Overview
- The season premiered on Monday, September 7, and runs for eight primetime episodes on VOX through October 26 with each new episode available to RTL+ subscribers one week before TV and reruns on Voxup.
- Producers expanded the investor panel to eight people by adding Johannes Kliesch and Andreas W. Herb, increasing competition among investors and broadening the range of business experience at the table.
- Episode 1 featured five startups—sauberdropz, KORALLS, Piesel Piepser, Naturally Naughty, and Ding Dong Ping Pong—with publicly reported funding requests and equity offers such as sauberdropz asking €65,000 for 10 percent.
- A heated on‑air clash erupted during the sauberdropz pitch after newcomer Andreas Herb provoked colleagues, Frank Thelen intervened, and a bidding battle ended with Frank Thelen and Ralf Dümmel securing the deal.
- The season leans on familiar jurors and celebrity endorsements—Micaela Schäfer appears as a brand ambassador for Naturally Naughty—an exposure that often helps startups secure retail interest even when formal deals are not reached and some coverage still inconsistently labels the season number.