Start-up Challenge 2025 Nominees | ALTENPFLEGE
Picture Start-up Challenge Award Ceremony

Innovative care ideas in the spotlight: The Start-up Challenge 2025

Meet the nominees of the Start-up Challenge 2025 and discover the most innovative ideas and solutions for the care sector!

Innovators present their ground-breaking concepts and engage in dialogue with experts and users. The nominees have already been selected by a preliminary jury and cover a broad spectrum - from robotics and care appreciation programmes to analogue aids.

Your vote counts: Vote for the best start-ups in the care sector

Now it's your turn! Find out more about the nominees and vote for your favourites in the public voting on site. Your vote counts and can make all the difference. Visit us and play an active role in shaping the future of care!

Winners of the Start-up Challenge 2025 present their innovations 

After the jury of experts made their decision the day before the exhibition, this year's winners will present their innovations in the categories

  • Smart Objects & Smart Solutions
  • Concept & Strategy
  • Communication & Documentation
  • Living & Care.  

The award ceremony will take place on 7 April 2025 at 18:00 in Hall 7A - register here and look forward to the award ceremony and the subsequent dialogue with industry experts, innovators and like-minded people on the evening before the exhibition.

Public presentation of the Audience Award: 10 April 2025, 1 p.m., ALTENPFLEGE Arena, Hall 9 

 

The Nominees:

Category: Smart Objects & Smart Solutions

  • VR system for experiences and memory work from home for dementia patients and bedridden people

    Start-Up Challenge Product picture vrblick | ALTENPFLEGE
    vrblick UG

    vrblick offers care facilities a platform for personalised virtual journeys and local experiences that bring back memories. The software enables easy control of multiple VR glasses and was developed together with carers to enrich the everyday lives of people with disabilities.

  • Virtual journeys for more joie de vivre and against forgotten memories

    Start-Up Challenge Produkt picture vJourney | ALTENPFLEGE
    vJourney GmbH

    vJourney enables virtual journeys with VR glasses. In approximately 30-minute films created with 360-degree images, a tour guide leads you through exciting experiences. Interactive elements enhance the experience and make every journey unique. 

  • Staff support from robots with AI

    Start-Up Challenge product picture Fuco Care Robotics | ALTENPFLEGE
    Fuco-Care GmbH

    The AI software for the Nova service robot enables remote control and autonomous motion detection. Residents can call for help, play games or be shown the way. It can be controlled remotely via the internet so that carers can check corridors and rooms without having to be present everywhere. This relieves the burden on staff and promotes communication in care homes. 

  • RadarHero

    Start-Up Challenge Product picture RadarHero | ALTENPFLEGE
    RadarHero UG

    RadarHero offers a system for contactless fall detection with a focus on care facilities. The sensor technology is based on radar technology and therefore does not require a camera or microphone. This ensures maximum data protection and privacy in the home. Falls or prolonged immobility are recognised without a device on the body and reported directly to care staff via an app. Waiting times and undetected accidents can therefore be significantly reduced.

  • Robody Cares - ageing in the comfort of your home

    Start-Up Challenge Product picture Robody Cares | ALTENPFLEGE
    Devanthro GmbH

    Robody Cares enables people to age with dignity and in the comfort of their own home. We support carers, professionals and relatives to care for older people remotely at any time with the help of humanoid robotic avatars.

Category: Living & Care 

  • Gentle support for noticeable relief!

    Start-Up Challenge product picture majimo | ALTENPFLEGE
    majimo UG

    Our innovative push-button cushion supports the heels without overstretching the knees, protects the ankles when lying on the side and relieves pressure on the elbows to prevent pressure sores. Sensory stimulation through appealing covers helps to reduce spasticity in the hands in neurological diseases such as dementia, stroke and MS through automatic movement impulses. 

  • Understanding and organising time with the ‘Time Compass’ for people with cognitive impairments

    Start-Up Challenge product picture INCLUSYS | ALTENPFLEGE
    INCLUSYS

    INCLUSYS develops barrier-free assistance products for time orientation and daily planning for people with cognitive impairments in order to increase their independence and quality of life.

  • Long-term medication only in simple

    Start-Up Challenge product picture hellomed | ALTENPFLEGE
    hellomed group GmbH 

    hellomed is the digital service pharmacy for professional care. It offers care organisations: Prescriptions on autopilot, medication procurement & blistering at the touch of a button, MD-compliant & safe medication plans, lightning-fast communication and a high degree of flexibility for medication changes

  • Efficient therapy of chronic wounds with cold plasma aerosol

    graphical background
    WK-MedTec GmbH

    PLASMO®HEAL enables contactless, painless and cost-effective wound therapy and thus improves the quality of life.
    The application of PLASMO®HEAL is simple and effective. The treatment time for a wound is reduced by a third on average in the long term. This not only relieves the burden on staff, but also significantly reduces material costs.

Category: Communication & Documentation

  • HeyCarla

    Start-Up Challenge product picture Hey Carla | ALTENPFLEGE
    HeyCarla // J&J Software GmbH 

    HeyCarla is the complete solution that enables everyday help and care services to organise all company processes in a single software package. From employee management and scheduling to automatic invoicing with integrated payment reconciliation - everything is mapped in one software package. This enables companies to manage their administrative tasks efficiently. 

  • CURA - Smart platform to relieve cross-facility processes

    Start-Up Challenge Product Picture epitop CURA | ALTENPFLEGE
    CURA - epitop GmbH 

    The CURA platform uses smart algorithms and machine learning to make care coordination with practices, clinics and service providers easier. Seamless integration into existing systems simplifies coordination and makes the work of carers easier. 

  • Easy language at the touch of a button - with AI for barrier-free communication

    Start-Up Challenge Product picture SUMM AI | ALTENPFLEGE
    SUMM AI GmbH 

    Making the world understandable for everyone - that is the mission of SUMM AI GmbH. The team of over 20 employees has developed an AI tool that translates existing texts into plain and simple language at the touch of a button. The application is widely used in the public sector, in welfare organisations and in the private sector.

  • The software for the digital management of deposits and the automated settlement of business expenses

    Start-Up Challenge product picture Parto | ALTENPFLEGE
    Parto GmbH

    Our offering includes corporate accounts, fiduciary deposit accounts and payment cards for employees and assisted persons. With our unique software for the digital management of safekeeping funds and the automated settlement of business expenses, process costs can be reduced by more than 75%.

Category: Concept & Strategy

  • Certification as an ‘Appreciative Employer in the Social Sector’

    Start-Up Challenge Picture Akademie fuer Wertschaetzung | ALTENPFLEGE
    Akademie für Wertschätzung in Sozialen Berufen (Einzelunternehmen) 

    The certification is a 6-month process of organisational development with a focus on appreciation. By implementing greater appreciation at all levels of the organisation, greater satisfaction and therefore staff safety is created in the care sector. 

  • PFLEGEACKER –  Gardeners in care facilities

    Start-Up Challenge Picture pflegeacker | ALTENPFLEGE
    AckerCompany GmbH

    The Pflegeacker brings gardening to care facilities. This preventative measure, which is eligible for funding (SGB V and SBG XI), aims to improve the quality of life of those in need of care and increase staff satisfaction.

  • The future of home care

    Start-Up Challenge product picture hemby | ALTENPFLEGE
    Hemby GmbH

    Hemby is developing the future of home care with its innovative model. Hemby's goal is to lay the foundation for how home care will be organised in the future. 

    With the model, Hemby is innovating the technology and operating system of home care to improve the experience for everyone involved. Family members are better integrated by making care work transparent and the potential of neighbourhood help is utilised. Hemby offers a holistic and technology-enabled solution for home care. 

  • AI-supported sustainability strategies

    Start-Up Challenge product picture be2morrow | ALTENPFLEGE
    be2morrow GmbH

    The be2morrow platform enables companies to create their own greenhouse gas footprint and develop a customised climate strategy with AI-supported measures. Sustainability reports (e.g. CSRD) are created automatically with AI.

  • INWASTEMENT: Sustainable catering in the care sector

    Start-Up Challenge product picture Green Guides | ALTENPFLEGE
    Green Guides GmbH 

    Catering accounts for up to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in care facilities. Innovative approaches are therefore needed to make food more sustainable and healthier. The solution is called INWASTEMENT. As experts in the food industry, Green Guides supports care facilities in making kitchen processes more sustainable, efficient and resource-saving. The approach combines consulting, implementation and support in the areas of food waste management and food balancing.

The expert jury

Prof. (em) Wolfgang Sattler
Deutscher Designer und emeritierter Professor der Bauhaus Universität Weimar

Thomas Hilse
Inhaber von Hilse:Konzept

Brit Rebentisch-Krummhaar
Geschäftsführerin Pflege – Pflegewissenschaft beim Pflegepraxiszentrum

Olav Sehlbach
Gründer von Sehlbach & Teilhaber und Vorstand beim Care Venture Circle e.V.

Melanie Bargemann
Projektleiterin beim Living Care Lab Stadhagen

Thomas Eisenreich
Geschäftsführer der Home Instead GmbH & Co. KG

Christine Strathaus
Teamleitung Produktmanagement bei HEWI Heinrich Wilke GmbH

Thomas Althammer
Geschäftsführer der Althammer & Kill GmbH & Co. KG

Christoph Weidler
Digital Business Developer bei Vincentz Network, Verlagsbereich Altenhilfe