11th Life Science Pitch Day at the IZB: Connecting Startups with Capital, Expertise and Industry Networks

Twelve selected start-ups and project teams presented their approaches to addressing diseases with high medical need

Martinsried near Munich, July 06, 2026– The Innovation and Start-up Center for Biotechnology (IZB), together with High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and with the support of Leaps by Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and MEDICE – The Health Family, hosted the 11th Life Science Pitch Day at the IZB. The well-established format once again brought together promising early-stage life science companies with leading investors and decision-makers from the pharmaceutical and venture capital sectors.

Christian Gnam, Managing Director of IZB, opened the event by welcoming the guests and providing insights into current developments at the Martinsried start-up center. Together with the co-organizers Dr. Angelika Vlachou, HTGF, and Sebastian Kreuz, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, and Klaus Mueller, MEDICE – The Health Family, he introduced the programme and underlined the importance of connecting young companies with experienced financing and industry partners to help turn promising scientific approaches into viable companies and new solutions for diseases with high unmet medical need. The sessions were moderated by Christian Kannemeier, HTGF.

During the event, twelve selected start-ups and project teams presented their approaches to addressing important challenges in medicine and healthcare. Their pitches provided a concise overview of the technologies, development strategies and business models behind the next generation of life science innovation.

“The Life Science Pitch Day shows how much scientific and entrepreneurial potential there is in the life sciences sector. For start-ups, direct exchange with investors and industry experts is essential, especially in the early stages of company building. At the IZB, we provide a platform where excellent research, entrepreneurial ambition and strong networks come together. I would like to thank HTGF and our long-standing partners for their continued commitment to this successful format,” commented Christian Gnam, Managing Director of IZB.

“The path from scientific discovery to a successful life science company requires more than capital. It also depends on strategic guidance, a clear understanding of medical need and access to experienced partners. The Life Science Pitch Day brings these elements together in a very focused and productive format, giving start-ups the opportunity to test their story with a highly relevant audience and build connections that can support their next steps,” said Sebastian Kreuz, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.

“The Life Science Pitch Day has developed into a highly relevant platform for early-stage companies that are ready to engage with investors, industry partners and experienced entrepreneurs. This year’s start-ups demonstrated how strong the pipeline of innovative ideas in life sciences continues to be, from novel therapeutic approaches to enabling technologies. Together with IZB and our partners, we are committed to supporting these teams at a stage where the right network can make a decisive difference,” explained Christian Kannemeier, HTGF.

“The Life Science Pitch Day creates valuable early dialogue between young life science companies and experienced partners. MEDICE – The Health Family is pleased to support a format that helps promising teams further develop their ideas with a clear focus on medical need and potential patient benefit,” added Klaus Mueller, MEDICE – The Health Family.

The following project teams presented their innovative research at the 11th Munich Life Science Pitch Day:

1. Allothera, Klaas Yperman: Working on a new non-opioid approach to treating neuropathic pain by targeting the source of touch-evoked pain without broad central suppression.
2. Alondras Therapeutics, Dr. Hans-Georg Lerchen and Dr. Ulrike Rauh: Advancing long half-life small molecule drug conjugates designed to deliver targeted therapies for aggressive cancers and other diseases.
3. Barriera Therapeutics, Joppe Nieuwenhuis: Focusing on new small-molecule therapies for multiple renal indications, with a lead program in Alport Syndrome, a rare genetic kidney disorder.
4. CheckBrain Therapeutics, Dr. Hans-Christian Krumholz: Pursuing a new therapeutic approach for acute stroke that aims to protect the brain from stroke-related damage.
5. EpiBlok, Prof. Regine Heilbronn: Bringing forward a gene therapy approach for patients with drug-refractory focal epilepsy.
6. EpiCure, Dr. Matthias Heiß: Creating next-generation epigenetic cancer therapies for high-risk AML and MDS patients with limited treatment options.
7. EpiTher, Dr. Heiko Manninga: Addressing drug-resistant epilepsy with a new CNS drug discovery platform aimed at overcoming treatment resistance.
8. NeutroGen Therapeutics, Dr. Borko Amulic: Offering a potential new transfusion therapy to support patients with severe treatment-induced neutropenia.
9. Nerai Bioscience, Kim Marquart: Scaling CRISPR-based therapies for rare genetic diseases through reusable precision base editing platforms.
10. Phialogics, Dr. Natalia Novac: Engineering next-generation biologics that aim to rebalance the immune system in acute and chronic inflammatory diseases.
11. Refoxy Pharma, Dr. Victor Bustos: Developing therapies for age-related diseases, starting with fibrotic disorders, by targeting mechanisms linked to healthy ageing.
12. Umlaut.Bio, Karsten Fischer: Opening a new therapeutic approach based on tRNA biology to address dysregulated signaling in cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Axel Nitsch and Johannes Weber Named Partners at HTGF – Doubling Down on AI and Deep Tech

Two investors who have shaped Germany’s most active VC are now doing so as partners: Axel Nitsch for Digital Tech & AI, Johannes Weber for Industrial, Climate & Deep Tech.

• Axel Nitsch (Digital Tech & AI) and Johannes Weber (Industrial, Climate & Deep Tech) are appointed as Partners at HTGF effective 1 July 2026
• Nitsch brings experience from over 100 financing rounds across sixteen years at HTGF and T-Venture; Weber is himself a successful founder and is responsible for landmark investments including Traceless Materials, Instagrid and Proxima Fusion
• With Nitsch and Weber, HTGF is doubling down on investors who know their sectors from the inside – accompanying founders as a multi-stage VC platform from seed stage through to international scale

Bonn, 1 July 2026. The technologies securing Germany’s and Europe’s future are being built today – in AI labs, climate tech startups and research laboratories. Those who invest early and know how to translate technology into scalable companies will help determine who shapes the markets of tomorrow. HTGF is doing exactly that: Johannes Weber and Axel Nitsch are appointed as Partners – Weber for Industrial, Climate & Deep Tech, Nitsch for Digital Tech & AI.

Both investment professionals have spent the past years driving dealflow in their respective sectors, working closely with portfolio companies from the first idea through to international scaling, and further establishing HTGF as the first port of call for founders at the earliest stages. For fund investors from industry and the Mittelstand, they are trusted sparring partners – with direct access to the most relevant technologies and founding teams.

Axel Nitsch: Ten Years at HTGF – Specialist in Digital Business Models and AI

Axel Nitsch has been with HTGF since 2016 and has played a defining role in shaping the Digital Tech practice. His focus is on technology-driven business models across Deep Tech, B2B and B2C – with a particular instinct for teams that use technology to set themselves clearly apart from the competition. Prior to joining HTGF, he spent six years at T-Venture, the former corporate venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom AG. In total, he brings experience from over 100 successful financing rounds across 26 companies – from seed to later stage, in Germany and internationally – including Make.tv and Graylog. He holds a Diplom-Kaufmann degree and is a Certified Private Equity Analyst (TUM).

“Enabled by AI, we are in one of the most exciting phases I have ever experienced. So much is in flux – and I see that as a real opportunity for digital business models and for Germany. As a partner at HTGF, I can help shape exactly that.” – Axel Nitsch, Partner at HTGF

“Having Axel as a partner is a real win – for our team, our startups and our fund investors. He knows how to embed AI and digital strategies as the core of a business model. That is exactly the expertise our founders need right now.” – Sebastian Borek, Managing Director of HTGF

Johannes Weber: Partner with Founder DNA – from Seed to Growth

Johannes Weber has been with HTGF since 2020, investing across Industrial Tech, Climate Tech and Deep Tech. From the first financing round through to the growth stage, he supports founding teams with entrepreneurial depth, a strong network and the experience to translate technology into scalable companies. As the initiator of a regular VC lunch format in Hamburg and co-host of an energy tech event, he brings together founders, investors and industry partners. He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering as well as an MBA from universities in Germany, England and the USA. After starting his career in management consulting, he founded a VC-backed startup in measurement technology, which he built and led as CEO for six years before successfully selling it to Dräger, the international medical and safety technology group. The product was awarded the German Innovation Prize and is today available in over 20 countries worldwide. His investments at HTGF include Traceless Materials, Instagrid and Proxima Fusion, alongside leading national and international VCs.

“What drives me are founders who genuinely want to change the status quo – through technology, science and business models that have never existed before. I know from personal experience what it takes and what it costs to build something. As a partner, I want to bring exactly that to bear with even greater impact.” – Johannes Weber, Partner at HTGF

“Johannes has an instinct for the truly relevant themes of the future – and a portfolio that proves it. He understands what founders truly need because he has built and scaled a company himself. It’s this combination of entrepreneurial judgement and investment instinct that strengthens our team of partners.” – Romy Schnelle, Managing Director of HTGF

JUPUS Raises 13 Million Euros in Series A

LegalTech startup accelerates the AI transformation of small and mid-sized law firms

• Semapa Next leads the round, NRW.BANK joins as co-investor
• ARR quadrupled in 2025
• More than 2,000 lawyers use JUPUS across Germany already
• European expansion planned

The legal-tech startup JUPUS (Cologne) has raised 13 million euros in a Series A funding round. The company has built Europe’s first AI secretarial service designed specifically for law firms, and its growth reflects the demand. In 2025, JUPUS quadrupled its annual recurring revenue (ARR), tripled its headcount, and more than doubled both its user base and the number of cases it processes. Semapa Next leads the round, with NRW.BANK joining as co-investor through its venture capital fund, NRW.Venture. Existing backers Acton Capital and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) reinvesting. The capital will fund the next stage of JUPUS’s legal AI, drive scale in the German market, and support a European expansion.

An “AI colleague” for the law firm

Europe’s law firms face a gap that no job posting can close. Over the past 30 years, the number of newly trained legal assistants has fallen by more than 70 percent, even as the number of practising lawyers has tripled and the administrative workload has continued to climb. The pressure falls hardest on small and mid-sized firms, which make up 90 percent of the European market and are increasingly running up against their capacity limits. These are precisely the firms JUPUS was built for.

JUPUS represents a new generation of tools for the legal profession, AI that does not merely assist but does the work itself. It answers client calls, structures inquiries, prepares cases, and drafts legal documents, saving firms more than 70 hours every month. In doing so, it changes how lawyers spend their time, shifting it away from administration and back toward clients and substantive legal work. More than 2,000 new cases pass through the JUPUS AI each day, more than at any single law firm in Europe, and over 2,000 lawyers already rely on the solution.

Investors see JUPUS as a European pioneer

In Semapa Next, JUPUS gains a well-capitalised, pan-European investor with a track record of helping companies scale across Europe beyond their home market. “Other LegalTech solutions assist, while JUPUS works. That is the decisive difference,” says Hugo Augusto, CEO of Semapa Next. “Legal operations in Europe have a bottleneck problem, and most firms are still working around it. What convinced us was the depth of the integration, the usage data, and a team that has already proven it can scale. We back companies that want to be category leaders and we believe JUPUS will be this category winner.”

Johanna Antonie Tjaden-Schulte, member of the Executive Board of NRW.BANK: “Artificial intelligence can ease the workload on skilled staff and make processes more efficient. JUPUS demonstrates how innovative technology can solve concrete challenges within an industry. Through our investment, we are backing the growth of a young company from North Rhine-Westphalia that develops digital solutions for the legal market.”

For lawyer and JUPUS co-founder René Fergen, the mission is broad access to the German legal system. “Law is one of the oldest industries in the world, and it is facing its greatest transformation,” he says. “Over the past 30 years, the number of lawyers has tripled while the number of newly trained legal assistants has dropped by more than 70 percent. Firms now face an existential question: who will do the work that soon no one will be left to do? With JUPUS, we are building the first AI that handles these tasks on its own, and with it a new understanding of how a law firm works, designed for the hundreds of thousands of small and mid-sized firms that form the foundation of the rule of law in Europe. We are proud to have partners who share that ambition in Semapa Next, NRW.BANK, Acton Capital, HTGF, and our business angels.”

Market validation from the legal initiatives of major AI providers

JUPUS reads the recent wave of legal products from global AI providers as confirmation of its thesis. “AI in the law firm is moving from experiment to standard,” says René Fergen. “The difference lies in the depth of integration. Generic language models hand firms a set of tools. JUPUS is built specifically for legal work and takes over entire processes, drawing on the knowledge of millions of real cases. For small and mid-sized firms in Germany and across Europe, which operate under professional conduct rules, GDPR, and attorney-client privilege, that distinction is essential.”

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About JUPUS
JUPUS is the technology leader in AI software for law firms. The Cologne-based LegalTech startup has developed the first AI secretarial service for the legal industry in Europe: a legally trained artificial intelligence that delivers fully automated, GDPR-compliant communication and case handling. It manages the entire workflow, from the initial client inquiry through appointment booking to file creation, including complete legal documents, saving firms up to 70 working hours per month. Amid the shortage of trained legal assistants, demand for the AI secretarial service is rising exponentially, and more than 2,000 lawyers already use the solution. JUPUS was founded in 2022 by law graduate René Fergen (CEO) and Jannis Gebauer (CTO). The company is growing fast: revenue quadrupled in 2025 compared with 2024, and it now employs 70 people. With this round of funding, a total of over 20 million euros has been invested in the start-up. Semapa Next, NRW.BANK, Acton Capital, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Combination VC, alongside prominent business angels including Kilian Kaminski (Refurbed), Artjem Weissbeck (Kapten & Son, charles), Julius Göllner, Feliks Eyser, and Felix Plog (Foodpanda, Thermondo).

About Semapa Next
Semapa Next is a pan-European venture capital firm investing at Series A in companies with the ambition to become global category leaders. The investment focus spans four investment themes: Industrial Tech, Supply Chain and Logistics, Energy Transition, and Vertical Software such as Legal Tech. Semapa Next team brings together investors, operators and founders who understand what it takes to build category leader companies.

About NRW.Venture
NRW.Venture is the venture capital fund of NRW.BANK. Through it, the development bank for North Rhine-Westphalia addresses the scarcity of financing available to young, innovative and often technology-oriented companies that frequently cannot finance themselves through loans. Their main asset lies in a new market idea, which makes their chances of success difficult to assess. NRW.Venture invests in such start-ups, typically from the second financing round onwards, providing up to €15 million in equity capital across several rounds, alongside private-sector investors. In doing so, NRW.BANK takes minority stakes over a term of three to seven years. The commitment involves more than capital alone, however. An experienced team is the key to shared success. The investment professionals at NRW.Venture combine many years of venture capital experience with deep technology and start-up know-how, drawing on their expertise and network to give start-ups the best possible chance of success.

Seqana raises EUR 3.2M, led by Pymwymic, to extend soil health measurement beyond carbon

Seqana, a digital MRV (Monitoring, Reporting and Verification) company that quantifies soil health using satellite imagery and machine learning, announced the close of a EUR 3.2 million funding round led by Pymwymic, joined by existing investors HTGF and Counteract.

The investment furthers Seqana’s work on soil carbon quantification and extends it into a broader set of soil health indicators enabling food, fiber and fuel companies and carbon market project developers with the data they need to measure both their climate impact and supply chain resilience.

Soil health is becoming central to how Agrifood and commodity companies manage both climate goals and supply chain risk. Soil carbon, a keystone indicator of overall soil health, remains one of the most scalable natural carbon sinks available. Measuring soil carbon and its accumulation over time across agricultural land evaluates the health of soils but can also determine the success of regenerative agriculture interventions on the voluntary carbon market (VCM).

Alongside the VCM, soil health is emerging as a measurable financial risk: degradation already costs the EU an estimated EUR 50 billion a year, and more than 60% of European soils are classed as unhealthy (European Commission). The link to agricultural supply chain resilience is quantifiable. During the 2023 droughts in Europe, French farms using advanced regenerative practices lost just 8% of their yields, against 22% on the least regenerative farms.

Seqana’s Approach:

Founded in Berlin in 2020, Seqana pairs proprietary machine learning models with ground-truth data and satellite imagery to build tools like Digital Soil Maps that quantify soil health for project developers and food, fiber, and fuel companies. Seqana also helped shape the standards governing the voluntary carbon market by co-authoring Verra’s VM0042 v3 methodology and Gold Standard’s SOC Model Guidelines. With customers such as Danone, eAgronom, Klim, and Bayer, Seqana’s products are working in the field to enable both project developers and Agrifood corporates alike to quantify soil carbon at scale with millions of hectares assessed to date.

With the new funding, Seqana will accelerate the development of its soil carbon MRV tooling while also extending measurement capabilities to additional soil health indicators and carbon pools. These new developments will give customers a clearer picture of how well their regenerative agriculture programs are working and where they should prioritize intervention.

“Carbon is core to what we do, and it stays that way. It’s how the market first learned to put a value on soil, and the discipline our measurement is built on,” said Stefan Goenner, co-founder and CEO of Seqana. “What this round adds is the ability to manage the rest of what healthy soil delivers: yield stability, product quality and ultimately supply chain continuity. Together, that gives companies a far fuller picture of the ground their supply depends on.”

The round is led by Pymwymic, an Amsterdam-based impact-focused venture capital fund whose portfolio spans precision agriculture and adjacent sectors, including Aurea Imaging, Kilter and Resurrect Bio.

“Seqana is turning soil organic carbon from an invisible asset into a measurable one. We are proud to back a technology with the potential to transform how agricultural resilience is understood and rewarded.” — Monique Meulemans, Partner at Pymwymic

The round is a mix of venture capital and debt capital, including a startup loan from Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, and builds on earlier investment from Counteract and HTGF, alongside grant funding from the European Space Agency.

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About Seqana:
Based in Berlin, Seqana builds digital MRV tooling to quantify soil health indicators at scale. Seqana works with fiber, food, and fuel companies and carbon project developers across millions of hectares, providing insights into soil health through tools like Digital Soil Maps and Soil Sampling Designs. These insights enable customers to credibly track progress on regenerative agriculture, claim CO2 removals, and build supply chain resilience. Seqana delivers scientifically rigorous, methodology-compliant data that turns soil health commitments into verified outcomes.

About Pymwymic:
Pymwymic has taken a frontrunner role in the transition towards investing with care for both people and planet since 1994. Backed by over 250 individuals, families, entrepreneurs and angel investors and joined by institutional investors, we have launched two Article 9 compliant impact funds. Pymwymic’s Healthy Ecosystems Impact Fund I, closed in 2021, has nine portfolio companies building solutions to preserve and restore our ecosystems. We are currently investing through the Healthy Food Systems Impact Fund II, supporting the change-making entrepreneurs who are transforming our food system from farm to fork.

About Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank:
The Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank is Germany’s development agency for the agribusiness and rural areas. Our services are aimed at production enterprises in agriculture and forestry, as well as wine and horticulture, manufacturers of agricultural production resources, and trading and service companies closely connected to agriculture. We finance projects in the food industry and other companies in upstream and downstream production stages. Additionally, we support investments by municipalities and other public-law entities in rural areas, as well as private initiatives for rural development.

We grant our loans on a competitive – neutral basis through other banks and savings banks, following the house bank principle. Additionally, we invest in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity in the Start-up ecosystems. Rentenbank supports German early stage start-ups directly through subordinated loans, invests as limited partner in VC funds that invest along the agrifood valuechain and organizes the ag- and food-tech accelerator Growth Alliance.

More information at Die Förderbank für die Agrarwirtschaft und den ländlichen Raum – Rentenbank or on LinkedIn.

About Counteract:
Counteract Partners is a London-based specialist investor in carbon dioxide removal. A pioneer in the space, it has invested across carbon removal pathways since 2020, nurturing a wide range of solutions for removing atmospheric CO2. Counteract One, its first fund, seeks to catalyse 500 million tonnes of CO2e by 2050.

A radically new biological approach for cancer patients: CollimateHealth targets immune responses through microbeam radiation therapy – €6 million seed round oversubscribed

• CollimateHealth is developing the first clinically scalable microbeam radiation therapy for oncology treatments.
• What this means for patients: new approaches to curing previously incurable tumours by activating the body’s own immune system, alongside significantly reduced side effects.
• At €6 million, the seed financing round was significantly oversubscribed and backed by a consortium of leading European early-stage life sciences investors, including VP Venture Partners, Positron, XISTA Science Ventures, HTGF and caesar.
• The company plans to treat its first patients within three years, opening up new pathways in radiation therapy as well as in combination with chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

CollimateHealth GmbH, a pioneering life sciences start-up for next-generation radiation therapy, today announced the close of its €6 million seed financing round. The round was significantly oversubscribed and supported by renowned life sciences investors including VP Venture Partners, Positron, XISTA Science Ventures, High-Tech

Gründerfonds (HTGF) and caesar. The company expects to use its technology in patients for the first time within the next three years.

Microbeam radiation therapy – a radically new biological approach to cancer treatment

CollimateHealth has developed a clinically scalable microbeam radiation therapy designed to revolutionise the way cancer is treated. Current radiation therapy typically relies on broad, low-dose beams and causes significant side effects. By contrast, microbeam radiation therapy uses bundled, extremely narrow beams in the micrometre range at a much higher dose.

Tumours treated with microbeams undergo an especially intense form of cell death that increases antigen presentation and thereby triggers an immune response against cancer cells – even beyond the primarily irradiated area. In addition, the temporary channels created by microbeam radiation therapy improve the delivery of therapeutics into tumour tissue, creating synergies with both chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Dr Hans Maria Heÿn, co-founder and CEO of CollimateHealth: “What Stefan Bartzsch, Johanna Winter and the interdisciplinary team have achieved through years of academic research is truly exceptional. Shrinking the medical beamline of a synchrotron into a system with a footprint of less than 10 square metres is a genuine deep-tech moonshot with the potential to fundamentally change cancer treatment.”

The €6 million seed financing will be used to build the first clinical prototype and generate preclinical data intended to pave the way through future regulatory approval processes. The company’s goal is to begin treating its first patients with microbeam radiation therapy by the end of 2028.

CollimateHealth – an example of the disruptive power of outstanding science

CollimateHealth was launched as a venture-build project by VP Venture Partners and co-founded by Prof. Dr Stefan Bartzsch, Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Johanna Winter, Chief Technology Officer, and Dr Hans Maria Heÿn, Chief Executive Officer. Bartzsch, Winter and the technical team have spent almost a decade developing the company’s core technology, microbeam radiation therapy. Heÿn brings many years of entrepreneurial experience in building and leading deep-tech life sciences companies. A technically experienced team has supported the founders from the outset with a focus on bringing the platform into clinical use.

CollimateHealth has been supported by UnternehmerTUM, the TUM Venture Lab Healthcare, BioM, BayStartUP and Medical Valley, and has received numerous innovation awards, including a Falling Walls Award in 2025 and the MedTech Ideator Award at Best of Biotech in Vienna in 2025. The underlying technology was further developed in collaboration with leading academic and clinical institutions, including the Technical University of Munich (TUM), TUM University Hospital rechts der Isar, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Helmholtz Institute Mainz, Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

Dr. Valentin Piëch, Managing Director of VP Venture Partners: “What makes this technology so compelling is not only its potential to redefine radiation oncology, but also the opportunities it may unlock in combination with immunotherapy and other cancer treatments.”

Joseph Peeraer, Founding Partner at Positron: “CollimateHealth demonstrates the disruptive power of outstanding science. We believe this microbeam platform has the potential to become an important future building block in radiation oncology and in the broader fight against cancer.”

Stephan Huber, Venture Partner at XISTA Science Ventures: “CollimateHealth combines world-class, cutting-edge science with the raw ambition needed to scale a global deep-tech company that dares to take on decades old paradigms in what is a central pillar of cancer treatment. Their technology has the potential to move the needle for millions of very sick patients worldwide.”

Dr. Jan Engels, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF: “CollimateHealth is exactly the kind of deep-tech venture HTGF was founded to support: a world-class scientific team translating years of rigorous research into a technology that could genuinely change outcomes for cancer patients. What excites us most is not just the physics — it’s the clinical ambition. The team has a clear path to first-patient use, and we are proud to back them on that journey.”

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About VP Venture Partners
VP Venture Partners is a private, Zurich-based venture capital firm supporting early-stage life sciences companies across Europe. We focus on human life sciences, investing in medical innovations and technologies across Medical Devices, Diagnostics, and Digital Health. We invest in companies addressing high unmet medical needs and delivering meaningful impact on patients’ lives. Our approach is driven by strong scientific content and data. We actively support our portfolio companies, working closely alongside entrepreneurs to set them up for success. https://www.vpventurepartners.com/

About Positron
Positron is an early-stage venture fund for scientists and technical founders who want to turn bold ideas into real companies. They work closely with teams grounded in deep scientific expertise and are drawn to ambitious solutions for some of the most important challenges facing human and planetary health. https://positron.ventures/

About XISTA Science Ventures
XISTA Science Ventures (XSV) is an Austria-based venture fund investing in early-stage life science and deeptech startups across Europe. With a deep understanding of both scientific and investor perspectives, XSV is an active partner to its portfolio companies, providing support for founders in realizing deep-tech ideas and scaling enterprises. The fund’s diverse portfolio spans the full breadth of science, in fields such as biotechnology, medtech, materials science, and software. XSV is embedded in the innovation system around the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). www.xista.vc

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds
Germany and Europe need a new economic miracle – and we are laying the foundation. We are Germany’s most active VC investor, financing the deep-tech, life sciences and digital-tech companies that secure technological sovereignty and create industrial substance. From the first idea to international scaling, we support bold founders as a multi-stage VC platform – seamlessly, reliably and for the long term. 350 active start-ups. More than 200 exits, including 4 unicorns. More than €10 billion in follow-on financing mobilised. Together with the DTCF, we combine more than €3 billion in fund volume – turning German and European innovation into global tech champions.

About caesar.
caesar. is a German early-stage venture capital fund backing exceptional teams with conviction earned through unusually deep founder diligence. Sector-agnostic by design, we frequently (co-)lead first rounds and build ownership before market consensus forms. We invest where technology strengthens Europe’s real economy. https://www.caesar.vc

Cool. Quiet. Clean.
Fraunhofer Spin-off Qurie Raises €2.2 Million Seed Funding to Redefine Refrigeration Technology

• Qurie GmbH from Freiburg develops electrocaloric refrigeration systems – quiet, compact and completely free of conventional refrigerants – filling a gap that alternative cooling technologies have so far failed to close: economic competitiveness without a compressor and without refrigerants.
• HTGF, TT49 and Aepikur GmbH invest a combined €2.2 million in a seed round.
• The first target market is industrial enclosure cooling – a stepping stone into a global multi-billion-euro market with strong regulatory tailwinds from the EU F-Gas Regulation.

The HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) industry faces fundamental challenges: regulatory, environmental and technological. Qurie has the answer. The Freiburg-based start-up – founded in 2026 as a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM – develops electrocaloric refrigeration systems that operate without compressors, refrigerants or pressure build-up: quieter, more efficient and more sustainable than anything previously possible. In April 2026, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Technology Transfer Fund TT49 and Aepikur GmbH jointly invested €2.2 million in Qurie.

Cooling Through Material Intelligence

Conventional refrigeration systems have relied on a 19th-century principle: compression and evaporation of refrigerants. The EU F-Gas Regulation is setting a regulatory expiry date for this era – and alternative approaches such as magnetocaloric or elastocaloric cooling have so far failed to achieve competitive total operating costs. Qurie takes a fundamentally different approach: electrocaloric materials – certain ceramics and polymers – change their temperature when an electric field is applied or removed. Qurie harnesses this reversible physical effect in precisely stacked material structures to build complete refrigeration systems – without a compressor, without refrigerants, with minimal mechanical components. At the heart of the technology is a globally patented active electrocaloric heat pipe (AEH), developed and extensively tested at Fraunhofer IPM over more than ten years. The theoretical efficiency of such systems exceeds 80 percent – conventional compressors reach a maximum of 50 percent, representing a potential energy saving of around 40 percent.

“With our heat pipe approach, we transfer heat within the system very efficiently and can achieve significantly higher pumping frequencies than previously possible with liquid-based heat transport. This is what makes our technology genuinely competitive for the first time.” Dr. Kilian Bartholomé, CTO and Co-Founder, Qurie GmbH

Science. Engineering. Impact.

Qurie was founded by Dr. Christian Vogel (CEO), a renowned expert in novel cooling systems, and Dr. Kilian Bartholomé (CTO), a long-standing researcher at Fraunhofer IPM. Their interdisciplinary team of more than ten experts in materials science, thermodynamics and engineering works at the intersection of fundamental research and industrial application – with the goal of transforming global HVAC infrastructure. The miniaturizable solid-state architecture opens up entirely new form factors: from chip cooling and portable medical devices to automotive and building technology. The first target market is industrial enclosure cooling – a segment with high precision requirements and no fully satisfactory solution currently available. From there, Qurie plans to expand into commercial refrigeration, medical technology, electronics and automotive. Development will be further supported until the end of 2026 by a research programme funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE).

“The HVAC industry is facing a fundamental transformation – regulatory, technological and economic. We have reached a point where we can demonstrate that our technology not only works, but also makes economic sense. This is the moment we have been working towards.” Dr. Christian Vogel, CEO and Co-Founder, Qurie GmbH

“Qurie addresses a challenge that has occupied the refrigeration industry for decades: moving away from climate-damaging refrigerants and inefficient compressors – without compromising on cost. The team has developed a technically compelling answer, backed by strong patents and more than ten years of research at Fraunhofer IPM. We are very delighted to support Qurie on this journey.” Dr. Gernot Berger, Senior Investment Manager, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF)

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About Qurie GmbH
Qurie GmbH was founded in 2026 as a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. The company develops next-generation electrocaloric cooling systems – quiet, compact and completely free of conventional refrigerants. Founded by scientists with deep expertise in materials research and thermodynamics, Qurie works at the intersection of fundamental research and industrial application – with the goal of transforming global HVAC infrastructure. The company employs more than ten experts at its Freiburg location. www.qurie.de

About TT49
TT49 is the successor fund of FTTF (Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fund), an independent early-stage venture capital investor for young deep-tech companies from all German research organizations (TT stands for Tech-Transfer, +49 is the country code for Germany). With a fund volume of >70 million euros, TT49 finances start-ups in very early phases and can invest up to 7 million euros per company. Since its inception in 2019, the fund has invested into >40 startups.

eyeo B.V. raises €40 million to fix the flaw that has kept every camera 70% blind

• Series A funds eyeo B.V.’s drive to bring seven years of proven nanophotonic science to market as production-ready color-splitting sensors
• eyeo B.V. sensors capture three times more light for smartphones, XR devices, smart cities and more across a $30 billion imaging market    
• Funding round is led by Innovation Industries, with participation from existing investors imec.xpand, Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, QBIC fund, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Brabant Development Agency (BOM).

Eindhoven (Netherlands), May 11, 2026 – eyeo B.V. today announced it has raised €40 million in Series A funding, bringing the startups total funding to €55 million. The round is led by Innovation Industries, with participation from existing investors imec.xpand, Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, QBIC fund, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Brabant Development Agency (BOM).

eyeo B.V. has developed the world’s most advanced nanophotonic color-splitting technology, redefining imaging for consumer, industrial, XR, smart city and mobile applications with color-splitting photonics technology that triples light sensitivity and breaks sensor resolution limits, delivering unprecedented picture quality, color accuracy and resolution.

The fresh funding will accelerate the companies sensor design capabilities, deepen its OEM partner ecosystem, and drive commercial deployment across a $30 billion global imaging market.

A new era for imaging

All seven billion image sensors sold each year, across smartphones, autonomous vehicles, XR devices, industrial machines, smart cities and more, share a fundamental flaw: color filters work by rejection, blocking red, green and blue light in turn and discarding 70% of the light in the process.

The Nanophotonic Color Splitting (NCOS®) technology platform of eyeo B.V. works differently. Instead of filtering light, it splits it: separating light into its colors and guiding every photon directly to the pixel where it belongs. Backed by 26 patents, the NCOS® platform triples light sensitivity and breaks resolution limits. This breakthrough approach unlocks picture quality, color accuracy, resolution, and cost efficiency, which was never-before possible.

Compatible with existing CMOS sensor platforms, eyeo B.V.’s technology unlocks sub-micron pixels with 3x the light for ultra-compact, high-performance imaging, removing the trade-off between image quality and sensor size that has constrained product design for decades.

From breakthrough science to production-ready sensors

This Series A round marks a decisive step forward in eyeo B.V.’s commercialization journey. Building on the foundation established and proven at imec over the last seven years, multiple tier one customer engagements, and successful process integration at a commercial foundry, eyeo B.V. is now investing in the full in-house engineering capability required to deliver sensors to customers at volume scale. The funding will be deployed across three strategic priorities:

• Building a world-class IC and system architecture design team at the Antwerp sensor design center opened earlier this year
• Developing and releasing next-generation color-splitting image sensors in 3D-stacked CMOS technology
• Growing sensor sales and commercial partnerships with OEM customers across smart city, industrial, XR and mobile markets worldwide

Jeroen Hoet, co-founder and CEO, eyeo B.V.: “Every modern device that sees the world, from smartphones to autonomous systems, is held back by the same 50-year-old constraint. eyeo B.V. removes it at the source. Our technology is proven, patented and validated at a commercial foundry, with tier one customers already engaged. This €40 million round gives us what we need to scale.”

Nard Sinteni, Partner Innovation Industries: “eyeo B.V. is delivering the kind of foundational breakthrough that redefines an entire category. This is a powerful example of deep-tech innovation driving real structural progress in semiconductors, with implications that extend across the broader technology ecosystem. We’re excited to back this outstanding team and their superior technology, which is truly pioneering in its approach and sets a new benchmark for what’s possible in the field.”

Dr Anne Umbach, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF: “eyeo B.V.’s technology captures three times more light than any conventional image sensor – unlocking a level of image quality that simply wasn’t possible before. When we first invested, we believed this team had the science, the vision and the drive to become a true European deep-tech champion. Less than a year later, a €40 million Series A speaks for itself. This is exactly the kind of follow-on moment that validates everything we look for in a deep-tech investment.”

This operation benefits from the support of the European Union under the InvestEU Fund.

About eyeo B.V.

eyeo B.V. is redefining imaging with the world’s most advanced nanophotonic color-splitting technology. For the first time, image sensors can capture all incoming light, overcoming the 70% light loss imposed by decades-old color filter technology. Instead of filtering photons, eyeo B.V.’s technology guides them directly to individual pixels, unlocking full light sensitivity and native color fidelity in any condition. Compatible with any CMOS sensor platform, eyeo B.V. enables sub-0.5-micron pixels for ultra-compact, high-performance imaging where image quality is critical. eyeo B.V. is headquartered at High Tech Campus Eindhoven (NL), with a sensor design center in Antwerp (BE).

Food Safety in Hours, Not Days: NanoStruct Secures €2.6M Seed Funding

• NanoStruct closes a seven-figure seed funding round led by HTGF, Bayern Kapital, and the Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund
• The technology reduces the detection of dangerous pathogens such as Listeria and Salmonella from 2–3 days to just a few hours, using nanostructured sensor chips and AI
• Faster detection of microbial contamination enables earlier decisions in production, prevents recalls, and reduces food waste across the entire supply chain.
• The funding enables pilot projects in the food analysis market, the development of a structured sales organization, and team expansion

Würzburg (Germany), 11th May 2026 – Würzburg-based deep tech startup NanoStruct has closed a seed funding round of €2.6 million. Founded by Dr. Henriette Maaß, Enno Schatz, and Kai Leibfried, the company develops nanostructured sensor chips for the rapid identification of dangerous pathogens in food. The round is led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Bayern Kapital, and the AUXXO Female Catalyst Fund. The funding builds on previous grants from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) and the European Union.

Molecular Fingerprint Instead of Days of Waiting

Detecting dangerous bacteria in food currently takes several days, far too long to ensure that harmful pathogens don’t reach consumers. At the same time, regulatory requirements are increasing with the goal of enhancing consumer protection. As a result, demand for faster and automated analysis from food manufacturers and testing laboratories is high. NanoStruct has developed a process that reduces detection to just a few hours by combining optical measurement technology with nanotechnology, biotechnology, and machine learning. For the food market, this represents a complete rethinking of microbial analysis. Results can be obtained on the same day, recalls are avoided, foodwaste is reduced and food safety is significantly improved.

Dipl.-Ing. Arnolf Kneißler, long-standing Managing Director of Labor Kneißler GmbH: “I have been following NanoStruct and its innovation for several years now, and I am both excited about the technology and the founding team. Accelerating bacterial testing in food delivers tremendous value, and I am personally delighted that NanoStruct can take the next step with this funding to bring its promising system to market.”

The seed funding enables NanoStruct to validate its system through pilot projects in the food analysis market, build a structured sales organization, and capture its first target market.

Dr. Henriette Maaß, CEO of NanoStruct: “With HTGF, Bayern Kapital, and AUXXO, we have found exactly the partners we need for this next step: experienced, well-networked, and convinced of our vision. Now we are bringing rapid bacterial analytics to the food industry.”

NanoStruct’s technology also has the potential to accelerate and simplify processes in additional fields such as veterinary and human diagnostics, as well as bacterial monitoring in sensitive production environments.

Dr. Stephan Ruck, Investment Analyst at HTGF: “The technological breakthrough NanoStruct has achieved in sensor development is remarkable. In addition to the platform technology, we were convinced by the company’s strong network in the target market and, above all, by the team. I very much look forward to working with Henriette and the entire founding team.”

About NanoStruct

NanoStruct is a startup at the intersection of biotechnology and nanotechnology, headquartered in Würzburg, offering an analysis platform for the rapid identification of harmful bacteria in food. Spun out of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg in 2021 by Dr. Henriette Maaß, Enno Schatz, and Kai Leibfried, NanoStruct is now ready to bring its system to the food market.

One-time treatment with lasting effects: Sedivention secures €2.9 million to further develop outpatient obesity therapy

The medtech startup Sedivention has closed a seed financing round of €2.9 million.

The round is led by lead investor bmp Ventures alongside the IBG funds; other investors include the strategic investment arm of a global medtech company, existing investor High Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), superangels, and Cambridge Ventures. With the fresh capital, Sedivention aims to further develop its novel outpatient therapy for treating obesity and generate initial clinical data to prepare for market entry.

According to the World Obesity Federation, obesity — which is expected to affect over one billion people worldwide by 2030 — is one of the greatest medical and economic challenges of our time. Existing treatment options face significant limitations: bariatric surgery is highly invasive and accessible to only a small proportion of patients, while drug therapies are costly and require long-term use. This is exactly where Sedivention comes in.

“Obesity is a chronic condition that requires treatments that are medically effective yet gentle,” says Dr. Ute Nollert, founder and Chief Medical Officer of Sedivention. “Our approach directly addresses the underlying disruption in hunger and satiety regulation, enabling a lasting reduction in feelings of hunger – without surgery, without implants, and without lifelong medication.”

Sedivention is developing a minimally invasive, one-time, outpatient therapy based on a targeted cryo procedure. At the heart of the technology is a specially designed cryo balloon catheter that is inserted in a manner similar to a gastroscopy. Precise cryoablation interrupts the hunger-related gastric branches of the vagus nerve. This approach addresses the central physiological cause of obesity—impaired hunger and satiety regulation—and lays the foundation for long-term effects.

In addition to addressing medical needs, Sedivention is tapping into a massive market: the global healthcare costs for those affected are expected to reach up to $4 trillion annually.

“We are developing a proprietary medtech solution with the potential to redefine a global market worth billions through scalable, outpatient treatment,” says Dr. Andreas Bröcker, co-founder and CEO of Sedivention. “Our technology has been designed for international scalability from the outset and addresses a market that has not yet been efficiently tapped, with significant growth potential.”

A functional prototype has already been successfully developed and tested. The therapy is designed as a one-time, interventional treatment that leaves no foreign material in the body. With this seed funding, Sedivention plans to complete product development, conduct the First-in-Human Study, and prepare for the next clinical and regulatory steps.

The approach is also generating significant interest among investors. “Sedivention combines medical evidence with a clearly scalable and cost-effective medtech approach,” says Dr. Jan Engels, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF. “The team is addressing a globally relevant medical condition with a technologically compelling solution.”

“Sedivention is developing an innovative and compelling MedTech technology to sustainably redefine obesity therapy,” says Carlos Figueredo, Investment Manager at bmp Ventures. “The solution has enormous transformative potential for one of the world’s largest healthcare markets.”

“When we look back in 10 years, Sedivention will be one of the companies that changed obesity treatment forever. Existing solutions manage – Sedivention solves,” says Franzi Majer, Founding partner at superangels. “That’s the kind of impact we look for: a team with the conviction and the technology to redefine one of the largest markets in the world.”

In the long term, Sedivention aims to replace highly invasive surgical procedures with interventional procedures that can be performed on an outpatient basis, thereby sustainably improving access to effective medical care.

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About Sedivention
Sedivention GmbH is a medtech startup based in Magdeburg and Munich. An interdisciplinary team of experienced medical professionals and engineers is developing a new generation of minimally invasive, outpatient therapies for the treatment of obesity. The focus is on a one-time cryo-based procedure designed to sustainably reduce feelings of hunger.

Contact
Sedivention GmbH
info@sedivention.com
www.sedivention.com

About bmp Ventures
bmp Ventures is one of the most experienced venture capital investors in Germany and has more than 250 investments in almost all technology segments, with the majority in the early stages. In addition to direct investments, bmp has also managed venture capital funds for the KfW banking group and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft. bmp currently manages the IBG fund in Saxony-Anhalt and employs around 20 members of staff at its offices in Berlin and Magdeburg.

About the IBG Funds
The IBG funds, based in Magdeburg, are the venture capital funds of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. They provide equity capital to young, innovative technology companies with above-average growth potential headquartered in Saxony-Anhalt. At the end of 2023, the new venture capital fund RKF IV was launched with a volume of €63 million. The fund is fi nanced by the state of Saxony-Anhalt and the European Union and invests in startups in the seed, early-stage, and growth phases. The IBG funds are managed by bmp Ventures AG.

About superangels
Superangels is one of the most active early-stage investors in Europe, with a portfolio of more than 140 Tech-/Deep-Tech investments across Europe and the US. The fund was founded by Franzi Majer, Alex Brand, and Florian Gottschaller, and backs exceptional founders from day one – with capital, network, and hands-on operational expertise.

About Cambridge Ventures
Cambridge Ventures GmbH is the investment vehicle of Martin Giese. Martin Giese is a business angel, startup coach, author and speaker with extensive experience in supporting technology-driven early-stage companies.

Avelios Wins Fresenius to Build an AI-Native Digital Health Ecosystem

Fresenius —  Europe’s largest private hospital operator — is investing in our portfolio company Avelios Medical and with it in the build-out of an open, interoperable, and AI-native digital health ecosystem for Europe. 

Fresenius joins the technology partnership between Avelios and SAP, which was closed earlier this year, bringing its extensive experience from real-world clinical practice. At the center stands the Avelios Hospital Information System (HIS) as the core platform for a modern, integrated care infrastructure, built on a new generation of clinical architecture and a structured data model that enables AI-native care and sovereign data use. 

Avelios is solving a real problem at exactly the right moment. The clinical IT market is undergoing a fundamental shift, and hospitals need orientation. Having SAP and Fresenius, two of Europe’s most influential players, validate the team’s approach is a strong signal: for the platform, the product, and an outstanding founding team we have been backing since their pre-seed round in 2021. 

Mobility Signage raises €1.8M to fix public transport’s fragmented IT infrastructure

• Munich-based mobility tech start-up Mobility Signage secures €1.8 million in pre-seed funding from HTGF and 2bX to replace fragmented legacy IT systems in public transport with a unified data architecture.
• The platform connects existing operator systems, standardises interfaces, and delivers consistent real-time passenger information across all channels — without costly system replacements.
• Already adopted by some of Germany’s largest operators: BVG Berlin, SSB Stuttgart, Deutsche Bahn, and RSAG Rostock.

Mobility Signage, a Munich-based start-up for digital infrastructure in public transport founded in 2023, has closed a €1.8 million pre-seed round. High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) led the round, with 2bX participating as co-investor. The capital will be used to grow the team and accelerate development of the company’s Data Hub and application layer.

Replacing patchwork with a central architecture

Public transport operators face a dual challenge: decades of fragmented, siloed IT infrastructure collide with rising passenger expectations for real-time information and seamless digital experience.

Mobility Signage tackles this head-on with a central data architecture that integrates existing systems rather than replacing them. As a unified data and integration layer, the platform structures data flows, standardises interfaces, and enables consistent information delivery across every output channel — from departure boards and apps to public address systems.

“Transport operators don’t need yet another standalone tool — they need a unifying system logic. We replace the patchwork of one-off solutions with an integrated, scalable platform.” — Stefan Rademacher, Co-Founder, Mobility Signage

“Our goal is to connect fragmented IT landscapes and create a reliable data foundation for real-time information — without forcing operators to rip out their existing systems.” — Dominik Nouri, Co-Founder, Mobility Signage

Strong traction with Germany’s largest operators

The platform is already live with a broad range of operators — from regional networks to some of Germany’s largest transit authorities, including Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen (SSB), Deutsche Bahn, and Rostocker Straßenbahn (RSAG). The breadth of the customer base demonstrates that the modular architecture scales across operator sizes.

Leading hardware manufacturers have also signed on as development partners, a signal that the open, integrable architecture resonates across the industry. The result: less operational complexity, better passenger information.

Mobility Signage is building a vertical operating system for public transport. Its first modules automate key processes including construction site notifications and real-time disruption management.

A growing market for intelligent transport systems

The global Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) market is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity, with bus and tram systems in Europe alone representing a significant and growing segment.

“Public transport operators are under pressure from skills shortages, ageing IT systems, and growing ridership. Mobility Signage addresses exactly these pain points with a modular, AI-native solution. The team has already proven real-world traction, with some of Germany’s largest operators as customers. The central data architecture is the key to making public transport fit for the future.” — Tizian Hoppen, Senior Investment Manager, HTGF

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About Mobility Signage
Mobility Signage develops a central passenger information system for public and long-distance transport operators, cities, and rail companies. The platform connects fragmented IT landscapes, standardises interfaces, and enables reliable real-time information across all channels — modular, scalable, and hardware-independent. Founded in Munich in 2023, the company counts BVG, SSB, Deutsche Bahn, and RSAG among its customers.
More information: mobilitysignage.com

About 2bX
2bX is a Berlin-based venture capital fund specialising in UrbanTech. The fund backs early-stage European start-ups tackling the defining urban challenges of our time: climate change, increasing urban density, circular economy, and quality of life in cities. Beyond capital, 2bX acts as an active strategic and operational partner to its founders.
More information: 2bx.vc