Week 34: Pitching for a Berlin Start-Up Grant, HU Start-Up honoured at Business Plan Competition

Start-Up Teams pitch for Berlin Start-Up Grant

Last week, 11 start-up teams pitched their solutions in the field of critical infrastructure resilience to a select panel of judges at the Startup-Villa in Dahlem, competing for the Berlin Start-up Grant. On 1 October 2026, the teams chosen by the expert panel – comprising Kathrin Lahme (Marienpark Berlin), Constanze Kettlitz-Profe (T-Labs & hubraum), Patrick Theuer (Deutsche Bahn), Christian Segal (Berliner Sparkasse), Philipp Heinicke and Ole Senkbeil (both from Science & Startups), will launch as Batch III of the Berlin Start-up Grant and receive support through the programme for 12 months.

HU Start-Up honoured at the Berlin-Brandenburg Business Plan Competition

At the final of the Berlin-Brandenburg Business Plan Competition 2026, five of the ten finalist teams came from the Science & Startups network and impressed the judging panel. Among them was the HU start-up and upcycling company recreategoods, founded by former EXIST Women fellow Stephanie Pupke-Bertram, which was recognised for making it into the competition’s top 10.