start2grow: Startup Competition or Confirmation Contest?
A 6-year data analysis reveals: bootstrappers need not apply. 67% of podium spots go to teams with an existing company or doctoral degree. The Top 3 of 2025 all had state funding, incubator spots, or exit experience.
A 6-year data analysis shows: bootstrappers need not apply
The start2grow competition by Wirtschaftsförderung Dortmund celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Over 6,500 participating teams, more than 4,100 submitted business plans – the numbers sound impressive. But a closer look at the winners reveals a pattern that raises questions: the winners are predominantly those who no longer need funding.
For this analysis, I systematically evaluated the winners of the last six editions (2020–2025) – 60 teams that made it into the Top 10.
60 winners, 6 years, one pattern
Those who already have a company win more often
13 of 60 winners (22%) had already founded a GmbH or UG at the time of the competition. Among the Top 3, the share rises to 33%.
The trend is intensifying: in 2025, four out of ten winners had an existing company.
| Year | GmbH/UG in Top 10 |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 von 10 |
| 2021 | 2 von 10 |
| 2022 | 3 von 10 |
| 2023 | 0 von 10 |
| 2024 | 2 von 10 |
| 2025 | 4 von 10 |
Doctoral degree as door opener
17 of 60 teams (28%) had at least one Dr., Dr.-Ing. or Prof. Dr. on the team. Among the Top 3, the share is 44%.
| Year | Dr./Prof. in Top 10 |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 von 10 |
| 2021 | 2 von 10 |
| 2022 | 2 von 10 |
| 2023 | 4 von 10 |
| 2024 | 2 von 10 |
| 2025 | 5 von 10 |
Combined: two out of three podium spots go to the establishment track
Combining both criteria – GmbH/UG or doctoral degree –, 43% of all winners met at least one. Among the Top 3, it is 67%.
Deep-Tech dominates, software loses
40 of 60 winners (67%) come from the Deep-Tech or hardware-related sector.
| Year | Deep-Tech in Top 10 |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 6 von 10 |
| 2021 | 8 von 10 |
| 2022 | 6 von 10 |
| 2023 | 8 von 10 |
| 2024 | 4 von 10 |
| 2025 | 8 von 10 |
Pure software startups, SaaS products or digital platforms are barely represented among the winners.
Solo founders? Practically no chance
In six years, only 6 solo founders made it into the Top 10. That is 10%.
The 20 percent hurdle
Only 12 of 60 winners (20%) had no existing company, no academic title, and no Deep-Tech product.
In six years, exactly one of these teams made it to the podium: Valoon, 2023, Place 1. An outlier.
2025: The peak so far
The current year marks the peak of this development.
But the real picture only emerges when you look at the Top 3 in detail.
The Top 3 of 2025: A traveling circus of funding pots
Place 1: Spree Monitoring GmbH – state-funded federal agency spin-off
Spree Monitoring is a spin-off of the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin.
The whole project is funded through the EXIST Research Transfer program.
What stands out: Spree Monitoring participates in multiple startup competitions simultaneously – with success:
| Competition | Result | Prize money |
|---|---|---|
| Innovationspreis Berlin Brandenburg 2025 | Winner | Share of €75,000 |
| BPW Berlin-Brandenburg 2026 | Main prize Phase 1 | 10.000 € |
| start2grow 2025 | Place 1 | 40.000 € |
Three competitions, three prizes – within a few months. Plus the ongoing EXIST funding.
Place 2: cargovibe UG – Scholarship, incubator, strategy consulting network
cargovibe develops a platform for truck drivers with integrated services.
Co-founder Leon Schumacher's background reads like a textbook for institutional networking.
| Funding / Program | Detail |
|---|---|
| NRW Startup Scholarship | €1,000/month, up to 12 months |
| REACH Incubator (Batch #14) | EUREGIO Start-up Center Münster |
| REACH Demoday 2025 | 2nd place |
| start2grow 2025 | Place 2: €20,000 + €5,000 special prize |
Notably: cargovibe actually comes from Münster, not Dortmund.
Place 3: wailand GmbH – Serial entrepreneur with million-dollar exit
The third place deserves a closer look.
The founders
Dr. Martin Peters is not a first-time founder. He founded com2m GmbH in Dortmund in 2013.
Dr.-Ing. Patrick Kübler was Manufacturing IoT Team Lead at com2m.
The timeline
- 17. November 2025: Team registers at start2grow
- 5. Januar 2026: Articles of association signed at notary
- 13. Januar 2026: Registration in commercial register
- 26. Januar 2026: Business plan deadline
- 6. März 2026: Award ceremony – Place 3 (€10,000) plus TZDO special prize (€5,000)
During the ongoing competition, the team founds a GmbH – with €25,000 share capital.
The address
wailand GmbH is located at Emil-Figge-Straße 76, 44227 Dortmund – the seat of TechnologieZentrumDortmund (TZDO). Should Wirtschaftsförderung Dortmund or TZDO wish to respond to this analysis, we will gladly publish their reply here.
What this means
A founder who has already built a company, scaled it to 50 employees and sold it to a listed corporation, enters a startup competition – and wins.
The problem is not with Peters and Kübler. The problem is with a competition that makes no distinction.
The business model: old, but well packaged
wailand automates variant creation in mechanical engineering. It sounds like innovation, but this market has existed since the 90s.
The wailand website shows at the time of the award ceremony: no product, no demo, no customers, no references (see Wayback Machine, 6.3.2026).
The big picture: none of the three needed this competition
| Spree Monitoring | cargovibe | wailand | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-time founders? | No (BAM spin-off) | Partially | No (com2m exit) |
| State funding | EXIST-Forschungstransfer | NRW Startup Scholarship | – |
| Accelerator / Incubator | BAM infrastructure | REACH Incubator | TZDO |
| Other prizes won | Innovationspreis BB, BPW | REACH Demoday | – |
| start2grow Prize money | 40.000 € | 25.000 € | 15.000 € |
€80,000 in prize money went to three teams that already had state funding, institutional infrastructure, or startup exit experience.
Not a competition for the founders who need it most
In the international startup scene: lean is beautiful.
start2grow rewards different qualities:
- Capital before customers. Those who can afford to found a GmbH signal seriousness.
- Title before traction. A doctoral degree correlates more strongly with placement than demonstrable market success.
- Institutional ties before independence. University spin-offs bring network, infrastructure and reputation.
- Business plan before product-market fit. The competition requires a business plan – no MVP, no user numbers, no revenue.
The real question: what is Wirtschaftsförderung Dortmund for?
Wirtschaftsförderung Dortmund was founded in 1968 and is financed from municipal funds.
| Mission | What start2grow 2025 does |
|---|---|
| Settle companies in Dortmund | 8 of 10 winners are not based in Dortmund (including Berlin, Münster, Bonn, Hamburg) |
| Advise founders in Dortmund | Place 1 is in Berlin, Place 2 actually in Münster |
| Create jobs in Dortmund | Spree Monitoring's EXIST funding creates jobs in Berlin |
| Use tax money for Dortmund | €40,000 main prize to a Berlin BAM spin-off |
Every euro that goes to a team that will not found in Dortmund is a euro that undermines the stated purpose.
What needs to change
1. Separate categories
Early-stage founders and already registered companies have fundamentally different prerequisites.
2. Evaluation relative to resources
Not: what does a team have to show? But: what has it achieved with its resources?
3. Location relevance in evaluation
If the competition is meant to strengthen Dortmund, location should play a role in evaluation, not just payment.
4. Diversity in the jury
Successful bootstrappers, SaaS founders and solo entrepreneurs belong on the jury.
5. Digital business models as a separate category
Dortmund positions itself as a digital hub. A competition that barely awards pure software startups does not match this claim.
6. Transparency in conflicts of interest
When a special prize donor is also the landlord of a winner, this must be disclosed.
Conclusion
start2grow has undoubtedly done a lot for the startup scene in Dortmund over 25 years.
But the data tells a story that does not match the self-image.
The international startup scene celebrates founders who build something from nothing.
It is the person who builds their idea in the evening after work – without network, without title, without GmbH – who needs real startup support the most.
start2grow should decide: either reform the competition to live up to its name, or honestly communicate who it is actually made for.
Sources
Winners start2grow
Company data
com2m GmbH / adesso
Spree Monitoring
Economic Development Dortmund
All sources as of March 2026. All data used is publicly available.