Nect start-up wins Founder's Prize 2020

22 September 2020

Haspa and Hamburger Abendblatt present prize in three categories

Nect has won the Hamburg Founder's Prize 2020 in the category "Start-ups" while the Enerparc start-up, which specializes in solar power plants in the megawatt range, topped the "up-and-coming entrepreneurs" category. Volkmar Wywiol, founder of the Stern-Wywiol Gruppe, won the award in the lifetime achievement category. The Hamburger Sparkasse (Haspa) and the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper present the annual award to honour entrepreneurial initiative, courage and success.

Speaking during the award ceremony at the Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Harald Vogelsang, Chairman of the Haspa Board of Management, noted: "Since corona, entrepreneurial spirit has become more important than ever. Society is dependent on existing business models that realign themselves and exploit all the market opportunities especially amid economic upheaval. Entrepreneurship plays a key role in this process."

Verifying identities per app

Nect develops self-service products for verifying identities safely and easily with an app based on the so-called Robo-Ident procedure. Users film their passport or ID card and take a selfie video. Artificial intelligence confirms their identity in seconds. One in two Germans already uses the procedure for health insurance, banks and telecommunications service providers, the founders said. State institutions like the German Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) or the Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank (IFB Hamburg) use Nect’s technology as well. The founders Benny Bennet, Jürgens and Carlo Ulbrich, have won over major customers and well-known investors including Carsten Maschmeyer, Managing Partner of ALSTIN Capital, an independent venture capital fund based in Munich.

sm/sb/pb