Success Stories
The founding of the HNEE
For over 10 years, the Start-up Centre has been supporting aspiring entrepreneurs on their journey to self-employment. A selection of individual start-ups, EXIST start-up grants and ideas from the KickStart programme are featured here. Be inspired!
Grübi hilft Insektenzüchter*innen mit Dienstleistungen, wie Workshops und Produkten zur Reproduktionsbiologie ihrer Schützlinge.
Unternehmensberatung in der die nachhaltige Transformation in Organisationen im Mittelpunkt steht.
Start-ups supported by the HNEE Start-up Centre
Founded: 2022
Product/service: Escape games in the woods
Industry: Adventure games
Team: 2 people
Founders: Hendrik Lübben & Karsten Groß
Degree programme: Forestry (B.Sc.)
MÄXIT is a play on words combining ‘fairy tale’ and ‘exit’. They combine the gaming experience of an escape game with well-known or as yet undiscovered fairy tales. In doing so, they focus on the use of natural materials and employ both reuse and upcycling.
Founded: 2014
Product/service: Demeter hay-fed milk and meat
Sector: Agriculture
Team: 1–2 people
Founders: Janusz Hradetzky
Degree programme: Organic Agricultural Management (M.Sc.), graduated in 2014
Animal-welfare-focused dairy farming on nature conservation land, artisanal milk processing and community-supported agriculture. With the support of his family, Janusz Hradetzky founded a small organic farm called Stolze Kuh in Stolzenhagen on the River Oder
Founded: 2021
Product/service: Sustainable ready meals in returnable glass jars
Sector: Food
Team: 3 people
Founders: Sophie Gnest, Eva Maier & Ronja Harder
Degree programme: Sustainable Business Management (M.A.)
pack&satt is bringing a new generation of ready meals to the market! Until now, people have often faced the dilemma of having to choose between unhealthy food or food packaged in plastic when they’re feeling peckish.
“Our vision: good food for everyone!”
Founded: 2020
Product/service: Yoga, meditation, mindful forest walks
Sector: Health
Team: 1 person
Founder(s): Ulrike Gollmick
Degree programme: Global Change Management (M.Sc.), graduated in 2017
Through yoga, guided meditations and mindful time spent in nature, people can reconnect with themselves, improve their wellbeing and reconnect with nature.
"A rich life consists fundamentally of serving others, trying to leave the world a little better than you found it." — Cornel West
beyourtrueself(at)posteo.de I Weinbergstraße 12, 16225 Eberswalde
Founded: 2020
Product/service: Strategic sustainable management consultancy
Sector: Local authorities and municipal enterprises
Team: 2 people
Founders: Marion Bathke & Daniel Birich
Degree programme: Financial Management (BA), graduated in 2016
Bigguban supports local authority-owned companies and local authorities through their transformation process, assisting the organisation with mind, hand and heart.
“It is only with the heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Founded: 2023
Product/service: Window farm for microgreens
Industry: Food
Team: 3 people
Founders: Matthias Mähner, Adrian Dohms & Tommy Gruber
Degree programme: Organic Agriculture and Food Systems (M.Sc.)
With microgreens grown on the windowsill, wingrow helps its customers grow their own vegetables at home and provides a cookbook to guide them in preparing healthy, tasty and sustainable meals.
Founded: 1994
Product/service: Retail trade in all types of organic food
Sector: Natural food retail
Team: 25 people
Founders: Torsten and Heidi Pelikan
Degree programme: Landscape Management and Nature Conservation, Dipl.-Ing. (FH), graduated in 2003
Takeover and further development of an organic shop; setting up a subscription and delivery service; a cheese stall at the Eberswalde weekly market; various market stalls; catering for up to 300 people; a lunch menu; and home-baked cakes and tarts.
“For us, this has been and continues to be a contribution to active nature conservation and environmental protection.”
Founded: 2017
Product/service: Solid wood furniture, specialised timber structures and furniture design
Sector: Craft trades
Team: 9 people
Founders: Tom Brodhagen
Degree programme: Wood Science and Technology (M.Sc.), graduated in 2016
The EberHolz Design joinery was born out of a long-standing desire to design, plan and produce our own furniture. The focus is on distinctive designs, high quality, regional sourcing and, above all, an appreciation of wood as a renewable raw material.
Start-ups supported through the EXIST Start-up Grant
Founded: 2019
Product/service: Lightweight acoustic piano with acoustics
Industry: Consumer/Design
Team: 5 people
Founders: Seppe Alaerts
Degree programme: Wood Science and Technology (B.Eng.), graduated in 2016
The team’s vision is to re-establish the piano in the home. They believe that acoustic pianos are disappearing from homes because life in general is becoming more flexible, partly because people are moving house more frequently. They want to retain the flexibility and practicality of the digital piano without sacrificing the acoustic sound.
“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” – Leonardo da Vinci
info(at)keybird-instruments.com I www.keybird-instruments.com
Founded: 2019
Product/service: Online marketplace for agricultural commodities
Sector: Agricultural technology / Agriculture
Team: 3 people
Founders: Hauke Jaeschke, Michel Kade, Torben Köhn
Degree programme: Organic Agricultural Management (M.Sc.), graduated in 2018
Agrora’s aim is to be the first platform on which an entire agricultural transaction – from initiating a contract through to its conclusion and settlement – is handled digitally. This saves users time and enables them to become digital agricultural businesses. Agrora achieves this through an online marketplace for agricultural commodities.
“Some dream, some do, and some do both”
Founded: 2021
Product/service: Learning app for equality
Sector: (Further) education
Team: 2 people
Founders: Louisa Wiethold
Degree programme: Financial Management (BA), graduated in 2018
Equalista currently offers a Gender Equality Glossary to provide users with the language to describe their situation, as well as a number of learning courses to explore specific topics in greater depth. In future, the aim is for it to be a ‘Gender Equality Coach in your pocket’, featuring theoretical content and, above all, practical tips for implementation.
“Your relationships are your politics.”
hello(at)equalista.com | Equalista GmbH | Berliner Str. 9 | 15377 Buckow
The ‘beepool’ project represents beekeeping 4.0 and offers beekeepers a digital hub that meets a wide range of requirements. Using artificial intelligence (AI), the ‘beepool’ project analyses data from the Copernicus programme, weather services, phenological and genomic databases for cultivated plants, and agricultural land-use data to determine regional nectar and pollen potential (NPP) and, based on this, calculates the optimal bee density at a specific time in a specific region.
Further start-ups by HNEE staff members
Founded: 2023
Product/service: Production and sale of sustainable clothing
Sector: Support
Team: 2 people
Founders: Jona Bücker
Degree programme: Sustainable Business Management (M.A.)
Olivia Garrison and Jona founded open label as an environmentally conscious alternative to fast fashion, offering circular, recyclable fashion made from certified organic cotton that is carbon-neutral and plastic-free, for a more environmentally friendly future.
“Be the change you want to see in this world.” – Gandhi
Are you interested in finding out more about starting a business?
Then please send us an email or book an appointment. You’ll find us near the City Campus and on the Waldcampus.
Public funding bodies
