H2UB brings together fledgling businesses and investors

Startups are a byword for innovation – and for newcomers who use disruptive techniques to bring new products or services to the world. What they all have in common is the need for cash to launch their companies and build up their businesses. But where to source the money in the first place? In this case, investors are not just useful but an essential means of turning ideas into reality. Various agencies and events are on hand to help startups and investors find one another. One such organization is H2UB, which staged the Hydroverse Convention on June 20, 2023, in the German city of Essen.

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The location was quite literally colossal: the Colosseum Theater in the Westviertel area of Essen – once an industrial hall used by the company Friedrich Krupp. In attendance was Nordrhein-Westfalen’s economy minister Mona Neubaur along with over 350 investors, developers and decision-makers from the European hydrogen industry.

At the center of the event was a total of 20 startups, twelve of which took part in a pitching competition which entailed briefly presenting their ideas and answering questions posed by a panel of judges. A broad range of companies was represented, from a one-man band to a European bus manufacturer.

Emerging victorious from the male-dominated contest was the only woman who took part: Flore de Durfort (see image). The CEO and co-founder of Point Twelve, she presented her concept with confidence and style, describing how she, along with her business partners, can help companies get their hydrogen products certified quickly and easily in a largely automated process. De Durfort explained to H2-international: “The IoT and SaaS platform offered by Point Twelve makes it possible for manufacturers of energy-intensive products to easily and continuously certify and monetize their production as green. By automating old, manual, opaque and unscalable certification and verification processes, we generate a process time saving of up to 90 percent and create trust in green products.”

She added: “The initial difficulty lies in the certification of sustainable gases and fuels, particularly those produced from green, renewable power and hydrogen. We made a conscious decision to start with hydrogen certification – a key element in industrial decarbonization and where problems around certification and readiness to outsource are at their greatest.”

The Hydroverse Convention was organized by H2UB, an Essen-based company with eight members of staff that is dedicated to fostering links between corporations, universities, research institutes and investors. The company receives support from the economy ministry of Nordrhein-Westfalen as well as from its four shareholders: OGE, RAG-Stiftung, TÜV Süd and the German Aerospace Center.

Author: Sven Geitmann