Pivoting to become the market leader In this interview, Ralf Rottmann, Managing Director and founder of grandcentrix, and HTGF Partner Markus Kreßmann talk about how grandcentrix made a radical departure from its original business idea to become a leading IoT solutions provider – and why HTGF was the only conceivable investor for the team of founders. Markus, HTGF was the …

“HTGF plays a valuable role that goes beyond seed financing” High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is celebrating its 15-year anniversary. Professor Dieter Jahn, who spent many years heading up BASF Group’s Science Relations and Innovation Management competence centre, was one of the initiators and driving forces behind the seed-stage investor back in 2005. Since day one, Jahn has been at HTGF’s side …

15 years HTGF: 15 facts & figures Our operational business started on September 1st, 15 years ago. To celebrate this, over the past 15 days we have shared facts, figures and little insights about the last few years via social media. To kick off, we celebrated our 591 closings to date and close the 15 days today with 114 exits …

The key to a successful network is empathy HTGF Partner Claudia Raber, who is responsible for relationship management at the company, explains the art of successful networking, the amount of time that should be invested in building relationships, and why empathy is so important. Claudia, you’ve been in charge of relationship management at HGTF for over a decade now. What …

How can we achieve Product-Market Fit? – The Customer Development Process By Fabian Hogrebe With contributions from Gregor Haidl (Investment Manager), Ulrike Kalapis (Investment Manager), Yann Fiebig (Senior Investment Manager) and Dr. Andreas Olmes (Principal). “How can we achieve Product-Market Fit?” is a question that we are regularly confronted with here at High-Tech Gründerfonds. The bad news is that there …

“You don’t need entrepreneurship in your genes to successfully found a life sciences company” HTGF Partner Marco Winzer has been with High-Tech Gründerfonds since its foundation. In an interview, he talks about why real entrepreneurship is not something you can learn in the classroom. However, he also advises anyone with an innovative idea to make sure they found a company …

“We will continue setting important trends“ In an interview, High-Tech Gründerfonds’ (HTGF) new Managing Director Guido Schlitzer talks about the first-ever Family Day held exclusively online, what the future holds for HTGF, and why sometimes you just have to give things a go. How was the first-ever Family Day held exclusively online? Guido Schlitzer: It was fantastic! The special thing …

A conversation about concluding an exit during the coronavirus crisis and why it’s crucial for start-ups to adopt professional standards from an early stage Dennis Schmoltzi, Founder & CEO of Emma, and Tanja Emmerling, a partner at HTGF, talk about why it’s important to have a good network in the start-up ecosystem and about how to achieve a successful exit …

Why we need to see more investment diversity in the life sciences sector to overcome crises such as the current one Dr. Bernd Goergen has been working at High-Tech Gründerfonds for the last 12 years. The HTGF Partner is an expert in the field of life sciences. His investment portfolio includes PEPperPRINT, a Heidelberg-based start-up which is making a valuable …

How scientists become successful entrepreneurs  Interview with Klaus Lehmann, Partner Successful industrial technology start-ups – Klaus Lehmann has helped scientists and researchers to found successful start-ups on behalf of the High-Tech-Gründerfonds since 2014. Now the industrial technology expert has been appointed partner of the HTGF. In an interview he explains what start-ups from the world of science and academia need …