In 2025, researchers, students and alumni of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) founded 115 start-ups, a new record. The enthusiasm for starting businesses remains strong. The number of initial consultations at the TUM Start-up Consultancy also reached an all-time high of around 500. Last year, TUM received 32 approvals for EXIST start-up scholarships – by far the highest number nationwide. Through these grants, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs supports spin-offs from universities when the universities themselves support the teams.
More than 40 spin-offs presented themselves to the approximately 1,500 visitors at TUM Entrepreneurship Day. Key players in Munich’s innovation ecosystem discussed topics including quantum technology companies. TUM researchers presented a new study on which universities are shaping the start-up landscape. The conference “From Lab to Launch – Unleashing Academic Start-ups” was broadcast live. At the event, held at the TUM Heilbronn Campus, international guests, including researchers from the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford and Berkeley, as well as Imperial College London, discussed new approaches for spin-offs.
A particularly promising spin-off was awarded the TUM Presidential Entrepreneurship Award. The award recognizes business ideas that are largely based on research findings, have high growth potential and have already secured initial funding. It comes with a prize of 10,000 euros, donated by the TUM Association of Alumni and Friends.
Winner: OroraTech
The number of wildfires is on the rise due to climate change, with massive ecological, humanitarian and economic consequences. Early detection is crucial for combating them. OroraTech has developed an early-warning system for this purpose. The start-up has launched 19 of its own small satellites into space, equipped with infrared cameras. While traditional weather satellites offer relatively low resolution and low repeat rates, OroraTech’s satellites can detect wildfires as small as a car and monitor every point on Earth several times a day. Customers such as civil defense agencies or forestry companies therefore receive information about emerging fires in a very short time.
Founded in 2018, the company is established on the market and also has a location in the USA. Three of the four founders met while studying electrical engineering or informatics at TUM. They laid the foundation for their technology in the WARR MOVE student research group, which develops its own nanosatellites. In further developing the technology and founding the company, they were supported by the Chairs of Astronautics and Measurement Systems and Sensor Technology, the TUM Start-up Consultancy and the Manage & More program at UnternehmerTUM.
Finalist: DeepDrive
The range and cost of electric cars remain a major hurdle in the mobility transition. DeepDrive has therefore developed a new motor design featuring a dual rotor – a specific concept long considered unfeasible. This technology enables higher torque density and significant material savings. In this way, the start-up aims to make electric cars more efficient and cost-effective.
Six of the seven founders studied mechanical engineering, electrical engineering or management & technology at TUM. They met on the TUfast Racing Team, where students design their own cars for the international Formula Student races. DeepDrive received support through several UnternehmerTUM programs.
Finalist: Lio Technologies
Procurement processes are complex and time-consuming for many companies. Potential suppliers must be researched, requests for proposals drafted, quotes compared, prices negotiated and invoices issued. Lio Technologies has developed AI agents that handle all these steps, thereby largely automating the procurement process. The start-up already has customers from numerous industries.
Founder Lukas Heinzmann studied informatics and management at TUM and met co-founder Vladimir Keil, who studied at LMU, in an UnternehmerTUM seminar. Founded in 2023, the start-up received support from, among others, the TUM Venture Lab Software & AI.
