Fairnatural as a Start Up Company

Content

• Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region as a Start-Up Hotspot 
  
• Mannheim location
• Heidelberg location
• The lions' den
• FAIRNATURAL within the Start Up ecosystem

What is this article about?

FAIRNATURAL's location in Heidelberg was not chosen without reason. Why did we choose this beautiful city on the Neckar? This blog article presents the background and shows the many location advantages of the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.

Mannheim location

In addition to its exciting cultural landscape, Mannheim is also known for its entrepreneurial spirit. A constant process of innovation drives the city and thus offers the ideal environment for founding a start-up. 

The cosmopolitanism that goes hand in hand with cultural diversity is also reflected in the city's entrepreneurial spirit and offers extensive networking opportunities for young start-up companies. 

The University of Mannheim supports this expansion of young entrepreneurs. The Mannheim Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MCEI) supports students in their start-ups during their studies and provides targeted coaching. Furthermore, the student initiatives of the University of Mannheim offer numerous opportunities for the exchange of ideas and networking for founders of start-up companies. 

In view of these ideal development opportunities for young start-ups, it is not surprising that well-known start-ups such as Purelei, Snocks and Paul Valentine were founded in Mannheim and have expanded from this location.

Heidelberg location

Heidelberg is also the perfect location to discover new things, to be inspired and to live. The city's wide range of culture and nature provide the necessary sources of inspiration. Heidelberg is therefore the ideal location for young people with ideas and a thirst for action and offers an attractive environment for founding a start-up company. 

Heidelberg wins the Start-up BW Local competition of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economics, Labour and Housing in 2020. The city is thus once again awarded the title of "start-up-friendly municipality" in Baden-Württemberg, which further consolidates the city's attractiveness for young entrepreneurs.

According to The Pioneer and Statista, Heidelberg 2020 is one of the top ten cities for foreign investment in start-ups, meaning that a total of 97 million euros have flowed into Heidelberg's start-ups from international investors. 

Furthermore, Heidelberg Startup Partners promote the incentive of the city on the Neckar for start-up companies. They support the entrepreneurs in building networks and have the necessary know-how to offer ideal advice for the business model and financing of the start-up companies.

The lions' den

As has already been explained, the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region has made a name for itself as a start-up scene due to the many advantages of its location. 

The region's potential for a successful start-up is particularly evident in the fact that the start-up companies Bitterliebe and Strong Fitness Cosmetics from Mannheim have already been invited to the well-known TV show Höhle der Lö wen and were able to convince the show's entrepreneurs of their products. These Höhle der Löwen products from Bitterliebe and Strong Fitness Cosmetics are still distinguished by their sales success today.

In the show Die Höhle der Löwen (The Lion's Den ), start-up founders are given the opportunity to present their business idea or invention to five successful entrepreneurs. If they can convince one or more of the entrepreneurs of their business model, they receive start-up capital from them as well as support for the further expansion of the start-up.

Even if no deal with the investors is reached within the Höhle der Löwen, the appearance in the TV show still offers a unique opportunity for a start-up, which can have a positive effect on the popularity and thus on the further growth of the company.

Mannheim and Heidelberg thus offer good basic conditions as locations with which other start-up companies can also achieve this step towards success.

FAIRNATURAL within the start-up ecosystem

An overview

• Foundation in 2015
  
• Main location in Heidelberg
  
• Sale of organic, high-quality food supplements
  
• High growth in e-commerce and retail
  
• Investment by Business Angel Carsten Kaisig (Ex CEO - Capri Sun) 

Our development as a start-up company from its foundation in Heidelberg until today

At the young age of 19, Simon founded Fairnatural (initially Fairprotein) with the idea of creating organic, high-quality food supplements and thus offering a healthy, innovative alternative to the existing range of food supplements on the market.

Started as a small start-up in Heidelberg, the development of Fairnatural has been marked by successes and setbacks, but the goal has never been lost sight of: To further increase the popularity of the company both in the local area of the metropolitan region but also in the international area as well as on various online platforms.

Looking at the current position of our start-up company, a positive development is emerging, in which the ideal location of Fairnatural in Heidelberg was certainly not uninvolved. Our products can already be found in local branches of Rewe & Edeka and are to be distributed nationwide in retail in the future.

Currently, the growth of the start-up company on our primary channels in e-commerce - Amazon + online shop - should also be highlighted. We are represented internationally with our products on Amazon in all relevant EU markets and are regularly listed in the top 10 for vegan proteins in Amazon Germany and in the top 100 for whey proteins.

To date, Fairnatural has been financed by our business angel Carsten Kaisig (former CEO - Capri Sun) and by the state of Baden-Württemberg (Pre-Seed BW program). This indicates that our company is also seen from an external perspective as an innovative start-up with strong potential for expansion outside the metropolitan region. 

With regard to Fairnatural 's position within the start-up ecosystem of the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region around Heidelberg and Mannheim, it can therefore be said that although our company has its roots and its main location here, we are still pursuing the vision of constantly driving Fairnatural 's growth at a national and international level. We also work closely with experts such as Arkadi from Eiweisspulver-Test.