he studied information-oriented business administration at the University of Augsburg and Management & Strategy at the London School of Economics (LSE). Subsequently he completed his doctorate in Organizational Research at the Technical University of Munich, where in 2018 he founded Retorio together with his colleague and as well TUM alumnus Dr. Christoph Hohenberger.
As Co-CEO of Retorio GmbH, Patrick Oehler is responsible for commercial and finance, but also continues to play a key role in the development of Retorio's technology.
Join founder Patrick Oehler for an open exchange of experiences, stumbling blocks and possible first steps in founding a company and get a taste of start-up life at Retorio.
We look forward to your registration.
On 7 March, the TUM community will have the opportunity to get to know the company inveox and its co-founder, co-CEO and TUM Alumna Maria Sievert upclose at inveox in Garching. In a relaxed after-work atmosphere, you will gain insights into the beginnings and personal history of the TUM start-up and can takea look at the development of the prototypes as part of a short tour.
Driven by the mission to automate histopathology, Maria Sievert co-founded inveox in 2017 together with her business partner and husband Dominik Sievert. inveox develops systems for the digitalisation, automation and networking of pathologylaboratories. The aim is to increase the safety and reliability of cancer diagnoses, while at the same time increasing the efficiency and profitability of laboratories and unlocking the potential for personalised diagnostics based on big data andartificial intelligence.
Since its foundation, inveox has received numerous awards, including "Startup ofthe Year 2017", the "Golden Pretzel 2018" at Bits & Pretzels and the EIT Health Award 2019. inveox made it onto the Forbes list of "Most Promising Startups" in 2018 and has been a member of the World Economic Forum since 2019.
As a successful entrepreneur and innovator in the medical technology industry, Maria Sievert is an inspiration for other female founders. She has already receivednumerous awards, including being named one of Capital magazine's "Young EliteTop 40 Under 40"; she was voted one of the best innovators under 35 by Technology Review and named one of the "25 women whose inventions arechanging our lives" by Edition F magazine.
In addition to her commitment to female leadership, Maria Sievert is a member ofthe Advisory Board of the TUM School of Management and has always maintaineda close relationship with her alma mater.
Join founder Maria Sievert for an open exchange of experiences, stumbling blocksand possible first steps in founding a company and get a taste of start-up life atinveox.
On 25 October, the TUM community will get a chance to get up close and personal with the company tozero and its co-founder, CEO and TUM alumna Sarah Fleischer. In a relaxed after-work atmosphere, you will gain insights into the beginnings and personal history of the TUM startup.
tozero is Europe's first startup that recycles lithium-ion batteries and was founded in July 2022 by Sarah Fleischer and Dr. Ksenija Milicevic Neumann. tozero's mission is to close the battery cycle in Europe. With the innovative recycling process, all critical materials contained in the battery, such as lithium, graphite, nickel, and cobalt, are recovered in a sustainable way and fed into local value chains. To this end, tozero has raised €3.5 million in a pre-seed funding round to build its first prototype plant in Munich.
Sarah is a serial entrepreneur, and tozero is her third startup. Before founding tozero, she was the lead for commercial strategy and partnerships at German unicorn Forto. Before that, she was an advisor at the Luxembourg Space Agency, where she launched the €120 million early-stage VC fund Orbital Ventures and worked with the European Space Agency to launch the ESRIC incubator for startups. She holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering, is a fellow of CDTM and completed her studies at Harvard Business School.
"My time at TUM was invaluable because not only was I able to enjoy a top-notch education, but I was also able to develop personally as part of the many student initiatives, such as TUM Hyperloop."
Have an open exchange with founder Sarah Fleischer about experiences, stumbling blocks, and possible first steps on founding and get a taste of start-up air at tozero on-site.
In the next edition of the TUM Start-up Meet & Talk series, we welcome the start-up Vectoflow and its co-founder, CEO and TUM alumna Katharina Kreitz on June 29. Get to know the founder up close and personal as part of the TUM Entrepreneurship Day! This time not on site, but on the TUM campus. This way, you can get a personal insight into the career of the TUM founder and her start-up - and ask her your questions in an informal atmosphere.
Vectoflow GmbH is a young, highly innovative company that manufactures customized flow measurement technology of unprecedented quality, robustness and simultaneously for a wide range of applications. Vectoflow's multi-hole probes and systems reliably measure the static and total pressure, velocity and angle of attack of a flow. They are perfectly matched in shape, size and material to the respective field of application in motor sports, aviation, turbomachinery development and research.
Katharina Kreitz studied mechanical engineering with a focus on aeronautics, gas dynamics and space technology at the Technical University of Munich and subsequently completed an MBA in Paris. In 2014, she founded the start-up Vectoflow with two colleagues. What she always appreciated about her studies was the mix of theoretical knowledge and its practical application. In addition to her start-up, she remains a passionate engineer who enjoys tricky technical solutions.
Would you like to learn more about the founding story of Katharina Kreitz and Vectoflow? Then we look forward to your registration!
At a glance
Date: 06/29/2023, 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Location: TUM main campus, more details in the registration confirmation.
Language: the event will be held in English
Participation: only possible with TUM Online ID and prior registration (limited places)
Registration under the following link
23.02.2023: Meet & Talk - Insights from Orbem
On February 23, the TUM community will get a chance to meet Orbem and its co-founder, CEO and TUM alumnus Dr. Pedro Gomez up close and ask questions about the company's foundation and journey.
Orbem uses artificial intelligence to make the world a bit healthier and more sustainable. The startup does this by supercharging magnetic resonance imaging scanners with AI, making them fast, accessible, and simple. This allows them to be used with high throughput and low cost in the world of food, biology and health. In poultry farming, for example, Orbem is building fully autonomous AI-powered MRI scanners to peer inside eggs to prevent the culling of billions of newborn male chicks.
Since its founding in November 2019, Orbem has received more than €10.2 million in funding from leading deep tech investors, public institutions, and German tech entrepreneurs. They currently process around 38% of the French layer market and save millions of newborn male chicks from an unnecessary death.
Prior to joining Orbem, Pedro Gomez founded two healthcare startups aimed at improving public health in developing countries. He studied BSc Biomedical Engineering at Tec de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico. He then moved to Munich, Germany to study at the Technical University of Munich. There he completed a Master's degree in Biomedical Computing and a PhD in Biomedical Imaging and Informatics.
Would you like to learn more about the founding story of Orbem? Then we look forward to your registration.
At a glance
Date: 23.02.2022, 18:00 - 20:00 h
Location: Orbem offices, more details in the registration confirmation
Language: the event will be held in English
Participation: only possible with TUM Online ID and prior registration (limited places)
Registration under the following link
On November 9th, the TUM community will have the chance to get to know the Start-up innosabi and meet its co-founder and CEO TUM alumna Catharina van Delden, up close and ask questions about the company's foundation and journey.
innosabi is a leading international provider of innovation management software based in Munich. Large companies use innosabi's solutions to open up internal processes in a targeted manner and to sustainably tap external potential for the development of new products, services and business models.
innosabi was founded in 2010 as a student start-up at the Technical University of Munich and turned into a market leader by Catharina van Delden. Today, innosabi employs 45 people and has been part of the Questel Group since 2021.
Catharina van Delden is an MBA graduate of the TU Munich and studied at UC Berkeley for a time. Her work focuses in particular on how organizations can best leverage their ecosystem to become more innovative and agile.
In addition to running her company, Catharina van Delden is and has been active in various advisory and political functions, for example on the advisory board of Deutsche Bank, the advisory board of Laya.AI or for over 8 years on the bitkom presidium. She has also published two books on innovation strategies, "Crowdsourced Innovation" and "Connect the dots".
Catharina van Delden has received numerous awards throughout her career, such as most recently the "TU Munich Entrepreneur of Excellence" or the "Spark Female Founder Award" from McKinsey and Handelsblatt.
Would you like to learn more about the founding story of innosabi? Then we look forward to your registration.
At a glance
Date: Wed. 09.11.2022, 18:00-19:30 h
Location: online
Language: the event will be held in English
Participation: only possible with TUM Online ID and prior registration
Registration under the following link
On May 3, the TUM community will get a chance to get up close and personal with Kumovis and its co-founder and CEO, TUM alumna Dr. Miriam Haerst.
Finally back in presence, you will have the opportunity to ask Miriam Haerst questions about the foundation and the company's journey on site at Kumovis, and to get to know Kumovis' products in the showroom.
Kumovis develops and sells 3D printing systems for processing high-performance plastics. But that's not all: since its founding in 2017, the Munich-based start-up has been working on solutions to redesign the manufacturing of medical products to improve patient care. Kumovis has developed 3D printing technology specifically for this purpose and combined it with cleanroom technology. In addition to series products, patient-specific and functionalized implants and instruments are the focus of the applications addressed.
Whether in the industrial or surgical environment, Kumovis technologies make the additive manufacturing of medical products not only economically viable, but also compliant with regulatory requirements. Kumovis supports medtech companies and hospitals in establishing additive manufacturing of medical devices.
Dr. Miriam Haerst, co-founder and managing director of Kumovis, pursues goals like these together with her team. Since her mechanical engineering studies and her doctorate at the Institute of Medical Technology at the Technical University of Munich, she has been pushing the innovative processing of materials such as PEEK, PEKK and PPSU for medical applications. Her research at TUM focused on the impact of everyday medical use on plastics and the development of innovative manufacturing processes for silicone products.
Would you like to learn more about the founding history of Kumovis? Then we look forward to your registration.
Please note that this is a face-to-face event and only 3G proof will allow you to enter. Please only register if you have an appropriate 3G proof and are able to attend on site in Munich.
Due to a limited number of seats, registration is on a 'first come, first serve' basis.
At a glance
Date: 03.05.2022, 18:30 - 20:00 h
Location: Kumovis offices, more details in the registration confirmation
Language: the event will be held in English
Participation: only possible with TUM Online ID and prior registration (limited places)
Registration under the following link.
On February 3, the TUM community will have the opportunity to get to know the company Demodesk and its co-founder & managing director, TUM Alumna Veronika Riederle, up close and ask questions about the foundation and the company's path.
Demodesk, which was founded in 2018 by TUM Alumni Veronika Riederle and Alex Popp, is a meeting platform for digital sales. Through live coaching of sales staff during customer meetings, the automation of administrative tasks and the comprehensive analysis of meeting data, Demodesk helps sales teams to sell more and more efficiently. The platform is based on a specially developed screen-sharing technology that uses collaborative virtual screens instead of recording the local computer screen. The start-up has offices in Munich, Lisbon and San Francisco and employs over 50 people.
Veronika Riederle studied Business Administration and Mechanical Engineering at TUM, CDTM and Columbia University of New York. After working at several start-ups during her studies, she joined a leading management consultancy. In 2018, she left the consultancy to co-found Demodesk, the world's first intelligent video conferencing solution for sales teams, with Alexander Popp. With Demodesk, she won the main prize of the German start-up competition 2018 and was accepted to the world's most renowned start-up accelerator Y Combinator in 2019. She raised a total of >€10 million in venture capital for Demodesk. Veronika is also a mentor at the Technical University of Munich and the CDTM and a member of the extended board of the German Startups Association to encourage more young talents to found companies. With Demodesk, Veronika stands for a software solution and a corporate culture that prioritizes diversity, equal opportunities and sustainability.
At a glance
Date: 03.02.2022, 18:30 - 20:00
Location: online event, Zoom
Language: the event will be held in English
Participation: only possible with TUM Online ID and prior registration (limited places)
Registration atfollowing link
On November 3, the TUM Community will once again have the opportunity to get to know the company Forto and its co-founder, TUM Alumnus Michael Wax, up close and ask questions about the start-up and the company's path.
Forto was founded in 2016 by the two TUM Alumni Michael Wax (Master TUM-BWL) and Erik Muttersbach (Master Computer Science) with the vision of creating a highly transparent and sustainable digital supply chain. Forto's platform technologies map the entire process flow from quotation, booking, document management, tracking and tracing to proactive release, processing and analysis. The software supports customers with greater transparency, insight and control, and the company recently secured its status as a Start-up Unicorn with a one billion US dollar valuation through its latest Series C funding. Headquartered in Berlin, the company currently employs more than 650 people at 15 locations in Europe and Asia.
A strong founding duo from TUM
As co-founder and CEO, Michael Wax leads the Forto team and is responsible for the strategic direction of the company. With a strong passion for innovation in global trade and e-commerce, Michael Wax was already part of the founding team of TUM start-up KONUX, an early pioneer in the field of Industrial IoT.
Erik Muttersbach, co-founder and CTO, is Forto's visionary and technical leader. He is responsible for the Tech, Product and Data teams. Erik Muttersbach has been passionate about exploring new technologies since he was a child. Before co-founding Forto, he founded three B2B companies - the first at the age of 19.
At a glance
Date: 03.11.2021, 17:00
Location: Online event, Zoom
Participation: only possible with TUM Online ID and prior registration (limited places)
Registration at following link
TUM alumnus and mentor Felix Haas (Diploma Electrical Engineering and Information Technology) and co-founder of the start-up IDnow will kick off the new series of events. Felix Haas was honored as TUM Entrepreneur of Excellence in 2019. Since its foundation in 2014, IDnow has developed into one of the leading specialists for digital identity verification in Europe. The IDnow platform enables companies to offer their users quick and easy identity verification - in just a few minutes and from home. IDnow's vision is to make the networked world more secure and create mutual trust in an increasingly digital world.
The company now has offices in Germany, the UK and France and works with over 500 customers in the financial services, insurance, eCommerce, sports betting, healthcare and travel and transportation sectors, including leading international companies.