My pitch

Category: News

  • Rigontec Raises Additional €15M in Extended Series A to Advance Novel RIG-I Targeted Immuno-Oncology Therapeutics

    Rigontec, the leader in RIG-I targeting RNA therapeutics, today announced that it has secured EUR 15 million in a third and final closing of its Series A round. The financing represents additional capital from current investors Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Forbion Capital Partners, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), NRW.BANK, MP Healthcare Venture Management, Sunstone Capital and Wellington Partners Life Sciences. The funding will advance the ongoing development of Rigontec’s RIG-I agonist platform targeting oncological, anti-infective and inflammatory indications as well as accelerate the progress of lead candidate RGT100 towards the clinic.

    “We are very grateful for the continued support from our investors,” said Christian Schetter, CEO of Rigontec. “This funding puts us in a great position to further expand our RIG-I targeting preclinical pipeline and propel our first program into the clinic by early 2017. It also emphasizes the unique and innovative potential our technology holds.”

    Rigontec has first mover position in accessing the RIG-I innate immune pathway to pioneer a novel immuno-oncology approach. The RIG-I pathway represents an essential part of the innate immune system that is usually activated to attack a viral pathogen. Rigontec has developed a proprietary, advanced RNA-based technology to initiate through specific activation of RIG-I multiple pathways to kill tumor cells. Besides an early induction of direct tumor cell killing, Rigontec’s therapeutics initiate an immediate immune response against a patient’s distinct cancer cells, thereby harnessing the body’s immune reaction mechanism to efficiently destroy the cancer cells as well as enable long-term immunity against the cancer. In addition to malignant diseases, Rigontec’s innovative technology has also shown utility for the treatment of infectious diseases, further broadening the applicability of this groundbreaking new class of drugs.

    Separately, Rigontec announced the incorporation of a US entity to complement its German operations and to facilitate its ongoing activities in the US, including future clinical development efforts. The company has established offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, initially as part of the German Accelerator Life Sciences (GALS) program, an initiative supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) that helps German life science companies enter the US market.

    “I congratulate Christian and the team for gaining this additional financial support from a very well-regarded group of investors and see the location in Cambridge enabled through the 2 collaboration with the German Accelerator Life Sciences as a step towards further establishing Rigontec as the leader in RIG-I targeting therapeutics,” said Don deBethizy, Chairman of Rigontec’s Board of Directors. “Rigontec’s approach has a great potential in immuno-oncology both as a stand-alone and in combination with other therapeutic modalities for a range of cancers.”

    About Rigontec
    Rigontec is the leader in RIG-I targeting RNA therapeutics. Utilizing our proprietary RIG-I agonist platform, we harness one of the most essential pathways in the innate immune system to pioneer a novel immuno-oncology treatment approach. Rigontec’s proprietary agonists specifically activate RIG-I, inducing both immediate and long-term anti-tumor immunity and have proven substantial local and systemic tumor regression in several relevant in vivo models. In addition to malignant diseases, our innovative bifunctional RNA molecules can be developed for the treatment of infectious and inflammatory diseases.

    Contact:
    Rigontec
    Dr. Christian Schetter
    Main: +49 151 466 75 978
    E-mail: schetter@rigontec.com

    Media Inquiries
    MacDougall Biomedical Communications
    Dr. Stephanie May
    Direct: +49 175 5711562
    Main: +49 89 24243494 or +1 781 235 3060
    E-mail: smay@macbiocom.com

    About the German Accelerator Life Sciences
    The German Accelerator Life Sciences (GALS) is an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, with the goal of helping German startups and young companies succeed in the global marketplace. GALS offers support in multiple areas, from free office space in the world’s leading life science innovation hub, to mentoring and advising from industry experts and experienced leaders. GALS opened its doors in October 2015 and has its headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    German Accelerator Life Sciences
    Jared Sebhatu
    Main: +49 175 4130094
    E-mail: jared.sebhatu@germanaccelerator.com

    About HTGF
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Dr. Caroline Fichtner
    Schlegelstr. 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49.228.823001.00
    Fax: +49.228.823000.50
    info@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • RAIDBOXES receives seed funding to shake up the German webhosting market

    Backed up with an investment by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), three entrepreneurs from Münster seek to revolutionize the German webhosting market. RAIDBOXES is specialized in WordPress and offers a service that makes hosting fast, secure and more convenient.

    WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world, powering blogs, e-commerce sites and online media. An estimated 26 percent of all websites rely on it, including the New York Times, TechCrunch and NASA. RAIDBOXES is specialized in WordPress hosting and provides a service for internet professionals, webdesigners and internet agencies that optimizes their websites and reduces administrative and technical working hours.

    “Our customers are people who use WordPress to earn money or to market their businesses. We offer them a service that takes care of all the hosting issues so that they can focus on blogging, selling their products and building their brands”, says Torben Simon Meier, founder and CMO of RAIDBOXES.

    “In the US and the United Kingdom WordPress hosting already is a successful business model. The HTGF investment now enables us to bring specialized CMS hosting to Germany and Europe. Of course we need to adapt it to the needs of European internet professionals and evolve our service to provide an ever better and convenient experience”, explains Meier’s co-founder Johannes Benz.

    “Our investment is mainly used to fuel RAIDBOXES’ product development. Especially new plans, for example e-commerce and high traffic plans that address news market segments, are extremely promising”, says Niklas Raberg, Investment Manager at HTGF.

    Benz and Meier developed the idea for RAIDBOXES in 2015. After they teamed up with their third founder, Marcel Gleis, the technical implementation gained traction. Gleis is a successful entrepreneur and computer scientist. He has been CEO of his own company netzprofis GmbH & Co. KG for ten years. With 15 employees Gleis developed web-based applications for companies of all sizes, for example Tipico. Benz and Meier had been managing their Fintech startup “Cleap” for two years, before they started their own internet agency “gutado” in 2014. Benz graduated in Business Administration at the University of Münster in 2009. Meier is a certificated media designer.

    About RAIDBOXES
    RAIDBOXES offers convenient, fast and secure managed WordPress hosting from Germany. Our customers are internet professionals who value good design and high usability. Founded in 2016, we provide an all-round service that makes hosting as convenient as possible. RAIDBOXES customers have more time to invest in creating websites, selling products or marketing their brands.

    Contact:
    RAIDBOXES GmbH
    Jan Hornung
    Königsstraße 32-33
    D-48143 Münster
    Fon: +49 0251 1498 2000
    Mail: jan@raidboxes.de
    https://raidboxes.de | https://twitter.com/raidboxes | https://www.facebook.com/raidboxes

    About HTGF
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Niklas Raberg, Investment Manager
    Schlegelstr. 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49.228.823001.00
    Fax: +49.228.823000.50
    n.raberg@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • Creathor Venture leads a Series B financing round of € 5.2 million in CryoTherapeutics

    Creathor Venture, one of the leading European Venture Capital firms, leads a Series B financing round in CryoTherapeutics, the developer of a proprietary cryotherapy system for use in the treatment of coronary artery disease. The Life Science Start-up CryoTherapeutics receives at total of € 5.2 million in the current Series B financing round from Creathor Venture as well as from the existing investors NRW.BANK, Peppermint CBF, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Getz Brothers, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and several renowned business angels.

    CryoTherapeutics was established in December 2009 by a team of experienced serial entrepreneurs from the UK, US and Canada and is focusing on development ‎and application of a unique novel and proprietary approach for treatment of patients with acute coronary syndromes and myocardial infarction. Unlike with traditional techniques it is anticipated that  ‎the application of cryo energy can avoid in many patients the use of intravascular stents or scaffolds thus maintaining vascular function in the culprit or treated vessel.

    This financing will allow CryoTherapeutics to demonstrate the benefit in the treatment of heart attack patients by using this catheter-based system in a clinical trial with the goal of achieving market approval in Europe (CE-mark).

    Cardiovascular disease is the biggest largest single cause of death in the western societies. In Germany alone there are more than 300,000 people affected by heart attacks each year. In the EU there are 1.6m people and in the US 1.2m. Just the acute treatment of heart attack patients which is the initial focus of CryoTherapeutics represents a market potential of over € 1 billion.

    Dr. John Yianni, founder and CEO of CryoTherapeutics stated: “We are delighted to have completed this substantial financing with this consortium of experienced Life Science investors. With the funds of this financing round we are now ready to further demonstrate the benefits of our treatment procedure for vulnerable or ruptured plaques in the setting of heart attack in a clinical study.”

    Dr. Maurice Buchbinder, Founder and Chief Medical Officer stated: “We look forward to the initiation of the CHILL 1 study later this year to demonstrate the versatility and effectiveness of this exciting new treatment modality.”

    Dr. Aristotelis Nastos, Partner with Creathor, who is joining the Board of CryoTherapeutics stated: “I am impressed with the current status of the project. I have been following the preclinical development of this proprietary catheter system since the inception of CryoTherapeutics, very closely. This innovative device has the potential to become a real game changer in the treatment of coronary plaques. The commitment, experience and dedication of the team around the CEO, John Yianni, and the CMO, Dr. Maurice Buchbinder, has been crucial for the successful development of the company. We are delighted to work with a management team that has such a successful track record in the international MedTech industry.”

    About Creathor Venture
    As a leading European Venture Capital firm, Creathor Venture invests in technology-oriented companies and entrepreneurs. Creathor Venture focuses on Mobile, E-commerce, Digital Media, Cloud Technology, Internet of Things, Sharing Economy, Fintech, Life Science and E-Health. Regional focus is on Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Scandinavia. The management team of Creathor Venture consists of the CEO Dr. Gert Köhler, Karlheinz Schmelig, Cédric Köhler and Dr. Aristotelis Nastos. The team has been investing successfully in the early-stage venture capital business for 30 years. During that time, the team has built more than 200 technology companies successfully, conducted more than 20 international IPOs and has achieved exceptional returns for fund investors and the financed entrepreneurs in the past, all in the position as lead investor. The current portfolio of more than 35 companies is actively supported in development, growth and internationalization by a team of 18 staff. Creathor Venture manages funds of more than EUR 180 million and holds offices in Bad Homburg, near Munich, in Cologne, in Zurich and in Stockholm.

    The investors of the current fund include the European Union, through which the fund receives funding from the “Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme” (CIP), and the “ERP EIF fund of funds” and the LfA – Gesellschaft für Vermögensverwaltung GmbH, both facilities of the European Investment Fund (“EIF”), fund of funds, family offices and entrepreneurs.

    As the largest investor in Creathor the management underlines its entrepreneurial orientation.

    About CryoTherapeutics GmbH
    CryoTherapeutics was established in December 2009 in Potsdam by a team of serial entrepreneurs from the UK, US and Canada with initial seed funding by HTGF, the founders and two private investors. The focus of the company is the development, demonstration of clinical benefit, and early-stage commercialization of cryotherapy systems for the treatment of coronary plaque.

    For further information, please visit https://www.cryotherapeutics.com

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
     High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Kay Balster
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49 228 823001-00
    Fax: +49 228 823000-50
    k.balster@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • JUNIQE Raises €14m to Become Europe’s Leading Marketplace for Curated and Design-led Art

    JUNIQE, Europe’s leading marketplace for curated art from around the world, has raised €14m in an investment round led by Highland Europe, alongside previous investors Vorwerk Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds and Redalpine.

    From wall art to zeitgeist lifestyle products, JUNIQE connects artists and designers with individuals who are looking to express their personal style and passion for art. Launched in 2014, the Berlin-based startup already ships to thirteen countries across Europe, generating over 40% of its revenue outside Germany. Following year-on-year revenue growth of 500% in 2015, co-founders Lea Lange, Marc Pohl and Sebastian Hasebrink expect a threefold increase in revenues this year, meaning that JUNIQE is on track to becoming Europe’s market-leading online destination for curated and design-led art.

    The founding team plan to use the investment primarily to underpin further growth and expansion across the European market and double-down on investments in technology and product, to offer the best and most effective toolkit for artists and art lovers alike.

    “We believe there is extraordinary potential for growth in the European market, as illustrated by our experience in France”, says JUNIQE co-founder and Managing Director Lea Lange. “It was only last autumn that we launched in France, on juniqe.fr, and not even a year later, we are generating over 15% of our revenue from the French market.”

    “Wherever JUNIQE launches a new domain, we are greeted by fans, who are passionate about discovering artists and designers from all over the world, and feel empowered to express their individuality through our curated art and lifestyle products.”

    Breaking boundaries

    „We are glad to have accompanied JUNIQE’s excellent team since the seed stage and are looking forward to establish the company as a European market leader”, says Chiara Sommer, Investment Manager at HTGF.

    Aside from the focus on international, sustainable growth, JUNIQE’s leadership team will use the investment to ensure its customers receive an evermore personalised shopping experience. In the future, art enthusiasts will be able to discover and shop for their favourite designs, using an interactive tool which will enable them to see what their choices will look like when they are up on a wall – before making the final decision on which artwork to purchase. In addition, they will also receive a more immersive shopping experience that is curated and built around their specific taste.

    The brand is also heavily focused on inviting its customers to be a part of JUNIQE’s growing creative community, adds Lea Lange. “The impact of our curated collections, social media and editorial magazine on how individuals experience and purchase art online is huge. We tell the stories behind our artists and their designs to inspire our customers with creative content.” Whether they are at home or on the go, the community is increasingly engaged in JUNIQE’s content, with more than 55% of the platform’s traffic now being generated from mobile devices.

    About JUNIQE
    JUNIQE is the Berlin-based online destination for eclectic, popular wall art, fashion, living and home products. Founded in January 2014 by Lea Lange, Sebastian Hasebrink and Marc Pohl, the online store has experienced rapid growth since first going live. Today, the team consists of over 60 art-obsessed and creative e-Commerce professionals. Through 7 localised domains JUNIQE delivers art and lifestyle products to 13 different countries across Europe, and is working on expanding to many more.

    JUNIQE has made it its mission to make exciting and popular art available to everyone, with the vision ‘Art. Everywhere’. Every week, a hand-picked selection of emerging artists from around the world is invited to sell their work in the online store. The community of over 600 artists includes names such as Ruben Ireland, Ale Giorgini and Leigh Viner.

    By telling the artists’ stories and curating collections on a regular basis, JUNIQE empowers its customers to add art to their lives and inspires them to express their individuality. In addition to wall art, the designs are also available on select apparel, living and home products.

    Press contacts:

    JUNIQE
    Katja Meincke
    E-Mail: Katja@juniqe.com
    Tel:: +49 163 258 55 63

    STILGEFLÜSTER
    PR agency
    Juliane Broß
    Große Elbstraße 145 e
    22767 Hamburg
    Tel: 040-20 93 48 230
    E-Mail: juliane@stilgefluester.net
    Web: www.stilgefluester.net

    About Highland Europe
    Highland Europe is exclusively focused on Growth Stage internet, mobile and software businesses. Launched in 2012 and with over €580m ($640m) in Assets Under Management across two funds, the firm’s origins were as the European operations of Highland Capital Partners, a US VC firm. Highland Europe is based in London and Geneva and its current portfolio includes MatchesFashion.com, WeTransfer, GetYourGuide, eGym, NewVoiceMedia, and Malwarebytes among many others.

    For more information, visit Highland’s website at https://www.highlandeurope.com/

    About High-Tech Gruenderfonds
    High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gruenderfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
     High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Chiara Sommer
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49 228 823001-00
    Fax: +49 228 823000-50
    c.sommer@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

     

     

     

  • immersight receives further growth capital for Virtual Reality

    MBG Baden-Württemberg and High-Tech Gründerfonds increase their shares of the immersight GmbH with investing a 6-digit amount in the german tech startup. The capital will be used for technology development and growth by immersight.

    immersight was founded in 2012 by students from Ulm University, who developed the roomglasses, a technology for the Virtual Reality. The Roomglasses enables to immerse completely into the virtual room as an almost real experience. Thanks to the idea of using the technology for presentation and selling of room plannings, the graduates of Ulm University received already in 2012 their first price. The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy honors the team with the main prize of the startup competition IKT innovative.

    Since 2014, immersight focus on developing the 3D-Showroom-Software and began recently with the marketing. It is the first software of its kind worldwide. The software allows to run a virtual showroom, whereby an exhibition can be created by planner and salesman under the use of VR-glasses. (For example www.panoramabrille.com).

    The High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and the Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg (MBG BW) are convinced of this software development and building a showroom platform. For this reason, both investors increased their shares of the technology startup. Dr. Torsten Löffler, Senior Investment Manager of HTGF said that even if the market is young and the fact, that VR-technology is at the very beginning, immersight has generated good revenues last year. “With the 3D-Showroom-Software, immersight acts in a highly attractive future market. Virtual exhibitions bring their operators big cost savings and many complete new possibilities”, says Steffen Gasior, Investment Manager of MBG Baden-Württemberg.

    About MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH
    MBG invests into SME from all branches, which are located in Baden-Württemberg,Germany. The investments reach from € 25.000 up to € 2.5 million. The MBG provides seed-investments, startup financing and growth capital for established companies.

    MBG is a public supported investment company. It works close together with the Bürgschaftsbank Baden-Württemberg GmbH and is supported by the state Baden-Württemberg and the federal government.

    About Seedfonds BW
    The Seedfonds BW invests together with the High-Tech Gründerfonds in young technology startups, which are founded in Baden Württemberg. The investors of the Seedfonds are among the state Baden-Württemberg (Ministry of Finance and Economy), The L-Bank, LBBW Venture Capital GmbH and MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg.

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds
    Dr. Torsten Löffler
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Phone: +49 228 82 300 100
    info@htgf.de
    https://www.htgf.de

  • ReActive Robotics GmbH receives Series A funding

    Providing the best possible rehabilitation treatment to intensive-care patients, already 24 hours after hospital admission, directly in the patient bed: ReActive Robotics aims to make intelligent robotics the standard-of care in a field that has been dominated by manual therapy. A consortium of four investors, led by MTIP MedTech Innovation Partners AG and complemented by High-Tech Gründerfonds, Bayern Kapital and TQ-Group, provides a seven-digit Series A investment to enable the development and clinical validation of several prototypes until 2017.

    „The demographic change and a continuous increase of healthcare cost require intelligent automation solutions in therapy and care of heavily affected patients”, explains Dr. Alexander Koenig, founder and CEO of ReActive Robotics. “This fresh capital enables us to develop a robotic therapy prototype and clinically validate our early-mobilization concept in the intensive care unit”.

    ReActive Robotics develops adaptive and intelligent therapy robotics which automate early-mobilization in the intensive care unit. Using robotic modules that can be attached and detached on and from the patient bed, patients can be mobilized directly in their hospital bed. As compared to existing solutions, this approach supersedes the time-intensive and dangerous transfer of the patient onto a separate therapy device. The market size is estimated to exceed 2 bn. Euros. The device is scheduled to become available in Europe beginning of 2018.

    Clinical studies demonstrate that intensive care unit patients receive early mobilization can leave the hospital on average three days earlier leading to large cost savings. The improved therapy results can, however, only be achieved if the patient is mobilized several times per day. Manually providing such early-mobilization is expensive, as up to three therapists and nurses are required to move the patient. In comparison, the solution developed by ReActive Robotics can be operated by one caretaker. The therapist is alleviated from the heavy manual work by the robotic device and can focus on the patient. The therapy thereby not only becomes more cost effective but also more personal. “ReActive Robotics’ innovation represents a shining example of reducing therapy costs while improving patient benefits, and delivers a valuable contribution to the sustainability of our healthcare system”, says Dr. Christoph Kausch, CEO of lead investor MTIP.

    About ReActive Robotics
    ReActive Robotics was founded in Munich, Germany, in April 2015 with the vision to enable intensive care personnel to deliver the best possible rehabilitation therapy to their patients. As part of the Business Incubation Center of the European Space Agency ESA-BIC Bavaria, the team around the founder, Dr. Alexander Koenig, could win TQ-Group, one of the leading technology companies with broad robotics know-how, as its partner in July 2015. ReActive Robotics was supported by the UnternehmerTUM and BayStartUP and already succeeded twice in the Munich Businessplan Competition 2016.

    Contact:
    ReActive Robotics GmbH
    Dr. Alexander König
    Friedrichshafener Str. 1
    82205 Gilching b. München
    Tel.: +49 8105 772 7762
    Email: alexander.koenig@reactive-robotics.com
    Web: https://www.reactive-robotics.net

    About MTIP MedTech Innovation Partners
    MTIP is a Startup-Investor who focuses on the field of medical technology. Specific knowledge, entrepreneurial experience and a well-established network make MTIP to the partner of choice for the financing and strategic guidance of medical technology startups. MTIP provides researchers and entrepreneurs with the means they require to develop a sustainable business model which aims at securing a competitive advantage. In order to add maximum value to its portfolio companies, MTIP acquires significant minority stakes that allow for active involvement in the definition of the company strategy.

    Contact:
    MTIP MedTech Innovation Partners AG
    Frank Butz (Communications Director)
    Aeschenplatz 7
    CH-4052 Basel
    Tel.: +41 61 551 02 50
    Fax: +41 61 551 01 59
    Email: frank.butz@mtip.ch
    Web: www.mtip.ch

    About Bayern Kapital
    Bayern Kapital GmbH, based in Landshut, was founded on the initiative of the Bavarian government in 1995. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bavarian LfA Förderbank . As the venture capital organisation of the Land of Bavaria, Bayern Kapital provides equity capital financing for the founders of young innovative technology companies in Bavaria.

    Presently Bayern Kapital manages eleven investment funds with a total volume of around €340m. So far, it has invested almost €220m in 240 innovative companies in the fields of technology in various sectors including life science, software & IT, medical technology, materials and new materials, nanotechnology and environmental technology.

    In this way, almost 5000 long-term jobs in sustainable companies have been created in Bavaria.

    www.bayernkapital.de

    Contact:
     Bayern Kapital GmbH
    Bernd Schafberger
    Ländgasse 135 a
    84028 Landshut
    Tel.: +49 871 92325-0
    Email: Schafberger@bayernkapital.de
    Web: https://www.bayernkapital.de

    About TQ
    As an electronics service provider (E²MS supplier and CEM) TQ offers the complete range of services from development, through production and service right up to product life cycle management. The services cover assemblies, equipment and systems including hardware, software and mechanics. Customers can obtain all services from TQ on a modular basis as individual services and also as a complete package according to their individual requirements. Standard products such as finished microcontroller modules (minimodules), drive and automation solutions complete the range of services.

    Through the combination of electronics services and finished system components, TQ offers customer-specific products as ODM products and thereby addresses customers who would like to receive finished products and at the same time benefit from the advantages of a customer-specific solution. ODM products are provided on time and economically using a comprehensive solution kit. The kit includes finished electronic, mechanical and software components including certification and licenses.

    The TQ Group employs approx. 1,400 colleagues at their 13 sites (11 x Germany, 1 x Switzerland, 1 x China).

    Press contact:
    TQ-Systems GmbH
    Petra Zimmermann
    Mühlstraße 2
    82229 Seefeld
    Germany
    Phone: +49 8153 9308-245
    Email: petra.zimmermann@tq-group.com
    Web: www.tq-group.com

    About ESA-BIC Bavaria
    The ESA Business Incubation Centre in Bavaria, Germany, was founded in 2009 and is managed by Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen (AZO). Together with its partners the centre offers business start-up support as well as technical expertise in many space related areas, among others in satellite navigation, data systems, robotics and software systems.

    ESA BIC Bavaria has business incubation offices at four locations in the region: the headquarters in Oberpfaffenhofen, and branch offices in Nürnberg, Berchtesgadener Land and Ottobrunn.

    Contact:
     Anwendungszentrum GmbH Oberpfaffenhofen
    Lena Nietbaur
    Friedrichshafenerstr 1
    82205 Gilching
    Tel.: +49 (0)8105 77 2 77-17
    Email: Lena.Nietbaur@anwendungszentrum.de
    Web: https://www.anwendungszentrum.de

    About High-Tech Gruenderfonds
    High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gruenderfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
     High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Dr. Sebastian Schöfer
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49 228 823001-00
    Fax: +49 228 823000-50
    s.schoefer@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • AdTriba GmbH receives Seed-Investment to optimize Advertiser’s Digital Marketing Campaigns

    High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) invests into the marketing technology startup AdTriba. The Hamburg based Saas-company allows Advertisers to track, control and optimize their online marketing activities across all digital marketing channels through data science and user journey analysis.

    The founders, János Moldvay (CEO) and Ludwig Ostrowski (CTO) have extensive experience in data science and digital marketing. With AdTriba they aim to make marketing data driven, more transparent and thus more efficient.

    AdTriba allows for an accurate reporting and assessment of every online marketing campaign’s profitability while taking into account the complexity of multi-touch and cross-channel user journeys. AdTriba’s reporting-dashboard delivers a consistent and comprehensive view on all digital marketing activities. This reduces cross-channel marketing complexity and leads to an optimized allocation of online marketing budgets.

    “Until now digital marketing managers had to look into different dashboard and reports just to find out how their campaigns are doing. With AdTriba there’s only one dashboard. We call this approach the ‘single point of marketing truth’”, explains Moldvay.

    AdTriba targets all digital advertisers that use several marketing channels and are not able or not willing to spend what the higher-priced solutions of AdTriba’s competitors cost.

    “AdTriba is the only holistic online marketing reporting solution including algorithmic attribution modelling that is available for small and medium ad spenders”, says Dr. Sebastian Suhr, investment manager at HTGF. This is possible because of AdTriba’s self-service tracking integration and through the standardization and automation of all data science processes.

    Among AdTriba’s first customers are companies such as Rebelle, Flyeralarm, Lee, Wrangler, Goertz and Zeit-Verlag. Overall AdTriba currently has 10 customers, 13 more companies test the solution and have AdTriba’s tracking integrated. Up until now a total of well over 1 billion user journey events has been tracked.

    With this seed-round AdTriba aims to increase marketing activities to push the “single point of marketing truth”-concept into the market and to become the market leader in Germany. Further funds will be invested into developing new features such us TV-attribution and automated optimization of campaigns.

    About AdTriba:
    AdTriba was founded in November 2015 by János Moldvay and Ludwig Ostrowski and delivers a “single point of marketing truth” to digital advertisers so that they can optimize their campaigns in a data driven way. The startup successfully participated in the first batch of the next media accelerators until February 2016 and acquired their first customers in this phase.

    Contact:
    AdTriba GmbH
    János Moldvay
    Tel: + 49 171 54 24 163
    janos.moldvay@adtriba.com
    www.adtriba.com

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Dr. Sebastian Suhr
    Tel: + 49 228 82300 – 157
    s.suhr@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
    www.htgf.de

     

  • Industry 4.0 for carbon composites — Cevotec raises €1.75m seed financing

    Munich-based Cevotec GmbH develops and sells production systems and software for the automated production of complex carbon composites (carbon fiber reinforced plastics, short: CFRP). With a fully digitized product development and an additive manufacturing process, Cevotec brings so-called Industry 4.0 technology, the smart combination of physical and digital systems, to the composites industry. It provides manufacturers with a powerful solution for the cost-efficient, high-quality series production of complex CFRP components. The spin-off from Technische Universität München gained the support of High-Tech Gründerfonds, Bayern Kapital and three business angels from the BayStartUP network for its first round of financing, with them investing €1.75 million in the high-tech start-up.

    Components made from carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) are high in demand when products need to be light as well as strong. However, production is difficult and requires specialist expertise — many CFRP components are still made by hand to this very day. This is where Cevotec comes in with the Fiber Patch Placement technology, a solution that delivers innovation in process technology, production software, and composite technology. Complex components are built up with patches in an additive, fully automated process.

    “The orientation of fibers in a component is key when it comes to quality and mechanical properties. With this patch technology, we have no restrictions on how the fibers are aligned in the component and can manufacture a complex fiber laminate in a fully automated, quality-controlled way — this is quite simply a first,” says Felix Michl, Managing Director and the initiator of the spin-off from the Munich-based elite university. The digital product development process plays a key role for the success of the new technology, explains Dr. Neven Majic, co-founder and Head of Software Development. “We optimize the orientation and position of every single patch by using a high-performance software that significantly reduces the workload of the engineers in product development.” The CFRP experts of Cevotec develop this software by themselves, drawing on over 16 years of experience in composites. The team can also rely on the experience and support of their mentor Professor Klaus Drechsler, Head of the Institute for Carbon Composites at Technische Universität München. He has been guiding both the development of the technology and the spin-off from the very start.

    The team uses the investment primarily to advance the software and production system to series-production stage and realize the market entry. “We want to spark potential clients’ interest in our patch technology and demonstrate the benefits it offers for their CFRP production. That is why we are immediately setting up a sales and marketing team to position the technology in the market and attract interested companies,” explains co-founder and Managing Director Thorsten Groene.

    “This production technology is very promising. The founders have done a remarkable job in turning technical innovation from a research project into a business model that works, and creating a company that is starting to generate significant revenues. Together with the experienced business angels from the BayStartUP network, we are providing not only the required capital, but also the relevant know-how that will lead Cevotec to sustainable success,” says Dr. Ansgar Kirchheim, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF, commenting on the successful financing round.

    About Cevotec
    Founded 2015 in Munich, Cevotec offers the first production technology for carbon composites that works with patch laminates and empowers manufacturers to build complex parts in high volumes. The company develops and sells production systems, composite design software and offers development services for prototypes and serial products. Cevotec is a spin-off from the Institute for Carbon Composites of Technische Universtität München and is supported by the EXIST research transfer program, the European Space Agency and the accelerator programs Founder.org and TechFounders / UnternehmerTUM. For further information and high-definition images, please visit: https://cevotec.com/en/press-services/.

    Contact:
    Cevotec GmbH
    Thorsten Gröne
    Willy-Messerschmitt-Str. 1
    82024 Taufkirchen b. München
    Tel.: +49 89 2314 1650 i
    nfo@cevotec.com
    www.cevotec.com

    About Bayern Kapital
    Bayern Kapital GmbH, based in Landshut, was founded on the initiative of the Bavarian government in 1995. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bavarian LfA Förderbank. As the venture capital organization of the federal state of Bavaria, Bayern Kapital provides equity capital financing for the founders of young innovative technology companies in Bavaria. Bayern Kapital currently manages eleven investment funds with a total volume of around €340m. So far, it has invested more than €220m in around 240 innovative tech-based companies in various sectors, including life science, software & IT, medical technology, materials and new materials, nanotechnology and environmental­ technology. In this way, more than 5,000 long-term jobs in sustainable comp­anies have been created in Bavaria.

    Contact:
    Bayern Kapital GmbH
    Bernd Schafberger
    Ländgasse 135 a
    84028 Landshut
    Tel.: +49 871 9232 50
    schafberger@bayernkapital.de
    www.bayernkapital.de

    About BayStartUP
    BayStartUP is the Bavarian institution for company formation, financing and growth. It offers a broad spectrum of support services, ranging from the concept development stage to financing and the acceleration phase. BayStartUP’s services are enabled by the Bavarian economy ministry and companies such as LfA Förderbank Bayern, HypoVereinsbank, Siemens and other sponsors. The BayStartUP financing network gives start-ups the opportunity to contact up to around 100 institutional investors and over 200 business angels. This makes BayStartUP’s network of business angels and investors one of the biggest in Europe. Each year, around €20-30 million in seed and growth capital is arranged.

    Contact:
    BayStartUP GmbH
    Larissa Kiesel
    Agnes-Pockels-Bogen 1
    80992 München
    Tel.: +49 89 388 38 38 14
    kiesel@baystartup.de
    www.baystartup.de

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Dr. Ansgar Kirchheim
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49 (228) 823 001-56
    Fax: +49 (228) 823 000-50
    info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
     www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

     

  • bentekk GmbH receives seed funding to develop the market with gas measurement technology

    The manufacturer of measurement instruments for toxic industrial gases bentekk successfully completes a seed funding round. The High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and the Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg (IFH) invest a six-figure sum in the Hamburg-based company. The handheld X-PID allows fast and selective measurements of carcinogenic organic compounds as benzene and increases safety at work in the oil, gas and chemical industry. The funding is used to open up the German-speaking market and to develop a second product version for use in explosive atmospheres.

    The High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and the Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg (IFH) invest a six-digit amount in the company bentekk. The Hamburg-based manufacturer of innovative gas detection technology for on-site analysis wants to enhance safety for workers through improved monitoring of threshold limit values of toxic gases.

    bentekk GmbH is a spin-off of the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and the NIT Northern Institute of Technology Management. The founders Matthias Schmittmann and Johannes Weber have conducted related research since the end of 2013.

    The first product X-PID is a handheld gas detector for fast and selective measurements of benzene and other toxic volatile organic compounds (VOC) in very low concentrations. Primary use cases are clearance measurements in the oil, gas, petrochemical and chemical industry during shutdowns and turnarounds.

    “Our measurement system is based on the technologies multi-capillary column gas chromatography and photoionization detection (MCC-GC-PID). In addition, the product is characterized by a modern approach to data management” says Schmittmann. The control of the measuring device through a mobile app and the connection with a web platform allow additional services and business models.

    Lucille Bonnet, investment manager at HTGF is convinced: “bentekk with its X-PID has developed a mobile, accurate, fast and cost-effective solution, which is new to the market. We see great potential and benefits for various industries based on this technology platform.”

    Gencer Sahin, investment manager at IFH, adds: “X-PID closes a gap in the market for mobile gas chromatography. The measurement instrument is the only existing portable solution on the market that is able to detect the always stricter regulatory threshold values for benzene.”

    The funding is used to develop a second product version to be certified for the use in potentially explosive gas atmospheres, to strengthen direct sales in Germany and build an international distribution network.

    About the company bentekk GmbH The company was founded in November 2014 as a spin-off of the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). bentekk develops selective measurement technologies for the determination of contaminants on-site. In January 2016, the team led by chemical engineer Matthias Schmittmann and the industrial engineer Johannes Weber entered the market with the product X-PID by selling and renting instruments to industrial companies. bentekk was funded by the BMWi program EXIST-Gründerstipendium and the program InnoRampUp by the Investitions- und Förderbank Hamburg (IFB).

    Press contact:
    bentekk GmbH
    Johannes Weber
    Kasernenstraße 12
    21073 Hamburg
    Tel.: +49 40 57 13 63 57
    j.weber@bentekk.com
    www.bentekk.com

    About Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg
    The Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg provides venture capital to young and innovative companies with its place of business in Hamburg. Aim is to strengthen research and development activities. Open participation in limited liability companies can reach up to 1 million Euros. Investors are in equal shares the city of Hamburg and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The fund volume is currently 12 million Euros. The management of the fund is the IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH which is a 100% owned subsidiary of the Hamburgischen Investitions- und Förderbank.

    For more information visit www.innovationsstarter.com

    Contact:
    IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH
    Gencer Sahin
    Tel.: +49 40 65 79 805 – 96
    sahin@innovationsstarter.com
    www.innovationsstarter.com

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gruenderfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    For more information visit www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Lucille Bonnet
    Tel.: + 49 228 82 300-134
    l.bonnet@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • Stuttgart Startup SE.M.LABS raises 780.000€ in seed round in order to bring breath of fresh air into the leasing market: Pay per use 4.0!

    The High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) invests in cooperation with the MBG and a private angel investor into the Stuttgart based software as a service provider SE.M.LABS. Marius Merle (CEO), Svend Erik Wendt (COO) und Daniel Schniepp (CTO) come from the leasing and banking industry.

    The software forms the link between capital goods and the billing of the financial service. By universal interfaces different goods and systems can be interconnected. With their software their customers can reduce their internal expenditures to a minimum and concentrate on their core business. Through their solution, they enable their customers to enter new markets such as pay per use financing models, Share-Economy and telemetry-driven business models.

    „With this offered solution, SE.M.LABS enables the costumer to enter new markets. E.g. usage based financing, share-economy and telemetry driven business models. SaaS-solutions are a novelty in the German leasing-market and have great potential for scaling internationally,” states Dr. Tanja Emmerling the HTGF-investment.

    “The customer benefits of the specially developed solution „Pay per use 4.0” are clearly visible. We believe in the extensive potential of SE.M.LABS and the highly motivated team of founders behind it, “adds Steffen Gasior by MBG.

    Because of persistently stagnant investments of industrial corporations and with regard to the new leasing accounting standard IFRS16, new investment incentives must be created in order to generate growth. In times of low interest rates, more and more customers choose to buy instead of leasing. In order to to bring fresh air into the leasing market, SE.M.LABS relies on “Pay per use 4.0” and offers leasing companies the opportunity to its customers to lease capital goods based on usage. This creates new investment incentives without deteriorating the liquidity of the lessee, the lessor can distinguish himself from the competition and set new impulses.

    „SE.M.LABS is more than a software as a service provider for pay per use models. With our broad partner network and over 10 years of expertise in the financial industry, we offer a full service range in the area of consumption-based financing and insurance models,“ says Marius Merle (CEO & Founder).

    About SE.M.LABS
    SE.M.LABS is a young company which was founded by Svend Erik Wendt and Marius Merle in Stuttgart in July, 2015. Daniel Schniepp complements the team with his technical expertise and his startup experience as Co-Founder and CTO.

    They already count one of Germany’s largest and most innovative leasing companies to their customers.

    For more information, please visit: www.semlabs.de

    Press contact:
    SE.M.LABS GmbH
    Svend Erik Wendt
    Im Oberen Kienle 96
    70184 Stuttgart
    Telefon: 0152/ 3190 1591
    E-Mail: se.wendt@semlabs.de
    www.semlabs.de

    About MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH
    The MBG invests across industries in small and medium enterprises based in Baden-Württemberg. The investment amounts ranging from € 25,000 to € 2.5 million. The MBG provides seed investments, start-up financing and growth financing to established companies. MBG is a publicly funded investment company. It works closely with the Bürgschaftsbank Baden-Württemberg GmbH together and is supported by the state of Baden-Württemberg and the federal government.

    About Seedfonds BW
    The Seedfonds BW invests together with the High-Tech Gründerfonds in young technology companies based in Baden-Württemberg in the early start-up or seed stage. The investors of Seedfonds BW are next to the Land Baden-Württemberg (Ministry of Finance and Economy), L-Bank, LBBW Venture Capital GmbH and MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH.

    Contact:
    MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungs-
    gesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH
    Steffen Gasior
    Werastraße 15-17
    70182 Stuttgart
    Tel.: ‪+49 711 1645-773
    E-Mail: steffen.Gasior@mbg.de
    www.mbg.de

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Dr. Tanja Emmerling
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel: + 49 228 82300–164
    E-Mail: t.emmerling@htgf.de w
    ww.htgf.de

  • Follow up investment for eyefactive

    The High-Tech Gründerfonds and the MBG Schleswig-Holstein renew their investment in eyefactive GmbH. A six digit sum is provided to promote the international growth of the first app platform for professional Touchscreens.

    In addition to their previous portfolio of scalable multitouch technology for interactive tables and walls eyefactive GmbH announced the world´s first app platform for large-scale touchscreens in November 2013. The apps enable users to simultaneously operate interactive content on displays by any manufacturer on basis of a specifically developed software technology. The technology facilitates a performant operation by any number of users on professional touchscreens or combined display walls in high resolution.

    This so-called multiuser technology is the logical progression from the touch operation of smartphones and tablets to distinctively larger touchscreens. Such systems with diameters up to several meters are being employed in interactive brand communication in public spaces as well as in company in-house presentations and organization. Its range of application differs significantly from the conventional B2C applications that app stores for mobile devices offer. The still young digital signage branch has been continually enjoying high growth rates for years.

    The operation of an application by several users has only just become possible since the appearance of larger touch systems with their many touch points and constitutes a completely new concept in human-computer interaction. Normally, at present expensive special solutions are being developed with conventional technology. The app platform strives at establishing the first standard for interactive software in the digital signage market.

    All apps in the app store can be customized due to a content management system in minimal time. Now eyefactive already chose to cooperate with a growing number of international partners, who participate in the turnover by recommendations, can distribute apps themselves and offer additional services for end clients. eyefactive also wants to make its software technology available for third party developers medium term in order to constantly feed the ecosystem with new, exciting apps.

    “We are very happy about the positive development of eyefactive GmbH and envisage the app platform to be a promising addition to the existing business with a high growth potential” says Dr. Sebastian Suhr, Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds in Bonn. Bernd Ernst of the MBG Schleswig-Holstein adds: “What the team has achieved so far is impressive and we believe eyefactive with its current developments to play a significant role in the field of digital signage”. The old investors HTGF and MBG first took a share in eyefactive GmbH in May 2011.

    About Mittelständische Beteiligungsbank (MBG) Schleswig-Holstein
    MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Schleswig-Holstein was founded in 1994 on the initiative of the provincial government of Schleswig-Holstein as a local investment company. The mission of MBG is to strengthen the capital base of small-scale companies and thus to support their bankability. MBG generally commits in silent partnerships in start-ups as well as established companies. In individual cases, MBG invests in the form of open participations. The team of MBG currently supports more than 500 companies exceeding 100 million Euro of investment. Please find more information here: www.mbg-sh.de

    About eyefactive GmbH
    eyefactive from Wedel (near Hamburg / Germany) is the leading provider for interactive multitouch and multiuser technology in large-scale. The product portfolio consists of flexible and scalable multitouch displays integrated into tables and walls as well as the first dedicated app-platform for interactive signage software. For effective marketing at points of sale & information and creative teamwork in companies. eyefactive has been awarded multiple times, e.g. “ICT start-up of the year 2012” by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Clients are world renowned brands like Porsche, Mercedes-Benz Bank, Beiersdorf, Siemens and Olympus. Please find more information here: www.eyefactive.com

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II). Please find more information here: www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

    Contact:
     High-Tech Gruenderfonds Management GmbH
    Dr. Sebastian Suhr
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49 (228) 823 001-00
    Fax: +49 (228) 823 000-50
    info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • Focus on digital health: BVMed, Earlybird, High-Tech Gründerfonds and BIOCOM publish “MedTech Radar 6”

    Digitalisation has now become part of everyday life and the health sector is no exception. There are currently around 100,000 health apps on offer in the app stores and the billion dollar market is growing rapidly. Whether fitness, nutrition, disease diagnosis or doctor’s appointments – there’s a smartphone app for almost every aspect of health. The sixth issue of the joint media service “MedTech Radar”, published by BVMed, Earlybird Venture Capital, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and BIOCOM, focuses on this growing market. It also introduces the Jena-based startup Preventicus. The company has developed an app which makes it easy for anyone with a smartphone to screen for serious diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes. BVMed, the German Medical Technology Association, also presents its own view of the digital health sector. The most recent issue of “MedTech Radar” is available for download as a PDF in German and English here: www.htgf.de/medtech-radar.

    The trend for self-monitoring using fitness trackers, apps and the like is virtually unstoppable. Mobile health has developed into an attractive market segment and the range on offer is fast expanding. At the same time, patients are now looking for greater participation and are more willing to take a proactive role. For this reason, there is a growing trend towards medical apps that measure physiological data to diagnose diseases or to dose drugs. These apps,however, have to be certified as medical devices in accordance with the German Medical Devices Act. The startup Preventicus has completed this certification process successfully. It offers an app that measures important vital signs via smartphone for early detection of cardiac arrhythmia.

    Dr. Thomas Hübner, CEO and founder of Preventicus, says, “Many people don’t know that they’re among the potentially vulnerable. Even sporty people can suffer from a heart attack out of the blue. This is where our app can save lives.”

    Thom Rasche, partner at Earlybird, and Dr. Michael Brandkamp, CEO of HTGF, describe the choice of the sixth issue’s main topic, “Preventicus is not only an app developer but also a service provider for patients. The measured data is analysed via the Preventicus health portal and users are sent suggestions relating to either their physical activity and eating habits or whether they should contact a doctor. The startup demonstrates very impressively how existing technology, such as the smartphone, can be used to pioneer new approaches within the health sector that benefit patients in Germany.” According to Joachim M. Schmitt, CEO of BVMed, “Digitalisation offers huge potential for the medtech sector in general. The task of BVMed is to throw light on the opportunities and risks of innovative technologies. The MedTech Radar is an effective tool for this.” BVMed now also represents companies offering Big Data solutions. Dr. Boris Mannhardt, CEO of BIOCOM AG, says, “On our medtech online information portal, medtech-zwo.de, we shed light on the latest medtech innovations and the startup scene in German-speaking countries. Digital health in particular has recently experienced strong growth momentum. As a partner in the MedTech Radar, we support the dissemination of information on new medtech topics.”

    About the Publishers:
    The High-Tech Gründerfonds, an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology, the KfW and 18 companies, supports young technology companies with seed financing to advance research projects at least until a prototype status or until market entry.

    Earlybird Venture Capital is one of the most successful European venture capital investors and has capital of about 700 million euros under management for an international investors basis.

    The German Medical Medical Association (BVMed) is an industry association that represents over 230 industrial and commercial companies in the medical technology sector.

    As an information specialist, BIOCOM AG has accompanied the life sciences with journals, websites and books for more than 30 years. The website medtech-zwo.de reports on start-ups, deals and financings related to the medtech sectors of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

    V.i.S.d.P:

    BVMed – Bundesverband Medizintechnologie, Reinhardtstr. 29 b, 10117 Berlin
    Manfred Beeres, Leiter Kommunikation/Presse; Tel. +49 – 30 246 255-20, beeres@bvmed.de, www.bvmed.de

    Earlybird Venture Capital GmbH & Co KG, Münzstr. 21, 10178 Berlin
    Catrin Schmidt; Tel. +49 – 30 46724700, catrin@earlybird.com, www.earlybird.com

    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH, Schlegelstraße 2, 53113 Bonn
    Stefanie Zillikens; Tel. +49 – 228 82300107, s.zillikens@htgf.de, www.htgf.de

    BIOCOM AG, Lützowstr. 33-36, 10785 Berlin,
    Sandra Wirsching, Redaktionsleiterin; Tel.: +49 (0)30-264 921-63 | s.wirsching@biocom.de, www.biocom.de

     

     

     

  • Cunesoft receives a seven-digit Series-A financing from Occident Group, High-Tech-Gruenderfonds and Bayern Kapital

    The Munich based Cunesoft GmbH, an innovative software provider of cloud-based regulatory master data management solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, today announced that it has successfully completed an undisclosed seven-digit series-A financing round. The participants in this new round of financing included the Swiss based lead investor Occident Group and the existing investors High-Tech-Gruenderfonds and Bayern Kapital, who also previously invested in Cunesoft in October 2014.

    The company will use the funds to further accelerate international growth, especially in the USA and Asia, with investments into technology, local sales activities, customer support and the international sales network. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) company is already well positioned in many markets, with local offices in Germany, France and India. Further investments will allow the entrance into new and strategically important markets.

    “We are very happy that our existing investors are firm believers in Cunesoft. Together with the Occident Group, we have found an internationally well connected partner”, says Rainer Schwarz, founder and CEO of Cunesoft. “The new funds will accelerate our international growth and enable us to address top-250 pharma-and life science customers more effectively. To-date, the company has been focused on small-and medium sized companies. However, with additional and unique software-modules, Cunesoft is increasingly gaining interest from multinational corporations.”

    “With innovative technology and flexible solutions, Cunesoft plays an important role within a very interesting and steadily growing global market. Cunesoft provides a true SaaS solution for regulatory document- and submissions management. Software modules based on artificial intelligence solve complex problems within seconds, provide support to global clients in day-to-day business and significantly improve cost and time savings. As venture capital investors, we are constantly looking for companies that are able to bring lasting market changes via innovations and thus generate considerable competitive advantages – Cunesoft and its team convinced us from the beginning and we are looking forward to be part of it”, adds Michael Pauer, Investment Director at Occident Group.

    “We are more than ever convinced that Cunesoft is well on its way to achieving a market-leading position within this competitive environment. Numerous companies face a range of regulatory challenges every day and do not use any software or combine partly compatible solutions. In contrast, Cunesoft offers a unique “single source of truth” solution, i.e. one software for the entire regulatory process“, says Dr. Bernd Goergen, Investment Director Life Sciences & Healthcare at High-Tech-Gruenderfonds.

    The strictly regulated marketing authorisation process for medicinal products requires the highest compliance standards. The complex processes not only represent a growing challenge for pharma and life science companies but also for biotechs and API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) producers. Authorities will publish new regulations in the upcoming months and encourage companies to shift from paper-based processes to electronic software-solutions. “The modular SaaS-concept offered by Cunesoft is of interest to companies of any size and supports clients to operate competitively”, reveals Wolfgang Dengler, Senior Investment Manager at Bayern Kapital.

    About Cunesoft
    Cunesoft GmbH is a provider of regulatory master data management software and services for all segments within the life sciences industry. Solutions include management of eCTD, xEVMPD, IDMP data and document management as well as regulatory information management (RIM). Software provisioning is provided as Software as a Service (SaaS). The company is headquartered in Munich (Germany) with international offices in France and India.

    Contact:
    Cunesoft GmbH
    Rainer Schwarz
    Marsstraße 4
    80335 Munich
    Tel.: +49 (89) 235 14741
    rainer.schwarz@cunesoft.com
    www.cunesoft.com

    About Occident Group
    Founded in 1993, Occident Group is a privately held holding and investment company located in Zug, Switzerland. The company actively invests in real estate projects and companies in order to support their innovation and growth. The company is focused on companies within selected industries and on real estate financing of individual projects (developing projects and investment properties).

    Occident Group invests in sustainable, attractive long-term projects with meaningful innovations and a realistic value-add. The people involved in the projects are always in the foreground – on the one hand as reality-oriented entrepreneurs and on the other hand as a part of the team and a valuable contribution to the joint success. Occident Group acts as a fair-minded investor and contributes more than just financial support.

    Contact:
    Occident Group AG
    Mr. Michael Pauer
    Baarerstraße 14
    CH-6300 Zug
    Tel. +41 41 511 32 80
    office@occident-group.com
    www.occident-group.com

    About Bayern Kapital
    Bayern Kapital GmbH, based in Landshut, was founded on the initiative of the Bavarian government in 1995. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bavarian LfA Förderbank . As the venture capital organisation of the Land of Bavaria, Bayern Kapital provides equity capital financing for the founders of young innovative technology companies in Bavaria. Presently Bayern Kapital manages eleven investment funds with a total volume of around €340m. So far, it has invested almost €220m in 240 innovative companies in the fields of technology in various sectors including life science, software & IT, medical technology, materials and new materials, nanotechnology and environmental technology. In this way, more than 5000 long-term jobs in sustainable companies have been created in Bavaria.

    Contact:
    Bayern Kapital GmbH
    Wolfgang Dengler
    Laendgasse 135 a
    84028 Landshut
    Tel: +49 871 92325-37
    Fax: +49 871 92325-55
    dengler@bayernkapital.de
    www.bayernkapital.de

    About High-Tech Gruenderfonds
    About High-Tech Gründerfonds High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gruenderfonds Management GmbH
    Dr. Bernd Goergen
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49 (228) 823 001-36
    Fax: +49 (228) 823 000-50
    info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • Thermosome raises €4.6m with first financing round and a research grant from the German government

    Thermosome GmbH, an emerging biopharmaceutical company, today announces the closing of its first financing round, raising net proceeds of approximately €1.9 million from funds managed by High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH and Bayern Kapital GmbH, respectively, as well as a group of private investors. This first financing round is substantially enlarged by a recently approved grant from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) providing additionally €2.7 million over the project duration of 3 years.

    Thermosome’s TSL technology is a proprietary drug delivery platform used to create thermosensitive drug-loaded nanocarriers which locally release their encapsulated drug within the blood stream upon the influence of mild heat (40-42°C). Thereby, up to 15 fold higher local drug concentrations can be reached while simultaneously reducing the systemic exposure and side effects of conventional parenteral drug application. Various methods for triggering release through focused application of mild heat are clinically established.

    Thermosome’s lead candidate is a formulation of a potent, but highly toxic chemotherapeutic drug that has already achieved the pre-clinical proof-of-concept in several animal studies. In these studies, it consistantly showed dramatically improved efficacy at significantly reduced side effects compared to conventional delivery. The proceeds from the first financing round and the grant will be used to move Thermosome’s lead candidate through GMP manufacturing and pre-clinical development into a first clinical study in patients with certain solid tumors. Thermosome envisions to use its novel platform technology to vastly enlarge the therapeutic index and safety window of drugs and reach improved therapeutic outcomes in patients.

    The firm’s technology was invented by Prof. Dr. Hansjoerg Eibl at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen. It was applied, among others, in various in vitro and in vivo studies by a research group at the University Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Munich, one of Germany’s leading research universities. “We are happy to see the basic invention of Prof. Dr. Hansjoerg Eibl being transformed into a commercial, biopharmaceutical development”, comments Dr. Florian Kirschenhofer, StartUp & Portfolio Manager at Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH. “We have followed the science behind Thermosome for several years and are delighted to invest into the commercial translation of this very promising technology” adds Dr. Caroline Fichtner, Investment Director at High-Tech Gründerfonds, Europe’s largest early-stage Venture Capital fund.

    Thermosome’s managing director, Dr. Pascal Schweizer, adds: “We are very delighted by the strong support of our investors and the BMBF allowing us to move our technology towards the clinical proof-of-concept in humans.” Monika Steger, Investment Director at Bayern Kapital, adds: “We are happy to see the translation of top-notch academic research into emerging high-tech companies in Bavaria and are confident about the commcerical potential of Thermosome.”

    About Thermosome
    Thermosome® is an emerging biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary drug delivery technology platform for drug development. Through its TSL technology, drug-loaded nanocarriers – so-called Thermosomes – can be created which release their content upon the influence of mild heat. Administered intraveneously, the drug load is instantly released from Thermosomes at non-harming temperatures of 40-42°C, achieved by various clinically established targeted heating techniques such as microwave or ultrasound. With our Thermosomes, up to 15 fold higher local drug concentrations can be reached while simultaneously reducing the systemic exposure and side effects of these drugs (compared to conventional parenteral drug application). Through this novel technology, Thermosome aims to significantly enlarge the therapeutic and safety window of these drugs and reach improved therapeutic outcomes. Thermosome’s lead candidate, a formulation of a potent, but highly toxic chemotherapeutic drug, is currently in pre-clinical development and shall be moved into clinical development against certain solid tumors in the future. For more information, visit www.thermosome.com.

    Media contact:
    Thermosome GmbH
    Dr. Pascal Schweizer
    Managing Director & Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
    +49 (0)89 7167760-31
    media@thermosome.com

    About Bayern Kapital
    Bayern Kapital GmbH, based in Landshut (Germany), was founded on the initiative of the Bavarian government in 1995. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bavarian LfA Foerderbank . As the Venture Capital organisation of the Land of Bavaria, Bayern Kapital provides equity capital financing for the founders of young innovative technology companies in Bavaria. Presently, Bayern Kapital manages eleven investment funds with a total volume of around €340m. So far, it has invested almost €210m in 230 innovative companies in the fields of technology in various sectors including life science, software & IT, medical technology, materials and new materials, nanotechnology and environmental technology. In this way, almost 5,000 long-term jobs in sustainable companies have been created in Bavaria.

    About Max-Planck-Innovation
    As the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society, Max Planck Innovation is the link between industry and basic research. Our interdisciplinary team provides consulting and support for scientists in evaluating inventions, applying for patents, and founding companies. We offer the industry a central point of access to the innovations of the Max Planck Institutes. We thus provide the important function of converting the results of basic research into economically and socially useful products.

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
     High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Dr Caroline Fichtner
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Phone: + 49 228 82300 – 100
    info@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

    This communication contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Thermosome. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgment of Thermosome as of the date of this release and involve risks and uncertainties. Should actual conditions differ from the Company’s assumptions, actual results and actions may differ from those anticipated. Thermosome does not intend to update any of these forward-looking statements as far as the wording of the relevant press release is concerned.

     

  • Lockbox secures financing and expands across Germany with Trinkkiste.de

    For almost one year, Berlin-based start-up Lockbox GmbH has been making beverage delivery for its customers as easy as possible thanks to its Trinkkiste.de service. After expanding the company’s delivery area from Berlin to Hamburg and Cologne earlier this year, Lockbox was able to secure investment capital in the high six-figures to provide further expansion of its service. The delivery area has just been expanded in March to include Hannover, Freiburg and Potsdam.

    Trinkkiste.de will continue to expand to other cities across Germany in the months to come. Service is scheduled to begin in Bremen, Munich, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Stuttgart this April.

    The service offered through Trinkkiste.de is unique because it allows customers to receive beverage deliveries securely without having to be present for delivery appointments. The patented Lockbox system allows delivery persons to leave each customer’s order in a Lockbox set outside the customer’s front door and secured into place with the Lockbox anchor, a thin piece of metal that slides under the door. Once customers get home, their beverage order is ready for them to take inside. “Nowadays, almost anything can be ordered online, but there have been hardly any changes to how delivery works in recent years. The Lockbox system allows us to provide customers with a convenient and easy way to receive their beverage orders. Having to wait at home for the delivery truck is now a thing of the past,” says Thomas Kraker von Schwarzenfeld, the founder of Lockbox.

    Dr Tanja Emmerling, Investment Manager at HTGF, adds: “The rapid expansion of the Lockbox system to many metropolitan areas in Germany shows the great demand for convenient, anytime delivery systems. After making our seed investment in late 2014, we are glad to have found another strong investor for the company’s growth.”

    The delivery area was expanded in early March to include Hannover, Freiburg and Potsdam. See the Trinkkiste website at https://www.trinkkiste.de. Although the available products vary from area to area, Trinkkiste now lists more than 2,000 items in its online shop.

    Further information about the Lockbox delivery system can be found at: https://www.trinkkiste.de/site/sofunktionierts

    ABOUT TRINKKISTE: A LOCKBOX GMBH BRAND
    Trinkkiste.de is a trademark of Lockbox GmbH, based in Berlin. Trinkkiste delivers beverages by the crates directly to customer residences. Users have the option to order beverage deliveries on a one-time or on a regular basis and to have the empty bottles collected for a return of their deposit.

    Thanks to the Lockbox technology, customers do not need to present either for delivery or for collection. The patented anchor ensures that the crate can only be removed by the customer. For this purpose, a thin piece of metal is placed under the front door, which can only be removed by unlocking and opening the door.

    PRESS CONTACT
    Sascha Ahlers
    Head of Marketing
    Tel. +49 (0) 30 / 805 700 52
    Email: sascha@trinkkiste.de

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Dr Tanja Emmerling
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Phone: + 49 228 82300 – 164
    Fax: + 49 228 82300 – 050
    t.emmerling@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • German Bitcoin Startup Bitwala Raises €800k in Seed Round To Empower Global Money Transfer Based on Blockchain Technology

    Bitwala, the easiest way for international money transfers using blockchain technology, announced today that it has raised €800k in a seed funding round including the largest German VC investment firm High-Tech-Gründerfonds (HTGF) and the leading bitcoin and blockchain investor Digital Currency Group (DCG).

    Traditional banking is no longer making the cut for global payments. International wire transfer options offered today are slow, expensive and complicated for everyday customers. As a solution, Bitwala offers the fastest option for international money transfers at a fraction of the cost. Blockchain technology-based Bitwala reinvents the conventional banking system, all without the need of having a bank account.

    Along with the Bitwala Debit Card, the company simplifies and improves how people do financing in their everyday lives. Bitwala users are able to make cash withdrawals at ATMs and payments at any store or website that accepts VISA. Bitwala offers the best bitcoin exchange rates, same-day transfers and with 0.5% the lowest processing fee on the market.

    Since 2012, Bitwala’s founding team has been active in the European bitcoin community and are the backers of the first bitcoin startup incubator Bitcoins Berlin. The team bootstrapped and self-funded many internationally successful bitcoin ventures such as All4btc, Gold4btc or E4btc.

    Bitwala CEO Jörg von Minckwitz said that the funding came in time when the company along with the private and public interest towards bitcoin and blockchain technology is growing rapidly. The investment will be mainly used for developing the Bitwala app and expanding globally.

    “My co-founders Jan Goslicki, Benjamin Jones and I are very proud of what we have achieved so far. With the company still in its early stage, our focus has not been to gain the most capital but more towards building and maintaining strong and lasting partnerships.”, said von Minckwitz.

    High-Tech-Gründerfonds (HTGF) is the lead investor in this seed funding round. HTGF has invested in over 400 startups across the country with Bitwala being the latest addition to its portfolio.

    “Bitwala will be the first truly international bank account which allows people from all over the world to send and receive money in various currencies at marginal fees and in real-time. Using the blockchain as infrastructure to transact local currency provides an easy, secure and cost-efficient technology for underserved customers that have a real pain point.”, says Chiara Sommer, Investment Manager at HTGF.

    Digital Currency Group (DCG) is managed by Barry Silbert and has been the most active investor in bitcoin and blockchain tech companies. The strategic investor actively supports development teams and applications to build new use cases to enable global value transfers over the Internet using Bitcoin and Blockchain technology.

    For more information on Bitwala and features offered by the company, visit https://bitwa.la.

    About Bitwala
    Based in Berlin, Bitwala is the smartest way to send money internationally easily, cheap and fast. Launched in early-2015, the German company has surpassed 2 Million Euros in transaction volume and has collected over 2000 customers across Africa, Asia and Europe. Bitwala is offering 11 different currencies, a bitcoin debit card and business accounts for users with and without bank accounts

    Contact:
    Jörg von Minckwitz, CEO
    Bitwala GmbH
    Ohlauer Strasse 43, 10999 Berlin
    Office: +49 (0) 30 8939 8563
    support@bitwa.la

    About Digital Currency Group
    Based in New York City, DCG is the most active seed investor in the digital currency industry with more than 70 investments in 20 countries. Learn more at dcg.co or follow us @DCGCo for the latest News.

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

    Contact:
     High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Chiara Sommer
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49 228 823001-00
    Fax: +49 228 823000-50
    info@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de