Rarely has “The Lion’s Den” been so personal and emotional. In the seventh episode of the VOX show (also on RTL), the founders of “Ichò” come into the cave with prominent support in the form of dog professional Martin Rütter (52). But the pitch is not about four-legged friends, the inventors have brought an idea with them that is intended to improve the lives of dementia patients. A topic that touches the lionesses Judith Williams (51) and Dagmar Wöhrl (68) emotionally for personal reasons.
With Genia (36) and Choung (36), founding professionals entered “The Lion’s Den”. At least the two have already founded the successful company “Campusheld”. Students are brought together with brands. Manufacturers of beer or decorative items supply student parties free of charge and can thus distribute their product to customers in an otherwise advertising-free environment. Now the two want to take the next step with the “Uniheld” app, for which they need 600,000 euros and want to sell 15 percent of their company. With the app, which is financed via a subscription model, students receive numerous discounts at certain restaurants or cinemas nearby, which can be used to advertise themselves. “You can’t get any closer to your customer,” says Judith Williams, like the other lions, enthusiastically. But the investors cannot help the founders with their expertise in the IT sector and therefore get out. Except for Carsten Maschmeyer (63), who, however, demands 30 percent shares in the company. Too much for the founders, who come with a counter offer of 24 percent. “Clearly no,” Maschmeyer smashes directly. But at 25.1 percent, everyone is satisfied and happy about this deal.
Martin Rütter accompanies the inventors of “Ichò” into the cave, because this product is an affair of the heart for him. The reason for this is the painful experience that the dog trainer had with his mother, who was suffering from dementia. With this incurable disease, the brain degrades more and more until the affected person has lost all abilities. When Martin Rütter was shooting a report on this topic, he got to know the founders Eleftherios (35), Steffen (32), Aklje (39) and Mario (31) and their invention. The four of them have dementia in their own family and want to help slow down the progression of the disease with their brightly colored “Ichò” training ball. The ball is programmed with over 100 different therapy games, can glow, make noises and sounds and vibrate. For example, by turning the ball in one direction, a chord is played, so the patient can make music with “Ichò” or guess animal noises that the ball is playing. The aim is to improve cognitive and fine motor skills. The programs are controlled via a remote control.
For the further development of their product, the inventors need 1.5 million euros for a 15 percent share in their company. To show what effect the ball has on people with dementia, the founders brought a video with very emotional pictures. But this sight was too much for Dagmar Wöhrl, who had to leave the cave in tears after a few minutes. All lions are deeply moved by the topic. “I first lost my mother to dementia,” explains Dagmar Wöhrl when she returns. Tears also flow with Judith Williams, because her father also suffers from the disease. “How do I know that this will help in any way?” the lioness wants to know. But that is the crux of the matter, because there is no official study on this. In addition, none of the founders come from a medical field and the ball currently has a proud price of 1,428 euros. Reason enough for the lions not to invest, although everyone is convinced that “Ichò” is a valuable product that can be helpful.
Alexander (42) then presents “Silkslide Pro” – an eight centimeter long plastic product with which nose hair is removed or, as the founder says, “nose”. A certain blade guard should prevent injuries and only remove the lower hair from the nose. Judith Williams and Ralf Dümmel (55) are both interested and want to invest the required 250,000 euros for 20 percent. But in the end, Ralf Dümmel came out on top and made the deal with the “Silkslide Pro” inventor.
There is also a deal for the father-son team Karl-Josef (66) and Patrick (33). Together they invented the “Catrub”, a cat tree with six different modules that can be assembled individually. But the spark only jumps over Ralf Dümmel, who invests the desired 100,000 euros, but takes 25 percent of the company shares instead of the 15 percent offered.
The pitch for the siblings Hakan (27) and Melike (29) with their “Memobild” was less successful. With this idea, the two not only want to capture people in pictures, but also their voices. For this purpose, a sentence of the person or the heartbeat of a child is recorded and this is shown as a soundtrack on an image. In addition, there is a QR code on the image so that you can listen to this soundtrack over and over again using your smartphone. But the lions don’t believe in the success of the product and so “Memobild” got nothing.
