WHU’s Start-Ups Make a Splash in the Media

For many members of the WHU community, the journey toward an exciting career begins when they first set foot on campus. And this has only been underscored by the slew of articles that have appeared in German media recently profiling their innovative ideas in social entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. Business Insider, for example, has reported on Legmon, co-founded by Michael Linke (MSc 2022); Zeit Campus on ScienceOS, co-started by Henri Deda (PTMBA 2023); and the German-language edition of Forbes on eleQtron, founded in part by Jan Leisse (MBA 2006). These articles reflect just how diverse WHU’s alumni are. “It’s exciting to see what can happen when you bring a bunch of ambitious people together,” said Michael Linke in his interview with Business Insider.

An overview of the articles can be found below

Legmon

Founded by Michael Linke and Alexander Hodes, Legmon employs a holistic, scientific approach to social development to help underprivileged youth, ensuring increased educational and professional equality. The platform’s diverse thirty-person band of volunteers is there to balance the scales and teach those under their wing everything they need to know about apprenticeships, academics, scholarships, and entering the working world. The first version of the Legmon app debuted on the App Store in 2019 and the Play Store in 2020.

scienceOS

scienceOS is a platform and AI tool that offers literature research assistance and outputs a set of additional relevant sources from a database of over 200 million available works. Founded in part by WHU graduate Henri Deda in Dresden in 2023, scienceOS delivers more scientific and trustworthy support than other AI tools (such as ChatGPT). The platform also features the ability to create graphics and tables based on specifically filtered data.

eleQtron

eleQtron is the first manufacturer of quantum computers in all of Germany. The company has the goal of making ion-based quantum computing accessible to more industries and has plans to provide quantum computers specifically designed to resolve scientific and commercial problems. Founded by Professor Christof Wunderlich, Dr. Michael Johanning, and WHU alumnus Jan Leisse in 2020, eleQtron started life as a spin-off of the Experimental Quantum Optics Chair at the University of Siegen and is home to the first German-made quantum computer.

Recent press articles

- Business Insider: “Mit 24 Jahren wurde ich McKinsey-Berater und leite nebenbei ein Startup – so habe ich es geschafft”

- An interview with WHU: “Five Questions for Legmon”

- Zeit Campus: “Generation GPT” (behind a paywall)

- Forbes: “Der Quanten-Erklärer” (download for a fee)