AXSOL GmbH from Bleicherode/Obergebra has been named the state win­ner of Thuringia in the nation­wide busi­ness com­pe­ti­tion KfW Award Grün­den 2017. The award cer­e­mony will take place on 12 Octo­ber at the Fed­eral Min­istry for Eco­nomic Affairs and Energy in Berlin. This is also the kick-off event for the Ger­man Founders’ and Entre­pre­neurs’ Days (deGUT), dur­ing which the award will be presented.

Founded in 2012 by Jür­gen Zinecker, the com­pany has been devel­op­ing and sell­ing mobile, portable power sys­tems under the ARVEY brand for the loca­tion-inde­pen­dent and self-suf­fi­cient sup­ply of alter­nat­ing cur­rent (230V) since 2014. The ARVEY power sys­tems enable regen­er­a­tive elec­tric­ity — for exam­ple via solar cells or wind tur­bines — to be gen­er­ated, stored and accessed in the form of direct and alter­nat­ing cur­rent with high power using a sin­gle handy device. In this way, eco­log­i­cal power gen­er­a­tion is pos­si­ble com­pletely inde­pen­dently wher­ever there is no elec­tric­ity or access to the power grid. AXSOL GmbH cur­rently has two loca­tions within Ger­many, Ble­icherode and Würzburg. With the sup­port of its investors, the com­pany plans to expand series pro­duc­tion and tap into fur­ther mar­ket areas with all device classes. In addi­tion, the OEM busi­ness, i.e. man­u­fac­tur­ing for cus­tomers who sell the prod­ucts under their own brand, will be expanded.
Jür­gen Zinecker, man­ag­ing part­ner of AXSOL, is pleased about the award: “When you decide as a small com­pany to take a real prod­uct from devel­op­ment to mar­ket matu­rity, it takes strength and time. There are many hur­dles to over­come and also prophe­cies of doom to defy. We there­fore grate­fully accept the KfW award as a reward for these efforts and see it as an incen­tive to con­tinue to make the world a lit­tle bet­ter with our energy sys­tems, step by step.”
AXSOL receives 1,000 euros in prize money and an invi­ta­tion to the award cer­e­mony in Berlin with hotel accom­mo­da­tion and a pro­gramme of vis­its. In addi­tion, the com­pany simul­ta­ne­ously qual­i­fies for the national prize, which is endowed with a fur­ther 9,000 euros and will be awarded on the evening of 12 Octo­ber at the Fed­eral Min­istry for Eco­nomic Affairs and Energy. In addi­tion, an audi­ence award (5,000 euros) will be pre­sented by the auditorium.
Win­ning the award is a qual­ity dis­tinc­tion for young com­pa­nies. By award­ing the prize, KfW aims both to hon­our the suc­cess­ful founders and to con­tribute to greater pub­lic recog­ni­tion of the step into self-employ­ment. Com­pa­nies in all sec­tors from the year 2012 onwards were eli­gi­ble to apply. The win­ners were selected by a jury of expe­ri­enced rep­re­sen­ta­tives from KfW, pro­mo­tional insti­tu­tions, busi­ness, pol­i­tics and the media. The busi­ness ideas were eval­u­ated accord­ing to their degree of inno­va­tion, cre­ativ­ity and assump­tion of social respon­si­bil­ity. The award was also based on how envi­ron­men­tally con­scious the imple­men­ta­tion was and whether jobs and train­ing places were cre­ated or preserved.

About KfW:

As Germany’s largest pro­mo­tional bank, KfW sup­ports its cus­tomers with cus­tomised financ­ing offers. In 2016 alone, KfW pro­vided a pro­mo­tional vol­ume of EUR 81.0 bil­lion in Ger­many and abroad. In the Mit­tel­stands­bank busi­ness area, the pro­mo­tional vol­ume amounted to €21.4bn.

About deGUT:

deGUT is the largest trade fair for busi­ness start-ups and entre­pre­neur­ship in Ger­many. It will take place on 13 and 14 Octo­ber 2017 in the ARENA Berlin. deGUT is organ­ised by Investi­tions­bank Berlin (IBB) and Investi­tions­bank des Lan­des Bran­den­burg (ILB). The deGUT is spon­sored by the Sen­ate Depart­ment for Eco­nomic Affairs, Energy and Indus­try in Berlin and the Min­istry for Eco­nomic Affairs and Energy of the State of Bran­den­burg. The patron is the Fed­eral Min­is­ter for Eco­nomic Affairs and Energy, Brigitte Zypries.

Press contact:

KfW Award Gründen
c/o Peper­oni Werbe- und PR-Agen­tur GmbH, Friedrich-Ebert-Str. 91, 14467 Potsdam
Car­men Vallero, tel. 0331 / 231 890–20, e‑mail: kfw_award@peperonihaus.de