Heilbronn, October 27, 2025 – Heilbronn Slush’D 2025 brought together over 1,000 founders, investors, and innovation leaders from across Europe under the theme “ONE Driving Force.” The event focused on advancing Europe’s innovation landscape through collaboration, technology, and entrepreneurship.
With a sold-out crowd, participants from all over Europe, and a lineup of global thought leaders, Heilbronn Slush’D 2025 reaffirmed its status as one of Europe’s most forward-looking gatherings for founders and investors. The event showcased Europe’s innovation depth – from AI and deep tech to robotics, space technology, and sustainable business models, highlighting the region’s evolving role in setting the pace for innovation.
“We are very satisfied with how the event went. We were sold out again and were able to welcome significantly more international participants, partners, and speakers to Heilbronn. You could really feel the energy of this year’s motto, ‘One Driving Force,’ in the audience. The feedback was consistently positive, and what’s always special is when people come to Heilbronn for the first time and realize the scale of what’s being built here and the dynamism within the ecosystem. The quality of the startups in the pitch competition was also very high. We’re excited to see how many future success stories will have had their foundation laid at Heilbronn Slush’D 2025”, said Oliver Hanisch, CEO of Campus Founders.
“Heilbronn Slush’D has once again shown that we have everything it takes to build a successful innovation ecosystem — not only here in Heilbronn, but across Germany and Europe. We have the talent, we have the technologies and innovations — and we have the capital. Now it’s about making this capital accessible to startups and investing larger amounts locally. This way, we will give them the opportunity to grow globally from their home market and secure our competitiveness and independence for the future.”
On stage: where Europe’s innovators defined what’s next
The main stage brought together pioneers shaping the future of technology, sustainability, and entrepreneurship across Europe. Agate Freimane, Founding General Partner at Norrsken VC, opened with a powerful call for perseverance and ownership: “No excuses, only solutions. Excuses never get you anywhere. Find a way, no matter how hard it is.” Her statement set the tone for a day defined by grit and conviction – and by founders determined to turn challenges into progress. Sophia Rödiger, CMO at 1KOMMA5°, followed with her formula for scaling successfully in Europe: “Topic, timing, talent: that’s the secret sauce to scaling,” she said. Andy Bruckschloegel, Co-Founder of Bits & Pretzels, Ryte and Semrush, added the 10 most important ingredients for startup success in his 10 minute power talk, showcasing what efficiency can look like. And the audience appreciated the hands-on tips with rounds of applause.
Throughout the day, AI emerged as a central theme across multiple talks and panels – a reflection of its omnipresence in today’s innovation landscape. Breana Callan, speaking for the German AI Association, captured this perfectly: “AI isn’t potential anymore, … it’s proven momentum.” Their new AI-on-Demand platform has the aim to bring together AI services, resources, and tools and make them easily accessible in one place. AI researchers, SMEs, tech providers, EU-funded projects, Digital Innovation Hubs, and other European actors can come together on this platform to share AI progress.
Alongside AI, robotics stood out as another important pillar of Europe’s technological edge: At a panel on corporate-startup collaboration, David Reger, CEO of Neura Robotics, emphasized that these partnerships give companies a major competitive advantage, as they benefit from startup innovations before anyone else in the market. From the corporate perspective, Henning Löser, Senior Manager at Audi Production Lab, stressed the importance of speed and adaptability: “We need people who are allowed to break rules,” he said. “Startups can and should fail fast, learn, and iterate, but understanding how corporates operate is key if they want to win them as customers.” Stephan-Daniel Gravert, CPO at mimic robotics, pointed to trust as the foundation of collaboration between startups and large companies, while Timo Gessmann, CTO at Schunk, emphasized the power of ecosystems: “You need to use the ecosystem to foster innovation. No one innovates alone.”
Matt Domo, Amazon employee #17 and co-founder of Amazon Web Services (AWS), flew in from the United States to close the official agenda with his blueprint for the European Ecosystem. His main messages were: Stop siloed competition and that now is not the time to overregulate.
One of the exclusive insights surrounding Heilbronn Slush’D underscored just how real Europe’s innovation drive has become: HyImpulse Technologies, a Heilbronn-based space tech startup, has recently announced a € 45 million funding round, led by Campus Founders Ventures. The investment marks a milestone for rocket technology “Made in Europe”, fueling the commercialization of HyImpulse’s SL1 orbital rocket and advancing Europe’s independent, cost-effective access to space.
Visitors at the event could experience Europe’s space ambitions up close — with HyImpulse’s SR75 rocket on display as one of the highlights on site. Other crowd magnets included Neura Robotics and Schunk, who showcased a humanoid robot with dexterous, human-like hands, symbolising the next leap in robotics and automation. Adding a touch of startup flair, a pop-up barber shop in the exhibition area became a networking hotspot and social media favourite.
The pitch competition: celebrating Europe’s boldest startups
Fifty startups competed live across five award categories in front of a packed audience. The prestigious ONE Hundred Award - including the chance of a € 100.000 investment from Campus Founders Ventures - went to EcoComply, which offers a platform that helps manufacturers efficiently check and prepare their products for legal requirements such as CE marking, RoHS, REACH, WEEE, and more.
The new Co-Innovation Award was awarded to common sense robotics, an intelligent platform that automates and optimizes manual work in industrial environments. common sense robotics connects Artificial Intelligence (AI) with robots to understand, plan, and either assist humans with tasks or perform them autonomously. The award includes a € 25.000 budget for a proof-of-concept project with the award partner Audi.
Other awarded categories were the € 25.000 ONE Driving Force Award, supported by D11Z. Ventures and awarded to Sleak AI, as well as the € 5.000 Female Founders Award, supported by Wissensstadt Heilbronn / WoMent, which was awarded to ChangePath. And finally the € 5.000 Campus Founders Community Award, voted by the audience and awarded to Bloom Future.
“Gravity”: the next chapter
Looking ahead, the spirit of Heilbronn Slush’D will continue to take shape in December. On December 3, Campus Founders will officially open GRAVITY, their new 8,266-square-meter space in Heilbronn. Designed as a center of gravity for entrepreneurship and co-innovation, the building will host over 200 workplaces, 21 meeting rooms, and two event spaces, providing a home for the next generation of founders and innovators. With GRAVITY opening its doors and new partnerships emerging, Heilbronn continues to strengthen its position as one of Europe’s most dynamic innovation ecosystems.
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About Heilbronn Slush’D
Heilbronn Slush’D is a startup festival organized by Campus Founders, designed to foster collaboration across startups, investors, corporates, and researchers. Since 2022, the event has brought the industry’s brightest minds to Heilbronn. A special application process ensures that all participants are genuinely interested in active exchange and collaboration. The festival also offers various pitch competitions with attractive prizes for startups.
About Campus Founders
Campus Founders is the startup and co-innovation hub based in Heilbronn. Its programs combine hands-on experience, cutting-edge methods, financial startup support, a strong mentor network, and international connections. Designed to support all phases of the entrepreneurial journey – from initial idea generation and validating problem-solution fit to achieving product-market fit and scaling sustainably – Campus Founders empowers early-stage startups to accelerate their progress and drive international growth.
As a platform, Campus Founders unites students, founders, investors, and companies to promote meaningful collaboration and co-innovation. Its vibrant community of over 1,000 members regularly engages in events and networking formats. Campus Founders also actively supports female founders through dedicated exchange and mentoring initiatives. As part of the RISE Europe network – linking 20 leading startup ecosystems across 14 countries – Campus Founders builds vital bridges to international markets and experts.
Press Contact
Florian Kratz
Director Marketing Communications
Campus Founders gGmbH
+49 (0) 152 0341 8410
Bildungscampus 1 - 74076 Heilbronn
