Hessen10 startups PanocularAI, ENVIOTECH and Mamaye Win Founder Awards

Pictured: Vanessa Buchmann, TechQuartier, and Sören Heß and Arya Mazaheri of PanocularAI.

What do AI-powered computer vision, smarter streetlights and an African food startup have in common? All three are part of our Hessen10 community, and all three recently won founder awards. From PanocularAI’s win in Frankfurt to ENVIOTECH and Mamaye’s wins at the Hessischer Gründerpreis, we’ve had plenty of reasons to cheer.

Two Hessen10 startups share the stage in Frankfurt

At the Frankfurter Gründerpreis on 10 November, PanocularAI founder Sören Heß received the 2026 Innovation Founder award at Frankfurt’s Römer presented by Mayor Mike Josef and the Wirtschaftsförderung Frankfurt. Presenting it were Taylan Ayik and Cihan Duezguen of Green Banana, who won the same award last year and took part in our 2025/26 Hessen10 cohort.

Meet the ten startups in our third Hessen10 group

We kicked off the third edition of Hessen10 at TechQuartier on 5 October. We selected ten startups from around 50 applications, with teams working across industries including energy, mobility, agriculture and financial services.

• 90green (Frankfurt) uses Earth observation data to map urban heat and track environmental change.

• cosy.green (Frankfurt) helps property owners improve heating efficiency in existing residential buildings.

• ENVIOTECH (Bad Vilbel) retrofits streetlights so operators can monitor them remotely and adjust lighting as needed.

• emulvent (Haiger) develops technology to extend the life of fluids used in metalworking.

• innocept mobility (Frankfurt) brings EV charging operations, billing and payments together in one platform.

• OptiMigration (Darmstadt) uses AI to help applicants and organizations navigate immigration paperwork.

• PanocularAI (Frankfurt) combines computer vision tasks such as object detection and depth estimation in a single AI system.

• Pflanzentheke (Lorsch) builds modular hydroponic systems for commercial vegetable growers.

• PreserviTec (Frankfurt) uses AI to spot potential damage to bridges, buildings and other infrastructure.

• SINTRO (Frankfurt) develops rules-based investment funds for professional investors.
  
  

Read more about the 2026 Hessen10 cohort

Our current cohort wraps up on 15 February 2027, with a Fundraising Day where the teams can share their progress and meet investors.

More reasons to celebrate across Hessen

At the Hessischer Gründerpreis 2026, ENVIOTECH won in the Innovative Business Idea category. The Bad Vilbel startup, part of our current cohort, helps municipalities and utilities make existing streetlights more energy-efficient. Mamaye – The Taste of Africa, from our 2025/26 cohort, took home the University Startup award.

We’re also celebrating two more teams from our 2025/26 cohort. Voodin Blade Technology received the Hessischer Staatspreis Energie for its work on making wind power more sustainable. formie GmbH made the WECONOMY 2026/27 Top 20 and was featured in Handelsblatt and WirtschaftsWoche.

Next up is the Frankfurt Forward Finale on 18 November. We’ll be cheering for ENVIOTECH and innocept mobility GmbH, two of the six finalists pitching for Startup of the Year 2026. Frankfurt Forward Finale

Congratulations to the founders celebrating these milestones. We’re glad to be part of your story and look forward to seeing where you take your businesses next.