Carsten Maschmeyer and AnimalChat, an app that easily connects pet owners with their veterinarian, are going their separate ways after “The Lion’s Den.”
Carsten Maschmeyer promised money, but after the show there was no deal with the founders of the vet app RTL / Bernd-Michael Maurer
With bagpipes and Dalmatians: In the third episode of the new season of “The Lions’ Den,” two startups impressed with unusual companions – and their love of animals.
It starts with vegan honey. The founding couple behind Vegablum, Daniela Nowak (51) and Stephan Weidtmann (52), came to the studio with a bagpipe player. Your honey is made without bees using natural ingredients. The lions Dagmar Wöhrl and Tillman Schulz promised Vegablum an investment of 100,000 euros – for 25.1 percent of the company shares.
AnimalChat secured the second investment of the evening. Behind it are the software developer Sebastian Wilkes (34) and Heinrich Wilkes (59), a veterinarian. This time in the studio: Zorro, one of the Wilkes’ two Dalmatian dogs. They were able to convince Carsten Maschmeyer during the show. But after the recording, the deal fell through.
No deal despite the Dalmatian: AnimalChat pitched in front of the lions and brought a dog to show off with RTL / Bernd-Michael Maurer
This is how AnimalChat and Carsten Maschmeyer almost made a deal
Again and again, says Dr. Heinrich Wilkes, as a veterinarian he was confronted with overcrowded practices. His patients, on the other hand, often have to endure long journeys and waiting times – even for medical “trifles” where their owners want to be on the safe side.
In order to relieve the burden on practices and staff, unnecessarily stressed animals and worried pet owners, Sebastian Wilkes had an idea: He developed AnimalChat. The look and feel of the telemedicine app for animals is very similar to the messaging service Whatsapp.
Pet owners can easily ask their trusted veterinarian for advice, share photos of injuries, make appointments or attend a video consultation. It is even possible to pay for a treatment via the app. For this, the developers of AnimalChat receive a commission of ten percent.
There should be no additional costs on the consumer side; the commission will be billed to the doctors. They should subscribe to the telemedicine messenger for 600 euros per year. The father-son team hopes to build a customer base of two customers at the time of admission through their father’s network, which has been built up over three decades of practical experience. On the other hand, the support and expertise in sales is one of the arguments that led father and son, doctor and software developer, to the VOX Lions.
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The founders want to raise 150,000 euros in the first year, 300,000 in the second, and seven million by 2026. To achieve this, Animalpool wants to bring insurance companies on board that can advertise tailored policies via AnimalChat.
A “hot topic” for Nils Glagau is telemedicine. Glagau runs the pharmaceutical company Orthomol. Dagmar Wöhrl speaks of a “topic of the heart” that promises to solve a “huge problem” given the rampant staff shortage in the industry. Glagau and Wöhrl team up: They want to invest 200,000 euros. However, for 20 percent company shares, instead of the 10 percent offered by the founders for the same investment.
Carsten Maschmeyer promises the same deal as an individual investor. And he entices you with the well-sounding sentence: “To make a company big, you need vitamin B. I offer you something better, vitamin M.” He shares the founders’ concerns because of his own love of animals. He owns 50 animals alone, not counting fish, says Maschmeyer. When it comes to sales, the lion is sure that he is “exactly the piece of the puzzle” that Animalpool is missing.
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Maschmeyer was awarded the contract, but after the broadcast the talks failed
The founders decide on Maschmeyer and increase the offer from 200,000 euros to a quarter of a million euros. In return, Maschmeyer secured 20 percent of the company shares.
For now. Because the deal fell through. AnimalChat founder and managing director Sebastian Wilkes explained to Gründerszene that in a personal conversation with Maschmeyer’s team it “became clear that we have different ideas and ideas”. They “decided together not to go down this path together”.
Nevertheless, since recording in February, AnimalChat has “grown very successfully purely organically” and is looking for new investment opportunities.
The two founders did not want to comment on whether the deal with the veggie honey manufacturers came about after the broadcast.