From Lab to Market Challenge: How CHEManager Is Amplifying Chemistry's Next Founders
Chemistry start-up competition From Lab to Market Challenge is partnering with CHEManager to bridge the gap between scientific research and commercialization, offering founders media exposure, mentoring, and €10,000 in prizes.
The From Lab to Market Challenge (FLTMC), organized by Chemstars together with regional partners Forum Rathenau, GreenChem, Koala, and TUM Venture Labs: Chemspace, continues to grow as one of Germany's leading start-up idea competitions for scientists in chemistry, industrial biotech, materials science, and related fields. The program is designed specifically for chemical entrepreneurs and aspiring founders, helping scientists navigate the path from research to entrepreneurship — a journey that, for many, has historically felt unclear or out of reach.
Eligible to participate are students, postdocs, research assistants, professors, and alumni with a clear connection to a German university or research institution. CHEManager will host public voting on its website with the finalists from June 1st, ahead of the Grand Award Event on June 25th.
A Proven Track Record
Since its launch in 2022, the challenge has delivered measurable results. The FLTMC's alumni have collectively generated 21 active startup projects, incorporated 9 ventures, raised over €30 million in capital, and secured 10 successful EXIST Transfer of Research applications. Recent graduate cohorts include Minerva Carbon and Grove Additives, both FLTMC 2025 participants, each of which has since secured €1.7–1.8 million in EXIST Transfer of Research funding. C4Value, another FLTMC 2025 alumnus developing a sustainable acetoin production process from bioethanol, recently received an honorable mention at the CHEManager Innovation Pitch 2026 in the "Value to Industry" category.
The 2026 Edition
The current edition of the challenge is now in its final stages. Following the idea submission deadline of March 30th, 2026, participants moved through a Business Model Workshop, Pitch Training, and Regional Semi-Finals. The Grand Award Event — where finalists present to an audience from academia, industry, and capital providers — is scheduled for June 25th, 2026, in North Rhine-Westphalia, with a total prize pool of €10,000 in cash.
CHEManager's Role: Media Platform Meets Startup Pipeline
A key part of what sets the FLTMC apart from other idea competitions is its partnership with CHEManager, Wiley's market-leading B2B publication for the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotech industries. Winners of the competition receive a feature in CHEManager and the opportunity to present in front of high-ranking representatives from academia, industry, the capital markets, and politics. In addition to the feature, Wiley, CHEManager's parent company, hosted a pitch training session for FLTMC participants at its Berlin office in early May, in collaboration with GreenChem.
That editorial exposure feeds directly into CHEManager's broader startup initiative. The CHEManager Innovation Pitch, launched in 2019, gives founders, young entrepreneurs, and start-ups from the chemistry and life science industry the opportunity to present their ideas to a broad audience of experts, establishing new contacts with potential investors, development partners, and customers. Each year, a jury of industry experts selects an annual winner from the finalists.
The two programs form a coherent pipeline: FLTMC identifies early-stage research with commercial potential; CHEManager's Innovation Pitch gives the strongest projects sustained visibility across the industry. The winner of the CHEManager special prize at the From Lab to Market competition goes on to be featured in the Innovation Pitch.
CHEManager Innovation Pitch
Learn More HereWhy It Matters
CHEManager and CHEManager International provide business news, market information, and expert analysis for industry decision-makers. By embedding itself as an award partner in the FLTMC, the publication extends its role beyond reporting on innovation to actively enabling it — offering start-ups a credibility signal and a media platform that reaches the very decision-makers they need to engage.
For Germany's chemistry startup ecosystem, the FLTMC-CHEManager partnership represents a rare joining of scientific talent development and industry media reach, with results increasingly visible in the funding rounds and product launches emerging from its alumni network.
