Munich Startup: What does Be Tanics do? What problem are you solving?
Be Tanics: Hi, we’re Katharina, Peter & Dominik – together, we founded Be Tanics in May 2021. Be Tanics offers natural dietary supplements that are not only good for the people taking them, but also for the planet. Our products are completely climate neutral, and the plastic-free packaging can simply be thrown away with paper recycling – which means we aren’t polluting our environment any further. But that isn’t enough for us! For every product we sell, we also remove one kilogram of plastic from the ocean in collaboration with our partner Plastic Free Planet. That makes us the sustainable alternative for consuming natural dietary supplements.
The market for dietary supplements is missing a versatile concept that includes the consistent and holistic implementation of sustainability, environmental protection and transparency, as well as effective and natural ingredients. With Be Tanics, we combine both: We promote the health of our customers and of our planet!
To close this gap, we’re setting a good example and want to inspire other companies to actively fight for our environment. After all, everyone’s health depends on the health of our planet over the long term.
“To not produce any new plastic and also fighting the plastic pollution of our oceans”
Munich Startup: But that’s nothing out of the box!
Be Tanics: At the moment, there is no company in the field of dietary supplements that offers a similar combination of high-quality products, sustainable packaging and commitment to the environment like Be Tanics. Almost all capsules are still packaged in harmful PET bottles! With our approach, we’re not only trying to not produce any new plastic, but are also actively fighting the plastic pollution of our oceans.
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Be Tanics: The idea behind Be Tanics emerged in 2019 after Katharina and Peter kept finding plastic waste, such as bottles, bags and packaging from dietary supplements, on beaches during their trip through Southeast Asia. Does promoting your health mean simultaneously damaging the planet? There has to be an alternative! In 2021, our idea became a reality.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Be Tanics: We’ve actually had quite a few challenges! One of our biggest challenges was finding highly qualified experts as partners to actively support our vision and who we also like to collaborate with. Because as a newly founded startup we can’t cover all of the key areas ourselves, we are always very happy to rely on the knowledge of industry experts.
Cashflow is obviously a major challenge for us as well. As is probably the case for all young startups, we had difficulties in some areas, such as advance financing for goods, packaging and raw materials. That was definitely a major issue that we had to solve.
Be Tanics wants to remove one million kilograms of plastic from the ocean
Munich Startup: How is business going?
Be Tanics: We’re still right at the beginning of our journey, but business has been going really well so far! Our product assortment currently includes three natural organic products, and our 100 percent plastic-free packaging has gone down extremely well with the community! During the first few weeks after launching, we already received 42 excellent customer reviews and have also worked with some influencers. We also have some big plans for the future – so stay tuned!
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Be Tanics: Munich is ideally suited for us as a startup location at the moment, because the majority of our partners come from the area, which gives us the opportunity for site visits. The high number of sustainable startups and good universities makes Munich very attractive for us in terms of building our network. But we do also have to admit that the rental prices for office space in Munich are extremely high compared to the rest of Germany.
Munich Startup: Quick exit or staying power?
Be Tanics: Our major goal is to remove one million kilograms of plastic from the ocean by 2025 by selling our products. To reach that goal, we want to massively expand our product portfolio in the years ahead, which will allow us to offer an even broader range of plastic-free alternatives for natural dietary supplements. So the answer is definitely staying power!