RedMimicry secures million-dollar seed funding to advance realistic cyberattack testing

• RedMimicry secures seven-figure seed funding from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Capital Square (Hamburg), and superangels (Munich). 
• First platform to realistically and automatically simulate complex, multi-stage cyberattacks. 
• Organizations use RedMimicry to emulate threat actors like LockBit and Black Basta, validate their defenses, and boost cyber resilience. 

RedMimicry, a provider of a platform for the realistic emulation of complex cyber-attacks, has announced the successful completion of a seed financing round. The round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) with participation from Capital Square from Hamburg, superangels from Munich, and several well-known business angels. This investment will allow RedMimicry to develop its technology further and increase its sales activities. 

Preparing for real attacks 

Many companies only test their defences selectively and under unrealistic conditions. This means that vulnerabilities in processes, technology, and collaboration can remain undetected. However, regulatory requirements such as DORA and NIS-2 stipulate that companies must comprehensively and regularly test their security measures against current attack chains. RedMimicry provides repeatable emulations that enable companies to thoroughly validate their cyber defences against threat scenarios, such as malware or targeted attacks. This enables customers to increase their security sustainably while reducing costs and effort. 

As well as working directly with customers, RedMimicry collaborates with a growing network of partners to help companies of all sizes enhance their security processes. 

Focusing on specific attack targets 

The fresh financing will enable RedMimicry to further develop its product platform, paying particular attention to specific threat scenarios, such as attacks on critical infrastructure (operational technology, OT) or financial service providers. RedMimicry is also investing in its sales team and expanding its partner network. 

Alexander Rausch, founder and CEO of RedMimicry, said: “Our vision is to enable companies to protect themselves independently and effectively against increasingly complex cyber-attacks. With the support of experienced investors, we can advance our technology significantly and expand our market position.” 

Constantin Schlachetzki, Director of Cyber Defence at the German Cyber Security Organisation (DCSO), said: “DCSO’s customers rely on first-class security services. RedMimicry supports our assessments with advanced attack simulations, helping us to deliver accurate and effective evaluations.” 

Björn Sykora, Principal at HTGF, said: “Alex and Stefan combine technical excellence with entrepreneurial vision. With RedMimicry, they are addressing one of the greatest risks companies are currently facing: protection against cyber-attacks. They provide a European security solution that benefits both medium-sized and large companies.” 

Martin Ostermayer, Co-Founder Capital Square: “We’re excited to back RedMimicry as they revolutionize how companies prepare for and defend against sophisticated cyberattacks. Their bold vision and outstanding team embody exactly the kind of ambition and expertise we look for in founders – and we’re confident they’ll set new standards in cybersecurity.”  

Franzi Majer, Founding Partner at superangels, said: “We’re excited to back RedMimicry, whose realistic cyberattack simulations help companies uncover vulnerabilities before attackers do. Their technical excellence, market relevance, and visionary team make them exactly the kind of startup we love to support.” 

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About RedMimicry GmbH  
RedMimicry GmbH was founded in 2023 by Alexander Rausch and Stefan Steinberg. Both founders have many years of experience in the cybersecurity industry, gained through their work at Proofpoint and the German Cyber Security Organisation (DCSO). RedMimicry’s innovative platform is already in use by medium-sized and large companies, as well as by managed security service providers and consulting firms. 

Media contact  
Stefan Steinberg  
COO RedMimicry GmbH  
E-Mail: stefan.steinberg@redmimicry.com  

About Capital Square 
Capital Square is a co-working space exclusively for investors in Hamburg. Bringing together independent venture capitalists, business angels, and family offices, it fosters a close-knit community that actively exchanges deal flow, insights, and support on portfolio challenges. This unique setup combines the flexibility of independent investing with the strength of collective experience. 

Media Contact 
Martin Ostermayer, Capital Square 
mo@solanus.vc 

About superangels 
Superangels, founded by former entrepreneurs Franzi Majer, Alexander Brand, and Florian Gottschaller, is a Business Angel Matching Fund that partners with 20 selected superangels and matches their investments in leading early-stage tech startups across deep tech, AI, SaaS, climate tech, and more. The fund combines rapid, founder-friendly capital with the expertise and networks of proven entrepreneurs – making it one of Europe‘s most active early-stage funds, with 91 investments since start in May 2023.  

For more information, please visit super-angels.eu or follow us on LinkedIn.    

Media contact  
Superangels Management GmbH 
Franzi Majer, Founding Partner  
franzi@super-angels.eu  

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds  
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits. HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros.  

Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.  For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.    

Media contact  
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH  
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager   
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121  
t.jacob@htgf.de     

Genow Secures €1.65M to End Fragmented Company Knowledge with Its AI Platform

• Genow raises €1.65 million in seed funding, led by HTGF, with participation from BMH and experienced angel investors. 
• AI platform Wingman already in use by major enterprise clients. Fresh capital will drive market expansion and technological advancement. 
• Wingman revolutionises knowledge management by enabling companies to build scalable, custom AI solutions that can navigate complex information landscapes with ease. 

The deep-tech startup Genow, based in Darmstadt, has successfully closed its seed funding round, raising €1.65 million. The High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) led the investment, alongside BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen mbH and experienced angel investors and founders Markus Becker, Sebastian Mönnich and Dr Mario Lenz. Founded in 2023 as a spin-off from TU Darmstadt, Genow plans to use the new funding to further develop its AI-powered Knowledge Operations Platform, ‘Wingman’. This platform facilitates efficient and highly precise interaction with internal company knowledge from various data sources. 

Knowledge management remains an unsolved core challenge. 

Despite ongoing digitalisation, many organisations still struggle with inefficient access to internal knowledge. Even documented information can be difficult to retrieve as it is often scattered across multiple systems. At the same time, the retirement of experienced specialists puts valuable expertise at risk of being lost. What is needed are solutions capable of handling the complex, heterogeneous information landscapes of modern organisations and making knowledge accessible and usable across departments. 

‘Knowledge management remains one of the biggest hurdles to successful processes and decisions,’ says Sara Jourdan, CEO and co-founder of Genow. ‘Many employees spend 20 to 30 per cent of their day searching for information in unstructured data sets.’ 

AI-driven knowledge processes for every business context 

The Genow founding team spent several years conducting in-depth research at TU Darmstadt on the use of generative AI in enterprise environments. They found that traditional AI solutions often fail in everyday business settings due to a lack of context. Genow’s “Wingman” directly addresses this challenge by providing a scalable Knowledge Operations Platform which intelligently consolidates fragmented knowledge from systems such as SharePoint, Confluence, Jira and DMS solutions. This makes the knowledge accessible and usable in context. 

Wingman is already being used by leading international enterprises, helping thousands of employees to quickly access and apply internal knowledge productively. 

The platform doesn’t just understand content semantically — it also incorporates company-specific metadata, terminology and relationships, enabling highly accurate and reliable responses, even to complex queries. At the same time, it helps to identify knowledge gaps across the organisation. Companies can configure custom AI applications tailored to specific functions, such as HR, sales, compliance, customer service or engineering. The goal is to rethink knowledge management fundamentally and provide a future-proof solution for building, preserving and leveraging internal knowledge. 

The platform can be fully deployed in the customer’s own cloud environment, meeting the highest standards for data security, scalability, and control. 

‘With Genow, we are investing in a team that has developed an excellent research-based, scalable solution to one of the central problems of knowledge work,’ says Sebastian Schnell from BMH. ‘Wingman impresses with its technological depth, practical relevance, and significant market potential.’ 

Felix Assion, Investment Manager at HTGF, comments: ‘We are seeing a lot of start-up activity in this promising market, but few teams understand the needs of large corporations as well as this one. After an impressive bootstrapping phase, we are excited to see what they will achieve with these new financial opportunities.’ 

Markus Becker and Sebastian Mönnich, Business Angels: ‘The Genow founding team impressed us with their blend of technological expertise and strategic vision. With Wingman, Genow is setting new standards in corporate knowledge management, and we see great potential here for the future. We are delighted to be part of this journey.’  

The seed funding will be used to further develop the technology, particularly with regard to agent-based knowledge processes, and to support market expansion. 

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About Genow 
Genow is a deep-tech startup based in Darmstadt (Germany), empowering companies to efficiently and precisely interact with their unstructured, fragmented enterprise knowledge through its Wingman platform. The Knowledge Operations AI platform enables organisations to easily and securely scale specialised AI applications, making knowledge processes more efficient and effective by preserving and generating new knowledge. Genow was founded in 2023 by Dr. Timo Koppe, Adrian Glauben, Dr. Sara Jourdan, and Prof. Peter Buxmann. 

For more information, visit: https://www.genow.ai  

Media contact 
Genow GmbH 
Grafenstraße 19, 64283 Darmstadt 
Dr. Sara Jourdan 
media@genow.ai   

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds  
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits. HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros.  

Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.  For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.    

Media contact 
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH  
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager   
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121  
t.jacob@htgf.de  

About BMH 
BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen mbH is a medium-sized investment and venture capital company based in Wiesbaden. Founded in 2001, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale (Helaba). BMH currently manages six investment funds totalling over 200 million euros. Technologiefonds Hessen IV (TF H IV) primarily invests in seed and Series A financing rounds, focusing on highly scalable technological business models. Since its inception, BMH has invested in over 500 companies. The company’s investment focus includes the software/analytics, fintech/insuretech, life sciences, deep tech, IoT/industrial tech and cleantech sectors. 

For more information about BMH and its funds, please visit www.bmh-hessen.de.  

Media contact BMH  
IWK Communication Partner 
Barbara Popp 
Ohmstraße 1 / D-80802 München 
Telefon: +49 89 200030-30  
E-Mail: bmh@iwk-cp.com  
www.iwk-cp.com 

€38 Million for plancraft – Series B to lead AI Transformation in European Construction

• plancraft, a platform that helps tradespeople digitize their workflows, has closed a €38 million Series B funding round.
• Headline joins as the new lead investor, alongside continued support from Creandum, HTGF, and xdeck.
• The fresh capital will be used primarily to build an AI first product and expand the team across Europe.
• More than 20,000 customers in 11 countries already use the software to streamline their operations.

The Hamburg-based SaaS company plancraft has secured a €38 million Series B funding round, led by Headline, one of the leading global venture capital firms. Existing investors Creandum, HTGF and xdeck also participated in the round, bringing the company’s total funding to over €50 million.

As Europe faces a critical construction workforce shortage driven by demographic shifts, skills gaps, and accelerating climate retrofit mandates, the funding comes at a pivotal moment for the industry. The new funding will be used primarily to build AI-first tools to handle routine tasks more efficiently for tradespeople and to further grow the team across different countries.

CEO and Co-Founder Julian Wiedenhaus underlines the strategic importance of addressing market pressures: “Europe’s construction workforce is under unprecedented pressure – aging demographics, skills shortages, and the urgent need for climate retrofits demand dramatic efficiency gains. We don’t just want to digitalize skilled trades – we want to fundamentally change how they operate, so businesses don’t drown in administrative work while the real building suffers.”

The challenges Europe’s Construction sector is facing are significant: 95% of businesses have fewer than twenty employees. At the same time, they face growing bureaucracy, a shortage of skilled labor, and a generational transition. Combined with Europe’s responsibility for 40% of global construction CO₂ emissions, the sector faces unprecedented pressure to transform. Structural crises like the housing shortage and climate change are adding additional pressure.

Rapid growth in a tough market
Since its Series A in June 2024, plancraft has more than doubled its team from 40 to over 100 employees. The company has already built teams in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Italy. To support its expansion, plancraft is looking to hire more product and AI specialists.

“At plancraft, we’re not just seeing a strong product with incredible customer love – we are very impressed by the team with a clear, determined and ambitious mindset,” says Trevor Neff from Headline. “The clarity of vision, and the ambition to transform a traditional industry truly stand out. The market tailwinds paired with the impact of AI specific to this end market, can have a dramatic change to the industry across Europe.”

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About plancraft
plancraft digitizes workflows for trades businesses – from creating quotes and tracking work hours to documenting job sites. More than 20,000 customers in 11 countries across Europe already use the software. Founded in 2020 by Julian Wiedenhaus, Alexander Noll, and Richard Keil, the company now employs over 100 people. With their mission to create space for people in the trades, the team wants to build the backbone of European Construction. More information: www.plancraft.com

Press contact
Malin Zeuchner
malin.z@get-press.de
Tel: +49 17615417841

About Headline:
Headline is a global venture capital firm, with offices in Berlin, Paris, São Paulo, San Francisco, and Tokyo. The firm focuses on technology-driven startups with international growth potential. Notable investments include companies such as Gopuff, Bumble, Fetch Rewards, Mistral AI, Housecall Pro and many others. More information: www.headline.com

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in the pre-seed and seed phase and can participate significantly in further financing rounds, since 2024 with the HTGF Opportunity growth fund. HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and successfully sold shares in almost 200 companies.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital and numerous companies are invested in the HTGF seed funds. Investors in the HTGF Opportunity growth fund include the ERP Special Fund and KfW with the resources of the Zukunftsfonds (“Future Fund”). Further information can be found at HTGF.de or on LinkedIn and on the Zukunftsfonds page.

Media contact
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Tobias Jacob, Communications & Relations  
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121 
t.jacob@htgf.de  

HTGF completes new management team: Sebastian Borek to lead Digital Tech Division

Sebastian Borek is to become new Managing Director of High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) on 13 October 2025, taking responsibility for the Digital Tech investment team. Alongside Romy Schnelle and Dr Achim Plum, he will manage one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe.

A visionary entrepreneur, Sebastian Borek has over 25 years’ experience building digital business models, technology-driven start-ups, and venture capital structures internationally. He has extensive leadership experience as a CEO, having built and managed several organisations. As a serial founder, he has started several successful tech ventures in New York and Europe. He also launched the Founders Foundation and the Hinterland of Things conference, playing a key role in shaping Germany’s B2B start-up ecosystem. As a business angel and advisory board member, he focuses particularly on artificial intelligence, blockchain and B2B SaaS. He holds a bachelor’s degree from New York University and an MBA from the University of St. Gallen.

Following Dr Alex von Frankenberg’s departure on 12 October 2025 after 20 years, Sebastian Borek’s start completes the HTGF management team in a new sector-oriented structure. Each Managing Director will take responsibility for one of the three core investment areas – Life Sciences & Chemistry (Dr Achim Plum), Industrial Tech (Romy Schnelle) and Digital Tech (Sebastian Borek). Together, they will represent HTGF towards start-ups, industry, and policymakers, and will shape the fund’s future strategic direction.

Reflecting on his new role, Sebastian Borek says: “I am delighted to join the HTGF team, a driving force for innovation and entrepreneurship in Germany. Coming from a traditional family business background, I see my strength in bridging established industry and young tech start-ups. With a focus on founders and a passion for helping people and companies grow, my goal is to leverage the potential of digital technologies and help shape the European tech champions of tomorrow.”

Dr Armgard Wippler, Chair of the HTGF Investor Advisory Board and a Deputy Director-General at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, states: “With Sebastian Borek, HTGF gains a managing director with an excellent national and international network, as well as a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges presented by digital technologies and business models. We are very much looking forward to working with him and are convinced he will provide important impetus for the continued success of the fund and strengthen Germany’s position as a hub for innovation.”

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds 
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits. HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros. 
Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.  
For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.   

Media contact 
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH 
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager  
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121 
t.jacob@htgf.de 

From classroom overload to insight: Teaching, redefined by AI

Developed by 22-year-olds for the classroom of the future – €1 million in funding for paddy 

• Just six months after launch: paddy secures €1 million in pre-seed funding, with High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) as lead investor. 
• The startup has developed a unique AI platform that supports teachers in preparing, conducting, and following up on their lessons. 
• Teachers can once again meet the needs of their students: Already 12,000 active users. 

The startup paddy has developed a unique AI platform that saves teachers time throughout their day, enabling them to provide personalized support students once again. The platform assists with lesson planning, creates tailored teaching materials in various formats, offers digital tools for lesson delivery, and analyzes class performance. 

Founded in Eastern Westphalia by three “teacher kids”, Matty Frommann, Lukas Portmann, and Tobias Schröder, who only recently finished school themselves. 

“paddy shows how we can reduce stress for teachers while helping students develop AI skills at an early stage. Beyond the impressive product, it’s the team that won me over: Despite their young age, the founders already demonstrate remarkable entrepreneurial intuition – and I’m excited to see where the journey takes them!” says Felix Assion, Investment Manager at HTGF. 

A massive market with urgent needs 

paddy: Born at the breakfast table, developed in the classroom 

“I saw firsthand as a student how overwhelmed many teachers were – no time for individual support, even though the intention was there. That’s what sparked the idea for paddy,” says Matty Frommann, co-founder and CEO of paddy. 

The frustrations of teaching were part of daily life for the paddy founders: conversations at the breakfast table about overcrowded classes, endless grading, and the feeling of never being able to meet every student’s needs. Teachers constantly juggle between admin work, curriculum pressure, and classroom management, often without the ability to respond to individual students. 

During the pandemic, the future paddy founders organized local teacher trainings and saw firsthand how schools struggled with digital and structural challenges. In 2024, they founded DigitalErleben GmbH and launched the paddy AI platform in January 2025 – a solution that truly simplifies daily teaching routines. 

The solution: More time for what matters most 

paddy handles the tasks that fill up teachers’ calendars with no extra workload or training required. The platform identifies topic, target group, and learning objectives. It suggests matching tasks, methods, and materials, generates differentiated content, and analyzes student progress to support next steps. Teachers quickly gain insight into where their class stands and who may need extra support. 

Instead of jumping between tools, binders, and to-do lists, teachers have time again for what really matters in the classroom: personalized support, meaningful feedback, and genuine connection with their students. 

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About paddy 
paddy is an AI platform developed by DigitalErleben GmbH, based in Bielefeld, supporting teachers across the entire teaching cycle. Founded in 2024 by Matty Frommann, Lukas Portmann, and Tobias Schröder – all children of teachers – and joined later that year by CTO Lukas Kaufmann, the company developed a solution to help teachers manage their overloaded school routines. 

paddy eases the workload in planning, conducting, and reviewing lessons and supports educators in giving personalized attention to their students. With over 12,000 active users (teachers) just six months post-launch, paddy is well on its way to transforming education in the DACH region through AI. 

More information: https://paddy.app/ 

Media Contact 
The Trailblazers GmbH 
Katarina Jörg, PR Manager 
T: +49 173 4120544 
katarina@thetrailblazers.de 

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds  
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits. HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros.  

Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.   
For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.    

Media contact  
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH  
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager   
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121  
t.jacob@htgf.de

Stackgini emerges from stealth mode – with DAX 40 clients and the goal of revolutionizing IT decision-making.

After a year of building product and traction in stealth, Stackgini today announces the closing of its pre-seed funding round in April 2024, backed by leading early-stage investors High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and xdeck Ventures, along with prominent business angels from the SaaS industry including Julius Göllner (ARRtist), Dr. Niklas Hellemann (SoSafe), Frank Piotraschke (SoSafe) und Lukas Gottschick (Pliant).

As part of its public debut, Stackgini also reports strong demand, from both DAX 40 companies and several renowned enterprise clients such as Endress+Hauser, Grünenthal, Badenova, or Louis Motorrad, all of whom are already using the solution.

IT departments manage large IT portfolios (often over 1,000 solutions), while business units submit new requirements on a daily basis. Manually coordinating these demands across departments, systems, and siloed data not only slows down decision-making but also quickly leads to unnecessary licensing costs and increased complexity in the IT landscape. Stackgini offers an alternative: a data-driven platform that helps companies efficiently assess, select, and optimize their IT landscape.

“We founded Stackgini to solve a problem every organization faces: fragmented, manual, slow IT decision-making,” says Johannes Bock, CEO and co-founder of Stackgini. “Our platform learns from existing IT stacks, contextualizes new IT demands, and proactively promotes the reuse of existing IT solutions — with the speed a modern IT requires.”

The Intelligent Co-Worker for IT Departments

Stackgini is on a mission to fundamentally modernize IT demand management. Since closing its pre-seed round in April 2024, Stackgini has been developing its SaaS platform in close collaboration with its customers. The product leverages proprietary AI to analyze internal portfolio data, IT requirements, and market data – delivering actionable IT solutions in real time. Stackgini acts as a co-worker across IT governance, enterprise architecture and IT procurement teams.

Our product has already gained the trust of leading enterprises.

Steven Waegenaer, Head of IT Governance and Strategy at Grünenthal Group, adds: “For us, Stackgini is a real game changer in demand management: we are able to work together with the business units at an early stage and in a data-driven manner and make well-founded decisions – thus preventing unnecessary costs and shadow IT.”

Backed by Europe’s Leading Early-Stage Investors and experienced Business Angels

The pre-seed round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and xdeck Ventures, with participation from experienced angels including Julius Göllner, Dr. Niklas Hellemann, Frank Piotraschke, and Lukas Gottschick.

“We backed Stackgini because the team is taking a fresh, scalable approach to a universal enterprise pain point,” says Maurice Kügler, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF. “With rising IT complexity and talent shortages in IT architecture and procurement, fueling IT decision-making with AI is a huge opportunity.”

Markus Gick, Managing Partner at xdeck Ventures, adds: “Stackgini has the vision, the team, and now the traction to redefine how enterprise IT decisions are made. We’re proud to support them on this journey.”

The Road Ahead

With growing enterprise adoption, Stackgini is now focused on expanding its engineering, customer success, and go-to-market teams. The company is further deepening integrations with existing governance, procurement, and enterprise architecture systems—working toward a world where IT decisions can happen in days, not months.

“Our goal is simple: to become the AI-powered backbone of enterprise IT decision-making.” says Johannes.

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About Stackgini
Stackgini is the AI-powered co-worker for IT decision-making and demand management in medium-sized and large enterprises. Our SaaS solution reduces the workload for IT teams, promotes the reuse of existing solutions, and automates compliance checks. It brings together all teams and tools – from IT service management and enterprise architecture to compliance and procurement. The platform enhances the internal IT knowledge of its customers with millions of market data points. With the help of our proprietary AI, companies gain deep insights into their IT portfolio for intelligent, data-driven IT decisions.

Contact: Johannes Bock
E-Mail: press@stackgini.de

www.stackgini.de

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds 
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits. HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros. 

Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.   For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.    

About xdeck Ventures
xdeck ventures is an early-stage venture capital investor focusing on tech companies with superior solutions in process automation, applied big data / AI, and sustainability tech. xdeck ventures invests in inspiring teams with deep domain expertise and a distinctive understanding of the problem they are trying to solve. Moreover, they are looking for differentiated products or services that solve a real pain point for customers and teams who are building something significant with the spirit to walk the extra mile. As investor on eye level, xdeck ventures empower founders to constantly challenge their status quo by being their biggest critic and close sparring partner at the same time.

www.xdeck.vc

Certivity raises €13.3M in Series A to shape the future of technical compliance 

Certivity has raised €13.3 million in Series A funding.

The Munich-based RegTech company is developing the first structured, AI-powered platform for managing technical compliance. The round was led by Almaz Capital and UVC Partners, with participation from existing investors Earlybird X, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), and Plug and Play. The fresh capital will be used to accelerate the go-to-market strategy, drive product development, and expand into new industries and international markets. 

Founded in 2021 by Nico Waegerle, Bogdan Bereczki, Jörg Ulmer, and Sami Vaaraniemi, Certivity is tackling one of the most overlooked but critical problems in modern engineering: regulatory compliance. Engineers often spend 30–50 percent of their time navigating fragmented legal and regulatory documents to ensure products meet legal and regulatory standards. Mistakes lead to product recalls, safety failures, and billions in fines. Certivity is on a mission to change that.  

The company offers a structured, AI-native SaaS platform that transforms complex regulatory documents into structured, machine-readable compliance intelligence, automating everything from requirement extraction to regulatory updates and the native integration into the engineering process. Certivity enables companies to build products faster while increasing the security to ensure compliance with all mandatory regulations. 

“With this funding, we’re scaling our platform to become the category leader in technical compliance – starting in automotive and expanding into heavy machinery, consumer goods, defense, aerospace, and beyond,” says Nico Waegerle, CEO and Co-Founder of Certivity. “We’re broadening regulation coverage, enhancing AI, and deepening tool integrations. Thus, we are turning compliance from a mandatory requirement into a competitive advantage for our customers.” 

 “Certivity has fundamentally changed how we handle regulatory compliance. Our internal development processes have become significantly more efficient, eliminating substantial amounts of manual effort.” says Nicolas Maurin, Regulations & Standards Manager, Aptiv. 

How the platform works: Turning regulatory complexity into structured knowledge 

Certivity’s platform digitizes and structures regulatory content from over 50 jurisdictions using a proprietary ingestion pipeline and regulatory knowledge graph. This provides engineering and compliance teams with full traceability and real-time visibility into legal changes. 

AI-driven modules consolidate amendments across different regulatory versions with high precision and classify, extract, generate, and test technical and regulatory requirements from unstructured legal texts. 

Instead of managing compliance in disconnected documents or spreadsheets, teams can now organize interpretations, approvals, and legal references into product-specific compliance projects. With deep integrations into requirements management tools like Jama, Polarion, DOORS, and others, Certivity enables compliance to flow seamlessly into engineering workflows, creating a connected, auditable, and scalable process. 

Laying the groundwork for industry-scale compliance 

“Certivity is setting a new standard for how compliance is integrated into product development,” says Amanda Birkenholz, Principal at UVC Partners. “They solve a large and tedious problem for any company with regulatory requirements. Compliance challenges are no longer the exception – they are the norm. Instead of asking which products are subject to regulation, it’s nowadays more accurate to ask: which products aren’t?” 

“With some of the largest and most innovative OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers as customers, Certivity has established itself as the leader in the automotive industry for regulatory compliance. With this funding the goal is to expand in two dimensions – 1) in addition to regulatory compliance, Certivity also wants to cover technical specifications and industry standards; and 2) enlarge footprint to a diverse set of industries such as heavy machinery, aerospace and defense and eventually medtech. We are very excited about this growth prospect” says Aniruddha Nazre, General Partner at Almaz Capital.  

To support its customers at scale, the company is also investing in onboarding, training, and customer success while growing its team across engineering, product, and go-to-market functions. 

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About Certivity 
Certivity is a RegTech company that transforms regulatory complexity into clarity and speed. By converting regulatory documents into structured, machine-readable compliance intelligence, we empower engineering and compliance teams to work more efficiently and seamlessly. Our platform uses large language models (LLMs) and domain-specific AI to generate “law as data” from global sources, enabling fully digital workflows. Certivity helps customers digitize and streamline their compliance processes, reduce costs, mitigate risks, improve collaboration, and accelerate product development. 
More information on: https://www.certivity.io/  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/certivity  

About Almaz Capital 
Almaz Capital is a leading early-stage VC fund headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices also in Berlin. Almaz is investing out of its third fund and is backed by major institutional investors including the EIF, EBRD and Cisco. Almaz invests in enterprise software companies at seed and series A stages. Almaz has over 50 active portfolio companies and has had over 10 successful exits over the last 17 years. 

Find out more at https://www.almazcapital.com 

About UVC Partners 
UVC Partners is a leading venture capital firm that invests in European B2B tech startups and has offices in Munich and Berlin. With more than €600 million in assets under management, the VC typically invests between €1 to €10 million initially and up to €30 million per startup in the areas of DeepTech, ClimateTech, Mobility, and Software/AI. As an independent partner of UnternehmerTUM, Europe’s leading startup hub, UVC Partners has unique access to proprietary deal flow, more than 1,000 corporates and SMEs, as well as to talents from the Technical University of Munich, which belongs to the best European technical universities. UVC Partners’ investment portfolio includes Flix, Isar Aerospace, planqc, Proxima Fusion, Reverion, Tacto, TWAICE, DeepDrive, STABL, and many more. All portfolio companies and founders benefit from the team’s extensive investment and exit experience, their ability to build sustainable category leaders, and the network of UnternehmerTUM enabling them to speed up market entry. 

Learn more at www.uvcpartners.com. 

About Earlybird 
Founded in 1997, Earlybird identifies and backs exceptional early-stage companies on a pan-European basis – supporting them through their growth and development phases and providing financial resources, strategic support, plus access to an international network and capital markets. Through two separate strategies, Earlybird focuses on tech-enabled businesses in fintech/ insurtech, enterprise software, and deep tech (energy, food, and space) while Earlybird Health focuses on improving patient outcomes. Earlybird additionally has a Growth Opportunity Fund for follow-on investments, and a pro-bono impact initiative, Vision Lab. With EUR 2.5 billion under management across fund streams and a history of 9 IPOs and 35 trade sales, Earlybird is among Europe’s most established and active venture capital firms. 

More information on www.earlybird.com, LinkedIn, and X.  

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds  
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits.

HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros. Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.   

For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn. 

About Plug and Play Tech Center 
Plug and Play Tech Center is a leading innovation platform and one of the most active early-stage VC firms globally with multiple success stories and 30+ unicorns in the portfolio, including PayPal, Honey, N26 and Einride. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play invests across more than 20 industries. Their German offices are located in Stuttgart, Munich, and Hamburg, each focusing on collaboration between industry partners and startups in their respective fields — Mobility in Stuttgart, InsurTech, Brand & Retail in Munich, and Supply Chain & Logistics in Hamburg. 

For more information, visit: https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/venture-capital  

Sdui Group secures strategic Investment to accelerate its Mission to become the Operating System for European Schools

Sdui Group, a leading European provider of cloud-based administrative software for K-12 schools, today announced a new growth investment led by Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities fund, with participation from existing investors HV Capital and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).

The funding will be used to strengthen Sdui Group’s product suite, deepen its support for educational institutions, and further its ambition to become the unified digital platform for education in Europe.

Founded in 2018 in Germany, Sdui Group provides a fully integrated suite that supports schools across administrative needs from communication, attendance, scheduling, grading, and more. Today, Sdui Group serves thousands of institutions across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain, and is continuing to expand into new regions. Its modern, modular software is trusted by individual schools, districts, and governments to streamline operations. Sdui Group’s suite improves the experience for all stakeholders – teachers, students, administrators, and parents – and gives back valuable time to focus on teaching and learning.

As European school systems face rising complexity, increased digital expectations, and expanding public support and funding for education technology, institutions are looking for modern, reliable platforms that simplify their daily workflows. With a user-first approach and scalable, compliant cloud architecture, Sdui Group is well-positioned to lead this shift.

“This is a moment of transformation for education in Europe,” said James Stevens, a Partner in Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities business. “Sdui Group is emerging as a trusted and capable partner to help schools navigate that change. Daniel and his team have built a modern, intuitive platform that directly addresses the daily challenges of school administration. We’re excited to support their continued growth and impact across the region.”

Sdui Group has already built strong momentum through both organic growth and acquisitions. The company has successfully integrated several regional software players, expanded its capabilities, and continues to invest in innovation, reliability, and user experience. “Bain Capital’s approach is unique – they combine strategic vision with real operational support,” said Daniel Zacharias, Founder and CEO of Sdui Group. “They’ve taken the time to truly understand our mission and the realities schools face every day. With their support – and the continued backing of HV and HTGF – we’re accelerating our work to build the digital backbone of European schools.”

“We’ve been proud to back Daniel and Sdui Group since the early days and are thrilled to continue supporting this next phase of growth,” said Felix Klühr, Partner at HV Capital. “Bain Capital’s experience scaling software companies globally makes them a valuable addition to the partnership.”

Markus Kreßmann, Partner at HTGF: “Sdui is systematically building its position as the No. 1 in the European EdTech market. This substantial round of financing will enable it to continue on this path. We are delighted to be part of this success story. When we invested in the seed round in 2019, we placed our trust in a founder who had only recently left school. Today, Sdui has grown to become one of Europe’s leading providers, employing over 230 people. It is a powerful example of what can be achieved when vision, entrepreneurial talent, and genuine demand come together.”

Maurice Kügler, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF: “It’s been incredible to witness Daniel and the team’s journey since we initially partnered back in 2019. We’re thrilled to keep backing Sdui as they take the next big leap forward!”

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About Sdui Group
Founded in Germany in 2018, the Sdui Group has developed into a leading provider of cloud-based software that enables digital communication and administration for schools and educational institutions across Europe. As a reliable partner, Sdui Group supports individual institutions, governments and ministries in their digitalisation effort, and develops innovative cloud-based solutions for schools and preschools.

Sdui Group’s suite of tools supports messaging, attendance, scheduling, grading, and more-making everyday school workflows simpler, more secure, and more effective. The company is based in Koblenz, Germany and currently employs around 230 people based in several European countries.

Questions or requests for additional information should be directed to: presse@sdui.de

About Bain Capital
Founded in 1984, Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private investment firms. We are committed to creating lasting impact for our investors, teams, businesses, and the communities in which we live. As a private partnership, we lead with conviction and a culture of collaboration, advantages that enable us to innovate investment approaches, unlock opportunities, and create exceptional outcomes. Our global platform invests across five focus areas: Private Equity, Growth & Venture, Capital Solutions, Credit & Capital Markets, and Real Assets. In these focus areas, we bring deep sector expertise and wide-ranging capabilities. We have 24 offices on four continents, more than 1,850 employees, and approximately $185 billion in assets under management. To learn more, visit www.baincapital.com. Follow @BainCapital on Linked!n and X (Twitter).

Bain Capital’s Tech Opportunities business (www.baincapitaltechopportunities.com) aims to help growing technology companies reach their full potential. We focus on companies in large, growing end markets with innovative or disruptive technology where we believe we can support transformational growth. Our dedicated, tenured team has deep experience supporting growing technology businesses-bringing together differentiated backgrounds in private and public equity investing as well as technology operating roles. We invest behind fundamental long-term tailwinds as technology penetrates across industries, creating a large and growing number of investment opportunities.

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds 
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits. HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros. 

Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices. For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.   

10th Life Science Pitch Day at the IZB: Where Visionaries Meet Investors

During the anniversary Pitch Day at the IZB, ten selected start-ups presented their groundbreaking ideas to a high-caliber panel of investors. 

For the tenth time, the Innovation and Startup Center for Biotechnology (IZB), in cooperation with High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and MEDICE hosted the Life Science Pitch Day – an established format that brings promising biotech start-ups together with leading investors and key decision-makers from the industry. 

Christian Gnam, Managing Director of IZB, welcomed the guests and provided insights into the current developments at the start-up center. Together with co-organizers Dr. Achim Plum (Managing Director, HTGF), Ingo Klöckner (Head of Portfolio Strategy & Reporting, Leaps by Bayer), and Dr. Sebastian Kreuz (Executive Director, BI Venture Fund), he officially opened the event. Dr. Laura Pedroza (Senior Investment Manager, HTGF) guided the audience through the sessions. 

During the event, ten selected start-ups presented their innovative approaches to solving urgent medical challenges. They took the opportunity to showcase their technologies and business models to more than 70 renowned investors and experts from the life sciences industry. 

“With the 10th Life Science Pitch Day, we not only celebrated another milestone at IZB this year—alongside our 30th anniversary—but also demonstrated just how important Martinsried is as a hub for life sciences innovations. This event gives innovative start-ups a platform and direct access to leading investors. I would like to thank our long-standing partners for their continued support of this unique format,” commented Christian Gnam, Managing Director of IZB.  

“The presentations at the Life Science Pitch Day were of outstanding quality. This is where scientific excellence converges with entrepreneurial drive – the fuel powering biotech innovation and a valuable resource for life science investors,” said Achim Plum, HTGF. 

“Once again, the Life Science Pitch Day 2025 demonstrated the remarkable innovative strength of the sector. The technologies and ideas presented inspire optimism and spark curiosity about a new generation of medical breakthroughs,” said Sebastian Kreuz, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund. 

“A day full of inspiration: visionary founders, strong partners, insightful conversations, and excellent networking opportunities. Now in its tenth year, Pitch Day has firmly established itself as a must-attend event for the life science community,” explained Ingo Klöckner, Leaps by Bayer. 

The following project teams presented their innovative research at the 10th Munich Life Science Pitch Day:  

1. Toleris Biotherapeutics, Valentin Bruttel: Developing first-in-class biologics that leverage immune tolerance mechanisms from pregnancy to treat autoimmune diseases.  

2. Tacalyx, Dr. Peter Sondermann: Developing innovative monoclonal antibody therapies for the treatment of cancer by targeting tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs).  

3. RN.AI Therapeutics, Dr. Justin S. Antony: Developing AI-supported, precise combination therapies for the treatment of inflammatory and immunological (I&I) diseases.  

4. PHAME Therapeutics, Konstantin Hinnah: Utilizing a proprietary discovery engine to develop functional antibodies against GPCRs, a key target structure in chronic, high-burden diseases. 

5. Dimericon Therapeutics, Ulrich Kessler: Developing precision therapies based on a peptide-based modality for targeting hard-to-drug, intrinsically disordered proteins. 

6. Mighto Therapeutics, Dr. Hermann-J. Kaiser: Working on first-in-class small-molecule-based therapeutics for mitochondrial diseases such as MELAS, CPEO, and Parkinson’s disease.  

7. Synendos Therapeutics, Andrea Chicca: Conducting clinical development of novel therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders such as PTSD through targeted modulation of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) using selective endocannabinoid reuptake inhibitors. 

8. ARI-tx, Sebastian Hogl: Developing a first-in-class inhaled therapy for tissue regeneration in COPD-CB and other muco-obstructive lung diseases. 

9. Dense Immune, Zahra Ghodratian: Developing a bioengineered dense-body-based immunotherapy for the prevention and treatment of HCMV in immunocompromised patients. 

10. REVIER Therapeutics, Eva van Rooij and Matthias Dewenter: Developing novel therapies for HFpEF, a common heart failure condition, through targeted inhibition of class IIa HDAC activity.   

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About the Innovation and Start-up Center for Biotechnology (IZB) in Martinsried near Munich 
The Fördergesellschaft IZB mbH, founded in 1995, operates the Innovation and Start-up Centers for Biotechnology in Planegg-Martinsried and Freising-Weihenstephan and has developed into a leading biotechnology center. The IZB celebrated 30 years of promoting scientific and entrepreneurial innovation in May 2025. Currently, 26,000 m² is home to more than 40 biotech companies and life science companies employing more than 700 people. Here, work is being done on developing drugs for the most serious diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and various autoimmune diseases. A key criterion for the success of the IZB is the physical proximity to cutting-edge research on the Martinsried/Grosshadern campus and the Weihenstephan campus. The new infrastructure measures such as the Faculty Club G2B (Gateway to Biotech), the IZB Residence CAMPUS AT HOME, the two kindergartens Bio Kids and Bio Kids2 as well as the two restaurants SEVEN AND MORE, and THE BOWL Food Lounge are also location factors that are highly valued by the founders of the companies. More information at www.izb-online.de/en/. 

Press contact and photo material requests: 
Marion Köhler, Head of Public Relations 
Fördergesellschaft IZB mbH, Innovations- und Gründerzentrum Biotechnologie 
Am Klopferspitz 19 
D-82152 Planegg-Martinsried 
Phone: +49 (0)89/55 279 48-17 
E-Mail: koehler@izb-online.de 

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds  
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits. HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros.  
 
Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices. For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.    
 
Press contact  
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH  
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager 
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121 
t.jacob@htgf.de 

Biograil raises EUR 8.5 million to support clinical testing of oral therapeutic delivery device

Biograil ApS, a Copenhagen based biotech company developing a unique oral device for delivery of therapeutics that would otherwise have to be injected, announced a first closing of EUR 8.5 million of a financing round led by Verve Ventures. Existing investors including HTGF and Megatrend participated. Acondis GmbH joined the syndicate as a new investor. Follow-up closings with additional funds are planned for later in 2025.

Steffen Wagner, co-founder and co-CEO of Verve Ventures, will join Biograil’s Board of Directors. Wagner’s financial and investment expertise will be a valuable addition to the director group. The additional funds will support the preparation activities for the planned phase 1 clinical testing of BIONDD®.

Biograil CEO Karsten Lindhardt said: “We are pleased to secure robust financing for Biograil by a strong syndicate of investors in a difficult financing landscape. Biograil has made great strides in advancing the BIONDD® technology, completing outstanding and extensive preclinical studies proving the oral delivery of many injectable compounds with comparable bioavailability to subcutaneous injections. Biograil looks forward to further developing the BIONDD® technology and completing the preparation for clinical studies bringing significant value to the platform.”

Verve CEO, Steffen Wagner commented: “Verve Ventures is extremely happy to participate and lead this important Biograil financing. Biograil’s BIONDD® technology has matured significantly, is applicable to a broad range of opportunities and addresses a multi-billion-dollar market. I look forward to working closely with the Biograil team as Biograil moves to the next stage of development.”

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About Biograil ApS
Biograil is a Copenhagen based biotech company developing pharmaceutical products based upon the BIONDD® device contained in a standard size, double zero or single zero, capsule able to deliver active therapeutics into the stomach mucosal wall to be effectively distributed in the human body. Such therapeutics can be currently marketed products, including multi-billion-dollar injectable pharmaceuticals or new chemical entities that cannot otherwise be delivered orally. The Biograil device uses a novel mechanism to facilitate the delivery of active substances, i.e., biologics, efficiently into the stomach wall utilizing a proprietary platform technology manufactured by injection molding. The team behind Biograil is a combination of seasoned entrepreneurs with extensive experience in creating successful biotech companies as well as R&D executives behind the world’s first injection molded oral tablet approved by the FDA.
Biograil has collaborations with Eli Lilly & Co and CSL Behring. The Biograil investor syndicate includes Megatrend Invest, Verve Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Eli Lilly and Co., Sanner Ventures, Evonik Venture Capital, Acondis GmbH and Roquette Ventures.

About Verve Ventures
Verve Ventures is one of Europe’s most active venture capital firms, focusing on deep tech. Founded in 2010 in Switzerland, Verve backs outstanding startups based on scientific excellence from the Seed stage onward. It has an active portfolio of over 150 companies and has achieved over 20 successful exits. Through Verve Ventures, startups get access to an extensive network of sophisticated private and institutional investors who actively help them succeed.

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds 
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing start-ups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports start-ups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Across its funds, HTGF has over 2 billion euros under management. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 770 start-ups and achieved almost 200 successful exits.  
Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.  
For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.   

Media Contact 
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH 
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager  
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121
t.jacob@htgf.de   

Steuerboard Secures €725K Pre-Seed Round to Revolutionize Tax Workflows with AI 

Steuerboard, the Düsseldorf‑based B2B SaaS platform rethinking tax workflows, today announced it has raised €725,000 in a pre-seed financing round led by High‑Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), with participation from SuperAngels Fund and serial entrepreneur Roland Fassauer.

The funding will accelerate product development and deepen market expansion across Germany. 

Tackling Tax Industry Bottlenecks with AI 
Founded in July 2023 by Matyas Heins (29) and Jakob Brandt (28), Steuerboard tackles the specialist‑staff shortage in tax advisory firms by eliminating email “ping‑pong,” improving transparency and automating routine data processes. Its AI‑native platform integrates seamlessly with existing systems to deliver agentic AI to proactively handle routine decisions and workflows. 

Tapping Into a €1.3B Opportunity in Germany’s Tax Tech Market 
The global tax software market was valued at USD 18.5 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a 10 % CAGR through 2030 (source: marknteladvisors.com). In Europe, the tax management software segment alone generated USD 4.72 billion (€4.34 billion) in 2023 (source: Grand View Research). Germany is the largest national market—accounting for roughly 30 % of the European total—implying an annual opportunity of over €1.3 billion for solutions like Steuerboard. 

“We’re thrilled to partner with HTGF and our angel investors to scale Steuerboard’s AI‑powered automations,” said Matyas Heins, Co‑Founder. “This investment will enable us to rapidly enhance features that save tax offices time and deliver a seamless, transparent experience for their clients.” 

“Steuerboard’s AI‑first platform addresses a critical need in the tax advisory sector,” said Christian Arndt, Principal at HTGF. “We believe their centralized data approach will set a new standard for efficiency and collaboration.” 

Rapid Adoption Fuels Ambitious Growth Roadmap 
Since launch, Steuerboard has onboarded nearly 100 tax offices—ranging from boutique firms to larger practices with hundreds of employees—and supports thousands of businesses each month. Their rapid adoption underscores strong demand for digital, AI‑driven collaboration in Germany’s tax industry.  

 With the new capital, Steuerboard will expand its engineering and customer‑success teams, accelerate development of advanced agentic AI workflows, and broaden its sales footprint across the DACH region. Over the next 24 months, the company aims to redefine automation in the tax ecosystem by embedding intelligent, end‑to‑end workflows that anticipate advisor and client needs. 

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About Steuerboard 
Founded in July 2023 and headquartered in Düsseldorf, Steuerboard is a B2B SaaS company on a mission to rethink tax workflows. Its AI‑native platform centralizes data, automates routine tasks, and provides transparent collaboration between tax advisors (“Steuerberater”) and their clients (“Mandanten”), helping firms overcome specialist‑staff shortages and boosting customer experience. 

Press Contact: 
pr@steuerboard.net 
www.steuerboard.net 

About superangels 
Superangels is a business angel matching fund founded by experienced entrepreneurs Franzi Majer, Alexander Brand & Florian Gottschaller, sharing their passion for early-stage tech startups. What began as friends co-investing has grown into an early stage tech fund, investing with a curated network of expert business angels – the superangels. 

Superangels matches investments in pre-seed and seed-stage startups across sectors like Climate Tech, AI, Deep Tech, and SaaS. By combining financial strength with deep industry insights, superangels enhances deal flow, strengthens startups, and improves outcomes for all stakeholders. 

Driven by a belief in transformative entrepreneurship, superangels backs exceptional founders building the next generation of global tech champions. With already 75 investments in its portfolio, superangels is one the most active early stage funds in Europe. 

Learn more at super-angels.eu or follow us on LinkedIn. 

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds 
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing startups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports startups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 780 startups and achieved almost 200 successful exits. HTGF has a fund volume of over 2 billion euros. 

Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices. For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.   

Media contact 
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH 
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager  
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121 
t.jacob@htgf.de   

nuuEnergy Secures Multi-Million Euro Funding – and Aims to Rethink the Heat Pump Industry as a Premium Quality Provider 

Heat pump installation and energy startup nuuEnergy has closed a seven-figure pre-seed funding round in spring 2025.

Investors include HTGF, business angel club better ventures—with members such as energy entrepreneur Marco Vogt—alongside EnjoyVenture, Vireo Ventures, and Bynd. The funding will be used to launch and scale regional specialist craft businesses and to further digitalize the entire process from individual planning to installation and maintenance. 

Unreliable installers, complex planning, opaque pricing—many Germans are still hesitant to switch to heat pumps. Digital providers often prioritize aggressive growth with a strong focus on sales, often at the expense of installation quality. Traditional craft businesses, on the other hand, frequently lack the capacity for in-depth consulting and planning. 

This is where nuuEnergy comes in: Founded in 2023, the company combines the efficiency of digital processes with the quality and customer proximity of traditional craft businesses. 

“Our customers want a local partner to guide them through the entire process – with top-notch quality in planning, installation, and service. That’s exactly what we offer through our regional businesses and digitalized planning,” says Tobias Klug, co-founder and CEO of nuuEnergy. 

The Better Way to Heat Pumps – Local, Digital, Human 

nuuEnergy establishes its own regional craft businesses, fully integrated into the company. This allows nuuEnergy to merge the benefits of digital workflows – such as software-based planning and streamlined subsidy management—with the hands-on expertise and local presence of traditional tradespeople. A dedicated regional contact ensures smooth coordination and alignment throughout all stages. 

“We’re the skilled trades’ answer to the big digital players who focus purely on sales and neglect quality,” says Julia Rafschneider, co-founder and CRO of nuuEnergy. “Our technicians are not just service providers – they’re the heart of our company. They are the experts, they plan, install, and deliver excellent craftsmanship. We provide the processes and technology to support them in doing just that.” 

From initial consultation to final installation, all steps come from a single source. Tailored planning by skilled professionals ensures that every heat pump is precisely matched to its building. Proper sizing and high-quality installation reduce operating costs and extend the system’s lifespan. The Munich-based company has already successfully launched a second location in Hamburg, with a third site currently in planning. 

A Growth Market with Enormous Potential 

Demand for heat pumps is growing rapidly—despite a market dip in 2024. Following a record year in 2023, with over 350,000 installations in Germany (a 50% increase over 2022), the industry expects rising numbers again in 2025. By 2030, the German Heat Pump Association (BWP) forecasts up to 500,000 units installed annually to meet climate goals. The environmental impact is significant: switching to heat pumps can reduce a building’s CO₂ emissions by up to 70%. However, a shortage of skilled workers and inefficient processes are slowing progress. This is where nuuEnergy’s infrastructure comes in—to drive a new generation of the energy transition: locally rooted, digitally enabled, and human-centered. 

For better ventures, this investment marks a key move in addressing one of the most critical levers in the energy transition. “Germany’s skilled trades sector holds the key to a successful heating transition—but a lack of skilled labor and inefficient processes are holding it back. nuuEnergy blends digitalization with excellent craftsmanship and offers a solution that doesn’t currently exist in the market—but is urgently needed,” says Tina Dreimann, founder and managing director of better ventures. 

HTGF has been observing the heat pump market for some time and made a conscious decision to invest in the Munich-based startup: “Every house is different, and making renovations scalable is a challenge. We see nuuEnergy as the first convincing solution where a scalable model is emerging in close partnership with skilled trades—enabling millions of homes to switch to heat pumps without compromising quality,” says Johannes Weber, Principal at HTGF. 

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About nuuEnergy  
Founded in 2023, nuuEnergy specializes in the planning and installation of heat pumps. With a unique business model, the company combines the advantages of digital processes with the quality and proximity of traditional craft businesses. The goal: to make the switch to climate-friendly heating as simple, efficient, and high-quality as possible. More at: www.nuuenergy.com 

About better ventures  
better ventures is Europe’s leading alliance for impact entrepreneurs. The network has invested in over 45 impact startups with more than 80 entrepreneurial angels and focuses on scalable business models that unite impact and returns. better ventures believes that entrepreneurs—founders, angels, and family business owners—are the most powerful lever to tackle the greatest challenges of our time. More at: www.betterventures.io 

About EnjoyVenture 
EnjoyVenture is one of Germany’s oldest venture capital firms, investing in early-stage technology and growth companies for over 25 years. More at: www.enjoyventure.vc  

About Vireo Ventures 
Vireo Ventures is a Berlin-based early-stage fund specializing in European startups in the energy and electrification sectors. More at: www.vireo.vc  

About Bynd 
Bynd is a leading Iberian startup fund that has been investing in disruptive European tech companies for 15 years. More at: www.bynd.vc  

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds 
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing start-ups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports start-ups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Across its funds, HTGF has over 2 billion euros under management. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 770 start-ups and achieved almost 200 successful exits.  

Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.  For more information, please visit HTGF.de or follow us on LinkedIn.   

Media contact 
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH 
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager  
T.: +49 228 – 82300 – 121
t.jacob@htgf.de