If you only wanted to take away one fact from this evening, says Timur Sirman, then that would be the number 40.2.

That was the heat record in Frankfurt three years ago, says the founder of Magnotherm.

"Since then it has been clear to everyone, including here in Frankfurt, that we have to cool." His company Magnotherm is working on revolutionary magnetic cooling.

There are already initial partnerships with Rewe, Coca-Cola and the heating contractor Viessmann.

Falk Heunemann

Business editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

  • Follow I follow

The lecture seems to impress the 200 listeners: at the end of Wednesday evening, the vast majority of them voted Magnotherm "Start-up of the Year".

The prizes are a badge with lettering, memberships in business clubs for networking and media training.

The choice is remarkable.

Not necessarily because Darmstadt founders win this prize from the Frankfurt Economic Development Agency and the Frankfurt Forward initiative.

It is remarkable who is not on the stage again at this event, which is part of the Euro Finance Week of all things: fintechs.

Is the financial center running out of innovation drivers?

Fintech shortage in start-up awards

This time, six start-ups were allowed to compete against each other in the final and present their business model in five-minute presentations, also known as pitches.

Four of them, including the cooling developer Magnotherm, are involved in construction.

The other two finalists have developed software for kindergartens and shift work planning.

But not a single company from the financial sector.

And certainly not one that competes with banks or develops new business models for them.

Now, “Start-up of the Year” is just a single event.

But fintechs are hardly to be seen in other rounds either.

At this year's Hessian Founder's Prize, for example, no fintechs made it among the prizewinners.

An aid portal for women with an unfulfilled desire to have children won the Founder's Prize of the City of Frankfurt.

Only start-ups that are no more than one year old and come from Frankfurt can participate in the Frankfurt Founders' Prize.

"Start-up of the Year", on the other hand, is aimed at older start-ups, which can also come from other places in the region.

"Real values ​​in demand again"

As Christian Jakob from Frankfurt Forward explains, a three-digit number of young companies are examined for "Start-up of the Year", either because they applied themselves or because the jury noticed them.

Among them, it is rumored, were fintechs.

But they didn't convince the jury.

The landscape has changed significantly, says Jakob.

"It's no longer about growth at any price," but about substantial, sustainable business models.

"Real values ​​are in demand again," agrees Mark Dassler, founder of last year's winner and industrial robot developer Energy Robotics.

So again more technology instead of delivery services or financial sales.

Jakob believes that the “Start-up of the Year” award at Finance Week is justified, after all, the founders were also looking for investors, and in Jakob’s opinion they should find them best in the financial center of Frankfurt.

However, Magnotherm is not one of them.

The Darmstadt-based company has so far been financed by public funds.

Future investors, says founder Sirman, are most likely to find them in Berlin at the moment.