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  • Amal Therapeutics raises CHF 3 million in a Series A financing round led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund

    Amal Therapeutics (Amal) completes CHF 3 million (EUR 2.75 million) Series A financing round with Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) as cornerstone investors. VI Partners and High-Tech Gründerfonds also participated in the round which will help progress Amal’s cancer vaccines.

    Amal Therapeutics is a Swiss biotech company developing and progressing therapeutic cancer vaccines. The company will use the funds to progress the preclinical development of its lead vaccine (ATP124) for colorectal cancer and to further develop its KISIMA technology platform for therapeutic tumor vaccination. This novel technology is able to generate potent long lasting anti-tumor immunity and avoid tumor immune escape.

    Dr. Frank Kalkbrenner from the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Dr. Frank Hensel from the High-Tech Gruenderfonds will join the Board as Board Observers. Dr. Diego Braguglia from VI Partners will also become a member of Amal’s Supervisory Board.

    Dr. Madiha Derouazi, CEO and founder of Amal Therapeutics said: “This Series A investment recognizes the potential of the KISIMA technology platform and the value of our scientific assets. We are now in a position to rapidly progress our lead vaccine, ATP124, for colorectal cancer into the clinic and continue to develop our pipeline in other cancer indications. I look forward to working with the Board to make Amal Therapeutics a leading innovator in the field of immunotherapies”.

    Dr. Knut Elbers, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund representative on Amal’s Board added: “Dr. Derouazi’s dedicated leadership and scientific expertise allowed us to assemble a group of outstanding scientists to show proof-of-principle in a series of pre-clinical tumor studies. We are confident that Amal’s KISIMA technology could revolutionize the peptide-based cancer vaccine field – bringing an exciting new technology to the patient”.

    Dr. Braguglia, VI Partners: “We believe that the KISIMA technology is superior to many other tumor vaccine technologies, both as a stand-alone treatment and in combination with other vaccines or immuno-oncology treatment modalities. I’m pleased to be joining the current seasoned investors and support the team of Amal in moving its technology into the clinic”.

    Amal’s vaccines combine a Cell Penetrating Peptide (CPP) with a multi-antigenic chimeric cargo with various CD8+ and CD4+ epitopes and a constitutive activator of dendritic cells, enabling them to simultaneously stimulate multi-epitopic cytotoxic T cell-mediated immunity, induce helper T (Th) cells and promote immunological memory.

    About Amal Therapeutics SA
    Amal Therapeutics SA is a privately held Swiss biotech company that was incorporated in 2012 as spin-off from the University of Geneva. Under the leadership of Dr. Madiha Derouazi, the company achieved a significant milestone by successfully developing KISIMA, a novel proprietary vaccine technology platform dedicated to oncology indications.

    www.amaltherapeutics.com

    Contact:
    Amal Therapeutics SA
    Dr. Madiha Derouazi
    Chief Executive Officer
    Tel: +41 (0) 22 3723805
    contact@amaltherapeutics.com

    Instinctif Partners (PR agency for Amal Therapeutics)
    Jayne Crook / Rosanna Forrest / Dr. Christelle Kerouedan
    Tel: +44 (0) 207 457 2020
    amaltherapeutics@instinctif.com

    About Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund GmbH
    The Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) was formed in March 2010 to invest in biotechnology and start-up companies to help drive innovation in medical science. The investment focus include – but is not limited to immunomodulation, esp. immuno-oncology, tissue regeneration, new therapeutic modalities, e.g. gene therapy, cell-based therapeutics, ADC, and microbiome. These reflects BIVF’s interest in platform technologies and the extension of the current therapeutic area focus of Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) and demonstrate BIVF’s commitment to investigate new treatment modalities and technologies, beyond BI’s existing landscape, for the potential future benefit of patients. BIVF takes an active role with its portfolio companies – delivering significant added value through its own extensive drug discovery, scientific and managerial expertise. The BIVF has €100 million under management and supervises currently a portfolio of 16 active companies.

    www.boehringer-ingelheim-venture.com

    Contact:
    Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund GmbH
    Kristina Schoppet / Patrick Boll
    Tel: +49 (0) 6132 77 181052
    venture@boehringer-ingelheim.com

    Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH
    Dr. Reinhard Malin
    Director Corporate Communications
    Tel. +49 (6132) 77-90815
    press@boehringer-ingelheim.com

    About VI Partners
    VI Partners is a leading Swiss venture capital firm that invests in university spin-offs as well as in promising companies in the healthcare and ICT sectors. Over the last decade, more than 30 successful investments were made in Switzerland and surrounding regions to develop promising technology-based ideas for products and services into successful businesses. VI Partners team combines seasoned investment professionals and a worldwide recognized network of experts from the industry, financial and consulting sectors.

    www.ventureincubator.ch

    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. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE Color, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss.

    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

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

     

     

     

     

  • Luxoft Acquires Symtavision, a Leading Provider of Software Tools and Services for Real-time System Design and Development for the Automotive Industry

    Luxoft Holding, Inc (NYSE:LXFT), a leading provider of software development services and innovative IT solutions to a global client base, today announced that it has acquired Symtavision GmbH, a provider of automotive software tools and consulting services focused on scheduling analysis, architecture optimization, and timing verification. These tools and services are for planning, optimizing, and verifying embedded, real-time systems within all modern automobiles. Symtavision’s tools, building on its proprietary intellectual property, focus on Under the Hood (UTH) technology around increasingly important software integration and timing analysis in the chassis, powertrain, body, and driver assistance domains as well as in-vehicle networking.

    This acquisition fits perfectly into Luxoft’s solution-based end-to-end offering strategy by expanding its embedded software expertise into a rapidly growing automotive segment. Traditionally, Luxoft has focused on the cockpit engagements involving Human Machine Interface (HMI), infotainment, navigation, autonomous driving features and telematics. As all of the cars’ elements are moving rapidly from being hardware to software-defined, Luxoft envisions future demand to be connected with UTH-focused opportunities and solutions addressing various challenges related to under the hood and back-end (cloud) system design, development, management and maintenance.

    As the automotive industry increasingly adopts and implements Advance Driver Assisted Systems (ADAS) and Driver Automation, the demand for tooling and expertise around real-time systems design and development creates a growing opportunity. Automotive industry is shifting into the era of ADAS and autonomous driving with every component of the car playing crucial role in safety, security, driver experience and efficiency of the vehicles. Luxoft sees numerous opportunities to create solutions for each of these segments. The acquisition of Symtavision addresses a critical need to have UTH systems operating safely and securely in real-time, as well as to manage all under the hood operations by means of the software, which is increasingly moving into that part of the vehicle.

    “We would like to extend a warm welcome to the Symtavision team,” said Luxoft Automotive Managing Director, Georg Doll. “We are excited about the areas of synergy between our two organizations. First, Symtavision’s customer base and range of solutions are highly complementary to those of Luxoft. Their tools and services are deployed at select leading premium and volume car manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers. It is also worth noting that a significant part of Symtavision’s revenue is derived from licenses, which is in line with Luxoft’s strategy.”

    “We are excited about the tremendous potential Luxoft offers for growing Symtavision solutions for the benefit of our existing and future customers,” said Symtavision CEO, Marek Jersak. “The increased software dependency in vehicles will require additional levels of computing performance and network communications far exceeding those of established vehicle systems. These systems need to execute a tremendous amount of functions in real-time, reliably and under stringent cost constraints. ADAS, for instance, is a disruptive technology that is fundamentally challenging the way automotive electrical engineering and software systems have been built and integrated in the past.”

    “We are delighted that Symtavision has been acquired by Luxoft. The areas of synergy between the two companies are clear since Symtavision’s customer base and its range of solutions are highly complementary to those of Luxoft. Symtavision has been one of the first companies in which we invested in 2006. Over the last ten years it has developed into the premier engineering company delivering tools for real-time analysis. We have been highly successful in our business and investments with Symtavision,” said Dr. Michael Brandkamp, Managing Director of High-Tech Gründerfonds.

    About Luxoft
    Luxoft Holding, Inc (NYSE:LXFT) is a leading provider of software development services and innovative IT solutions to a global client base consisting primarily of large multinational corporations. Luxoft’s software development services consist of core and mission critical custom software development and support, product engineering and testing, and technology consulting. Luxoft’s solutions are based on its proprietary products and platforms that directly impact its clients’ business outcomes and efficiently deliver continuous innovation. The Company develops its solutions and delivers its services from 27 dedicated delivery centers worldwide. It has over 10,500 employees across 31 offices in 17 countries in North America, Mexico, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, and South Africa. Luxoft is incorporated in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, has its operating headquarters office in Zug, Switzerland and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit https://www.luxoft.com

    Luxoft Holding, Inc
    Alina V. Plaia
    +1 212-964-9900
    ext. 2404 Vice-President, Global Communications
    IR@luxoft.com

    Patrick R. Corcoran
    +1 212-964-9900
    ext. 2453 Manager, Public Relations
    pcorcoran@luxoft.com

    About Symtavision
    Symtavision® provides market-leading tools and associated consulting/engineering services for system-level timing design and timing verification – from early-phase estimation to final verification. Symtavision’s tools are used extensively in automotive electronics with support provided for key industry standards and automotive sectors including Chassis, Body, Powertrain, ADAS and in-vehicle networking. Symtavision is headquartered in Braunschweig, Germany with offices in Munich, Germany; Cologne, Germany and Troy, Michigan, and is supported by a network of distributors. Symtavision is an AUTOSAR development member. For more information visit: https://www.symtavision.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. Michael Brandkamp
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49 228 823001-00
    Fax: +49 228 823000-50
    E-mail: info@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • Scopis GmbH awarded the Fraunhofer Start-up Prize

    Scopis GmbH awarded the Fraunhofer Start-up Prize

    On Tuesday, 23 February 2016, Scopis GmbH was awarded the Fraunhofer Startup Prize. The prize was established by the Fraunhofer Venture together with the High-Tech Gründerfonds and is worth 5,000 euros. It recognizes the current success and phenomenal development of the Fraunhofer spin-off on the international market for medical technology. Scopis GmbH is now active in more than 50 countries with its surgical navigation systems for minimally invasive surgery in the specialist areas of ENT, CMF, neuro and spine surgery.

    The Fraunhofer Start-up Prize developed out of Fraunhofer‘s new spin-off and investment strategy. It honours a spin-off that is active and successful on the market and whose products and services provide a direct benefit to society. “Together with the High-Tech Gründerfonds, we want to support spin-off projects inside the Fraunhofer Society and acknowledges exceptional start-up activity,“ says Thomas Doppelberger, head of the Fraunhofer Venture, explaining the goals of the new Start-up Prize. Prof. Dr. Alfred Gossner, board member of the Fraunhofer Society, and Dr. Alex von Frankenberg, director of the High-Tech Gründerfonds, presented the Fraunhofer Start-up Prize, endowed with 5,000 euros, to Scopis GmbH on Tuesday, 23 February 2016, at the Fraunhofer Symposium “Netzwert”.

    Surgical Navigation Systems offer greater safety for patients and surgeons

    Scopis GmbH was founded in 2010 out of the Berliner Zentrum für Mechatronische Medizintechnik (BZMM), a cooperation between the Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik IPK and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The medical technology firm develops and sells endoscopic and microscopic navigation systems for use in minimally invasive surgery. With Scopis Target Guided Surgery technology, the surgeon can determine the target and the path for the intervention even before he begins the operation. An acoustic signal provides a warning as soon as the surgeon deviates from the planned path. At the same time, a new “Augmented Reality” function visualizes planning information and the path guide. This enables the operating doctor to find and remove the diseased tissue without damaging nerves or other critical structures. The operation can be conducted less invasively and the healing process is therefore accelerated. The navigation system also facilitates the training of new surgeons.

    “One of the most important factors in the success of Scopis was the gaining of the Fraunhofer Society and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin as partners and shareholders. This enabled us to license the unique and innovative technologies that we have further developed and integrated into novel interdisciplinary products,” explains Bartosz Kosmecki, founder and CEO of Scopis GmbH.

    Establishment of Scopis in the international market and extension of application areas

    “We are very happy to be able to develop successful companies together with Fraunhofer Venture, the Fraunhofer institutes and researchers from internationally leading technologies,” explains Dr. Alex von Frankenberg with regard to the decision in favour of the medical company Scopis. Professor Eckart Uhlmann, institute head of Fraunhofer IPK, is particularly happy about the founding of Scopis out of his institute: “With the development of new products as well as the securing of the innovations with a strong IP strategy, Scopis GmbH has extended the initial application area of ENT surgery to CMF, neuro and spine surgery, thus aiming to achieve even further market penetration. The Fraunhofer Society wishes to honour these exceptional scientific and entrepreneurial activities with the Start-up Prize.”

    About Scopis GmbH
    Scopis® GmbH, based in Germany, develops and manufactures surgical planning and navigation systems for ENT, maxillofacial, neuro and spine surgery. Scopis was founded in 2010 out of Charité – Universitätsmedizin and the Fraunhofer Society in Berlin. Scopis Target
    Guide Surgery (TGS®) is a unique “next-generation“ solution for navigated endoscopic surgery that offers surgeons highly advanced image guidance and visualization capabilities. Scopis TGS® is provided by the Scopis Hybrid Navigation® system, that is the first clinical
    navigation platform to offer electromagnetic, optical and simultaneous hybrid tracking technology in a single integrated control unit. Scopis operates in more than 50 countries.

    About Fraunhofer IPK
    The Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik IPK is involved in applied research and development for the entire spectrum of industrial tasks – from product development to the production process and the reuse of products all the way
    to the design and management of factory facilities. In addition, the institute considers it particularly important to also make production technology solutions applicable outside the industrial sector, for example in the areas of medicine, mobility and security.

    About the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
    The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is the leading organization for applied research in Europe. Its research activities are conducted by 67 institutes and research units at locations throughout Germany. The Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft employs a staff of 24,000, who work with an annual research budget totalling more than 2.1 billion euros.

    About Fraunhofer Venture
    As the partner of spin-offs from the Fraunhofer Society, Fraunhofer institutes, industry and investors, Fraunhofer Venture supports scientists with links to Fraunhofer on their way to establishing their own technology companies. In matters relating to technology marketing and business models, your contact at the Fraunhofer Society headquarters is the Fraunhofer Venture. Since 1999, more than 300 companies have been successfully founded out of Fraunhofer research topics.

    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
    Stefanie Zillikens – Leiterin Öffentlichkeitsarbeit / Head of Public Relations
    Schlegelstraße 2 – 53113 Bonn
    Tel: +49 228 823001-07 – Fax: +49 228 823000-50
    s.zillikens@htgf.de
    https://www.htgf.de/en/

     

  • Baimos Technologies GmbH announces seven-digit funding round

    Baimos Technologies, a company specialising in secure mobile communication and authorisation management for smart devices, has announced today a seven-digit investment from HCS Beteiligungsgesellschaft, High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF) and Bayern Kapital, to support future company growth.

    Baimos Technologies is a developer of award winning BlueID device authentication and authorisation technology which enables objects to securely connect and interact with smart phones and smart watches.

    Mr Philipp Spangenberg, Baimos Technologies’ CEO, commented: “Within the growing Internet of Things (IoT) market where objects are connected to smart devices, the BlueID technology is offering a cutting-edge security solution. We are very pleased with our partnership with HCS Beteiligungsgesellschaft and will benefit from their strategic planning and expertise. The invested funds will be allocated for further growth of the company, consequently multiplying our success.”

    The mission of Baimos Technologies is to deliver trust and confidence between any object and any mobile smart device when an increasing need for a fast and secure connection between smart devices and objects becomes an everyday challenge. The BlueID product aims to be a future security stamp in IoT and reflects the recent Gartner (an American research and advisory firm providing IT-related insight) prediction that IoT will change cybersecurity forever, ultimately leading to the company’s expansion. BlueID software makes it possible to receive sensitive authorisations in a secure manner and to verify them locally and offline independent of the location and time, which makes it a first choice technology specifically for growning tech trends such as Connected Cars, Smart Home and Sharing Economy.

    The strength of BlueID is its patent protected offline functionality which ensures local communication, authentication and authorisation, all within one second. BlueID provides strong security for digital keys stored on the smartphone but does not require secure elements on the smartphone side. It works seamlessly with communication standards like Bluetooth Smart, NFC, Wi-Fi and the mobile Internet which ultimately places it well in the rapidly developing IoT and M2M market.

    Mr Hans-Christian Semmler, Managing Director of the HCS Beteiligungsgesellschaft GmbH, commented:“We are very optimistic about the future development of Baimos Technologies and their product BlueID in the world of IoT. We are convinced that not only a rapidly growing number of mobile applications of this technology will operate in the near future, but additionally an increasing number of individuals will have all their access permissions saved on their smartphone via BlueID “digital key ring”. With this in mind, Baimos Technologies fits perfectly into our portfolio and we are looking forward to contributing to their success.”

    Media contact:
    Lisa Meisterjahn
    lisa@clarity.pr
    +49 (0)176 20396820

    About Baimos Technologies GmbH
    Baimos Technologies specialises in secure mobile communication and authorisation management for smart devices to interact securely with embedded sensors and actuators locally around them. The team of trusted computing specialists develops the software-based authorisation platform BlueID which turns any mobile app and smartphone into a secure mobile key for real things like doors, cars, barriers, cabinets and the Internet of Things (IoT).

    Baimos Technologies provides cross-disciplinary expertise between computer science and electrical engineering to guarantee resource-saving encryption procedures, reliable component identification and scalable permission management for practical interaction of embedded systems with their smart environment. Baimos Technologies works with partners like Marquardt, Emerson Network Power, eQ-3/ELV, Microsoft, Novero, Valtech and others. Its list of customers includes Audi, Daimler, Sixt, DORMA, LG and others. Check out https://www.blueid.net for further information.

    About HCS Beteiligungsgesellschaft GmbH
    HCS Beteiligungsgesellschaft GmbH is a German investment company which, for the past ten years, has been focusing on companies that are faced with unique business challenges. They have invaluable expertise in supporting organisations during the phase of the initial market entry, globalisation, new business development and business succession. Within their investment strategy, HCS Beteiligungsgesellschaft GmbH strongly focuses on organisations that are distinguished by their technological expertise and their market potential. On top of their financial contribution, HCS Beteiligungsgesellschaft GmbH have extensive experience in the management and consulting of large and medium-sized companies – they support organisations in their strategic planning and concrete implementation steps.

    About Bayern Kapital GmbH
    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 €210m in 235 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

    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).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Holger Heinen
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    +49 228 823001-00
    info@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • SeNostic GmbH raises seed round for the clinical development of a novel technology for the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases

    The diagnostics company SeNostic GmbH announced today the closing of a seed round of financing led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). SeNostic will set out to develop and commercialize a reliable differential diagnostic test for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy-bodies. Currently, the company is validating its SeedCycler platform technology that makes use of highly specific, directly disease-defining biomarkers. The proceeds of this round will be used to deliver proof of feasibility backed by a broad range of clinical data utilizing an advanced prototype.

    Approximately 15 million people are currently suffering from neurodegenerative disorders in the EU and the USA alone, with approximately 3 million new cases each year. Today’s diagnostic procedures are mainly based on neurological and psychological examination of suspected cases, which however remain unreliable even when supported by advanced diagnostic procedures. As a result, an accurate diagnosis is often only possible in late stages of the diseases. Without the ready availability of reliable, directly disease-related diagnostics, affected patients cannot be optimally treated, and would profit only to a limited extent from future therapies. In contrast, an accurate, early diagnosis would allow to influence the disease course therapeutically and provide optimal health-care for patients.

    SeNostic’s patented technology called SeedProfiling exploits specific protein deposits present in the nervous tissue of affected patients, which begin to form 10 – 15 years prior to the manifestation of the first disease symptoms. These deposits are at the heart of the disease definitions and causally linked to the diseases. At a low concentration, fragments of these deposits, so-called seeds, are also present in the lumbar liquor of patients. SeNostic uses its SeedCycler platform – a proprietary amplification technology – for the standardized detection and characterization of these biomarkers in order to make them accessible for accurate clinical liquor-diagnostics. Based on previous clinical results, the overall accuracy is expected to exceed 95%.

    Dr. Thorsten Lührs, founder and managing director, explains: „SeNostic’s focus on seed biomarkers is the key factor for the remarkably high reliability of our technology-driven approach. Seed biomarkers are present at very early stages of the most important neurodegenerations, but not in healthy people. The precise differentiation and classification of diverse neurodegenerations with a single test offers an equally high benefit for clinical diagnostics and for therapy development. Accordingly, we will offer our technology early on for the stratification of clinical trial groups and for the accurate tracing of disease progression in single patients.”

    “Neurodegenerations are often hard to distinguish clinically. In fact, several recent studies showed that up to one third of today’s Alzheimer diagnoses are incorrect, and that other neurodegenerations are present instead. Particularly, Alzheimer‘s disease with Lewy-bodies und Parkinson’s can have overlapping symptoms at early disease stages“, adds Dr. Christiane Ritter, founder and future CSO. „Such misdiagnoses not only reduce the quality of life of affected patients and their relatives, but also cause substantial excess costs for the healthcare system. In dementia with Lewy-bodies, the second most prevalent dementia, side effects of wrong medication can even have dramatic adverse consequences. SeNostic hence thrives towards providing a tool that ensures reliable diagnosis at the earliest time point possible.“

    Dr. Christian Jung, Senior Investment Manager with High-Tech Gründerfonds, comments: „SeNostic’s SeedCycler platform is unique by its ability to amplify disease-identifying seeds in patient’s liquor samples. This sets their technology apart from the majority of other pursued approaches, which rely on non-causally disease-linked biomarkers, like for example immunological biomarkers. The test that SeNostic will offer can easily be implemented in the daily clinical practice and would be a cost attractive option for the early recognition of for example Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease – including decisive advantages in terms of sensitivity and specificity.”

    In the course of this seed round, the company will set up the resources at its new business location in Hannover Medical Park. The company has previously been supported by a pre-seed financing granted by the Mittelständischen Beteiligungsgesellschaft (MBG) of the state of Lower Saxony.

    About SeNostic
    SeNostic GmbH, founded in 2014, is a Braunschweig-based diagnostics company with a focus on the development and marketing of novel technologies for the diagnosis of neurodegenerations – addressing a global billion € market.

    The patented SeedProfiling technology forms the core of the company. It has the goal to achieve the reliable differential diagnosis of severe neurodegenerative disorders by the standardized detection and characterization of pathological seed biomarkers. For this purpose, the company develops the SeedCycler, an analytical platform for the amplification, characterization and quantification of diverse seed biomarkers based on their biophysical properties.

    Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy-bodies, Parkinson’s disease and Pick’s disease are the most common neurodegenerations, which globally affect millions of patients. In developing neurodegenerations, diverse proteins form deposits in the nervous tissue. These have the capability to amplify and spread by the self-templating recruitment of additional molecules – a process also referred to as ‘seeding’. In fully healthy individuals, no seeding-active protein deposits are present in the nervous tissue. Without reliable, directly disease-related diagnostics, patients often cannot be treated optimally, and also could not adequately profit from future therapies. This is particularly true for the earliest of pre-clinical disease phases.

    Notice: The SeedProfiling technology and the SeedCycler platform are not yet commercially available and are under development.

    Contact SeNostic:
    Dr. Thorsten Lührs
    Tel. : +49 (0)531 6149 373
    Email: public-relations@SeNostic.com
    www.senostic.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 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 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. Christian Jung
    Tel.: +49 (0)228 823 00145
    info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
    www.htgf.de

  • Venture Capital: Evonik invests in SYNOSTE, a medical technology start-up in Düsseldorf and Helsinki

    • High-tech implant will make leg-lengthening treatment easier and less painful
    • New medical application with high performance polymer VESTAKEEP® PEEK from Evonik
    • Technology estimated to be available on the market in 2017

    Evonik Industries has invested in the start-up company SYNOSTE Oy via its venture capital arm and now holds a minority share in the medical technology company based in Düsseldorf (Germany) and Helsinki (Finland). The investment was made as part of a series A round, together with High-Tech Gründerfonds, two Finnish venture capital funds Finnvera and Lifeline Ventures as well as Finnish business angels. The overall volume of the financing round lies in the single-digit million euro range.

    SYNOSTE Oy, founded in 2012, is a spin-off of the Aalto University in Espoo (Finland). Together with Orton, a hospital specialized in orthopedics and located in Helsinki, SYNOSTE developed a high-tech implant for a minimally invasive treatment of leg length discrepancy, which can lead to chronic back pain and osteoarthritis in the long term. The bone of the shorter leg is lengthened in a gentle way over the period of several months. For the patient the implant represents easier treatment with less pain and lower risk compared to established methods. “Medical technology is one of the strategic growth fields of Evonik,” says Bernhard Mohr, head of Venture Capital at Evonik. “At the same time, we have outstanding materials competence in high performance polymers, which makes SYNOSTE an excellent fit for Evonik.”

    The start-up is expected to launch the implant on the market in 2017 with the name NitinailTM. Currently, the product is heading to the CE approval procedure that is a prerequisite for the sale of medical technology applications in Europe. “We are happy to have found a strategic partner in Evonik, who is supporting us in this important phase with its material competence,” explains Harri Hallila, CEO and co-founder of SYNOSTE. With the funds from the current financing round, SYNOSTE is primarily aiming to move forward to the clinical tests. The company intends to develop its Düsseldorf site into the European sales center due to its good infrastructure and location. SYNOSTE currently has nine employees.

    VESTAKEEP® PEEK, a high performance polymer from Evonik, will also be used in the implant. Due to its excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility, VESTAKEEP® PEEK is well established in implant, dental and medical technologies. “By investing in SYNOSTE we hope to open up a new, extremely innovative application for VESTAKEEP® PEEK and enhance our business and expertise in the field of medical technology,” says Matthias Kottenhahn, who heads the High Performance Polymers Business Line at Evonik. SYNOSTE’s implant technology does not just offer potential in leg-lengthening, but also for deformities in arms, fingers and toes as well as spine and craniomaxillofacial surgery.

    “We are extremely pleased about this additional joint investment with our fund investor Evonik,” highlights Michael Brandkamp, managing director of the German seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds. “It is proof of our excellent collaboration and shows the potential added value that fund investments can create for our investors.”

    Better quality of life for patients

    There are various reasons why legs might be different in length—it could occur from birth or as a result of an accident or cancer. According to estimates, some 30,000 people worldwide receive treatment per year. The standard treatment method involves the use of an external fixator—a construction made of steel which is fixed to the bone and the outside of the leg. This method does, however, pose the risk of infection, and it is also painful and uncomfortable.

    The implant offered by SYNOSTE is similar to an intramedullary nail and is fixed to the bone after the bone has been cut. During the treatment period, which lasts for several months, it is extended in small increments of 0.5 millimeters, like a telescope, by electromagnetic means. This causes fresh bone substance to steadily form between the two halves of the bone. Using this method, it is possible to increase the length of the bone by several centimeters.

    An advantage of the implant from SYNOSTE is its high mechanical stability. SYNOSTE targets to allow patients to bear full weight on their leg at an early stage in the treatment process. Furthermore, it significantly reduces the risk of infection compared to a fixator, and requires shorter hospitalization.

    As part of its venture capital activities, Evonik intends to invest a total of €100 million in highly promising start-ups with innovative technologies and in leading, specialized venture capital funds. The regional focus areas are Europe, the USA, and Asia. Evonik currently has investments in eight start-ups and four funds. For more information see https://venturing.evonik.com/.

    About the 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, 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).

    Company information Evonik
    Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals. Profitable growth and a sustained increase in the value of the company form the heart of Evonik’s corporate strategy. Its activities focus on the key megatrends health, nutrition, resource efficiency and globalization. Evonik benefits specifically from its innovative prowess and integrated technology platforms.

    Evonik is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2014 more than 33,000 employees generated sales of around €12.9 billion and an operating profit (adjusted EBITDA) of about €1.9 billion.

    Disclaimer
    In so far as forecasts or expectations are expressed in this press release or where our statements concern the future, these forecasts, expectations or statements may involve known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results or developments may vary, depending on changes in the operating environment. Neither Evonik Industries AG nor its group companies assume an obligation to update the forecasts, expectations or statements contained in this release.

  • Series A Financing: POSpulse receives seven-digit investment

    • Intermedia and Mobile Ventures invest in POSpulse 
    • Further growth to be boosted by international expansion and enhancement of analytics platform
    • POSpulse gathers shopper insights via smartphone in the stationary retail sector

    The point of sale analytics provider POSpulse (www.pospulse.com) once again attracts new investors: The young Berlin startup receives a seven-digit investment in a Series A financing round. Among the investors are Medien Union GmbH, one of Germany’s leading media companies, cellular provider Drillisch AG and further business angels. In 2014, POSpulse already acquired financing by the biggest German early-stage investor High-Tech-Gründerfonds. Originally, the startup was founded under the umbrella of etventure.

    The holding company Medien Union that operates within the area of specialist media, retail and online/mobile services is investing through its subsidiary Intermedia GmbH. Drillisch AG is getting on board with their venture capital company Mobile Ventures GmbH. Besides being present in the home markets Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the financing will enable product launches on an international scale, in 2016. Furthermore, the company owned market research and analytics tool will be enhanced.

    Real time market research at the point of sale

    Consumer goods manufacturers and retailers have to know their customers in order to address them successfully during the buying process. With its innovative concept POSpulse analyzes shopper insights at the point of sale. Hereby, consumer perceptions and shopping behavior are gathered in real time through the mobile app ShopScout. Afterwards this information is translated into easily comprehensible implications for industry and retail decision-makers.

    „As a venture capital company we are always searching for innovative and sustainable business models. The app-based analytics technology of POSpulse provides retailers and producers with completely new insights regarding the buying behavior of their customers and allows transparency which otherwise can only be accomplished in ecommerce. This approach and its results has convinced us as an investor,” explains Juliane Hahn, Investment Manager at Mobile Ventures.

    In addition, Dominic Blank, Founder and CEO of POSpulse, outlines: „We are very happy to have found well-known investors that once again confirm our mission. This financing represents an important foundation for our future sustainable business development. Thanks to the newly acquired capital our analytics tool will be even more efficient and intuitive for customers, leading to maximized revenue for them at the point of sale. Already today we are faster, more flexible and transparent than established market research institutes”.

    About POSpulse
    POSpulse is the leading provider of crowd-based data collection and analysis of point of sale activities of retailers and consumer goods manufacturers in Europe. More than 10.000 scouts generate data and fotos from the point of sale on behalf of POSpulse. The data collection about real consumers provide retailers and producers of FMCGs with real time feedback about the shopping experience on location, e.g. the product placement, secondary placements or competitive insights. POSpulse started operating on the 1st of January 2014 and quickly gained traction with clients like Procter & Gamble, Beiersdorf, Osram, SAB Miller and tegut. The company’s headquarters is in Berlin. Current investors are etventure and the High-Tech Gründerfonds.

    For further press information, interview requests and photos please contact:
    Elena Bergmann
    PR & Marketing Manager
    POSpulse GmbH                                                               
    Büro Ackerhöfe
    Ackerstr. 14-15
    10115 Berlin
    +49 171 – 7016 208
    elena.bergmann@pospulse.com 
    www.pospulse.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).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Chiara Sommer
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel: + 49 228 / 82 30 01-00
    info@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • The HTGF team wishes you a Merry Christmas!

    htgf_weihnachten

    Don’t keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone. Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods.
    Alexander Graham Bell, British and American Speech Therapist, Inventor and Large-scale Manufacturer

    Disruptive innovations are rarely reached via signposted routes. Every day, start-up entrepreneurs and individuals making their way in the tech ecosystem face the challenge of taking the right path. When you do choose a route that is truly undiscovered, it’s important to have strong partners at your side; collaborators who share your goal of supporting tech start-ups, and who maybe even help them to achieve success by setting up crash barriers or presenting visions of how things could be.

    The German tech start-up scene has achieved continued positive growth this year with the contribution you have made, and that contribution has also enabled our portfolio companies to take new paths. Thank you for your confidence and collaboration, as well as your valuable support. We want to work with you to ensure the German start-up scene continues its success into next year, and we’re looking forward to taking new, unbeaten paths to achieve this goal.

    We hope that you have plenty of time and relaxation with your loved ones over the holiday period, so you can replenish your energy and strength to meet next year’s challenges. We wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas and a positive and successful 2016!

    Best wishes, HTGF-Team

  • SimScale secures Series A financing round led by Union Square Ventures for its web-based simulation technology

    SimScale, the web-based simulation company, today announced it has closed its Series A funding round, led by Union Square Ventures with support from Earlybird Venture Capital and angel investor Axel Bichara. The funding will be used to accelerate its vision of bringing high-performance 3D simulation technology to designers and engineers everywhere.

    Companies use SimScale’s platform to virtually test their designs in-browser, improving their product development process. With SimScale, small and medium-sized teams are now able to get instant access to powerful simulation technology and reliable analysis results without the need to worry about large upfront investment.

    David Heiny, managing director of SimScale, said, “”The vision of SimScale is to make simulation a standard tool in the software stack of every engineer or designer that can benefit from it to design a better product. Our approach is to focus on removing the barriers of traditional simulation tools such as cost, access and know-how by delivering a collaborative, web based simulation environment based on a flexible pricing model.”

    Albert Wenger, managing partner at Union Square Ventures, said, ” Simulation technology has had a massive impact on how aircraft and cars are built by high end manufacturers. SimScale is bringing these capabilities to anyone in the world with a browser and an Internet connection. Small to mid-size businesses and even individual engineers can now leverage their investment in CAD technologies by accessing SimScale’s simulation platform.”

    This Series A funding round follows a seed funding round led by Earlybird Venture Capital in November 2014.

    Today SimScale has also announced the launch of Community Plan, making SimScale’s products available for free, for everyone. Community Plan users can share their simulation projects, fostering an environment of mutually-beneficial knowledge-sharing to optimize product designs.

    About SimScale
    SimScale is a provider of powerful web-based 3D simulation technology which is changing the way engineers, designers and students design products. With a founding team of mechanical engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians, SimScale’s goal is to enable everyone to design better products faster and cheaper by putting engineering simulation tools into the hands of a broader range of users.

    Founded in 2012 and based in Munich, Germany, SimScale is led by five founders: David Heiny,  Vincenz Dölle, Alexander Fischer, Johannes Probst, and Anatol Dammer. SimScale has 55,000 users worldwide.

    For further information about SimScale, please visit www.simscale.com

    About Union Square Ventures
    Union Square Ventures is a venture capital firm based in New York City. USV is a small collegial partnership that manages $1B across six funds. USV invests in companies that have the potential to fundamentally transform important markets.

    About Earlybird Venture Capital
    Established in 1997, Earlybird has raised over €700 million ($900 million) in fund commitments. They have backed more than 100 companies, some of which have sparked significant innovations in business and technology and resulted in large scale ($1bn+) IPOs and trade sales. Earlybird backs European companies with global ambitions and their active portfolio currently includes 34 companies across the consumer Internet and enterprise services space

    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 500,000 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 Technology, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE Color, 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. Ansgar Kirchheim
    Investment Manager
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Phone: + 49 228 823001-00
    info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • Medical Start-up Bomedus wins new investors to close a 2.5 Mio. € Series B round

    In realizing the next step of its growth strategy, Bonn-based start-up Bomedus has strengthened its equity position, obtaining more than 2.5 million Euros through two new investors: NRW.Bank, the state development bank of North Rhine-Westphalia, and private investor Dr. Christoph Schug, financial expert and serving on the supervisory board of several companies. The funding will be mainly used to extend the product portfolio and to foster commercialization internationally. The new capital will be mainly used to launch further medical products to treat chronic pain and to foster further clinical trials. Other shareholders of the company are the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), the Pre-Seed Fund (PSF) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoeft, Bonn.

    “The team of Bomedus impressed us with its exciting technology platform, which suites the treatment of various types of pain and addresses large market opportunities”, Dr. Thomas Raueiser, Senior Investment Manager at NRW.Bank. Additionally, also Dr. Christoph Schug is extremely satisfied with the closing of the investment. “There is a huge potential for growth in the healthcare sector especially in the industrialized nations. Due to the impact of the ongoing demographic changes as well as the increasing health awareness of individuals, the need for alternative chronic pain treatments will continue to grow in the foreseeable future”.

    “We are very delighted to have successfully won the NRW.Bank and Dr. Schug as strong and competent partners, who in line with our existing shareholders know the healthcare market very well and focus on growth. The strengthening of equity, the comprehensive expertise as well as a professional team makes us well prepared for the near future”, says Dr. Johannes Weigl, founder and CEO of Bomedus.

    Innovation in the Treatment of Chronic Pain
    Bomedus GmbH is an innovative health-care company that develops medical devices that decrease effectively chronical pain of patients. The whole product portfolio is based on the mechanism of an electro-therapeutic method, the so-called Small Fiber Matrix Stimulation (SFMS). The new technology enables patients for the first time to achieve a modulation of the pathologically altered neuronal impulses non-invasively, which has emerged trough the course of chronic pain. This is a prerequisite for sustainable pain relief or even pain elimination. So far no competing technologies exist that are able to obtain a significant pain relief non-invasively.

    High Market Potential
    More than 6 million people in Germany suffer from life debilitating chronic pain [1]. The economic costs of this disease are considerably high, total disability and early retirement are the main consequences. It is expected that the annual expenses of the German healthcare system amount to approximately 6 to 8% of total expenditures [1]. The existing medical treatment options are limited, due to severe side effects of pharmacological therapeutics.

    The medical products of the Bomedus GmbH can close this gap, reducing significantly the chronic pain of patients and decreasing direct and indirect medical expenses of health insurance companies. The new technology of Small Fiber Matrix Stimulation is integrated into a textile band, which can easily be applied by the patient at home.

    About Bomedus GmbH
    The Bomedus GmbH is a spin-off of the University Clinic of Bonn. Johannes Weigl founded Bomedus GmbH to treat chronic pain with a holistic approach, while Tobias Weigl used the possibilities of the Bonn located Life Science Incubator (LSI) to continue exploring the mechanism of the Small Fiber Matrix Stimulation. At the LSI laboratories, Dr. Weigl researched the scientific applications of neuromodulation, which has been tested positive in clinical studies. “Bomedus has mainly emerged through the spin-off at the LSI in Bonn, proving that the common approach of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research in NRW and other private investors to commercialize scientific projects is successful”, says Dr. Jörg Fregien, CEO of the LSI Pre-Seed Fonds GmbH.

    Source:
    [1] Kopf A, Gjoni E. Multimodale Therapieprogramme für chronische Schmerzen. Anaesthesist 2015; 64: 95-107.

    Contact:
    Dr. Johannes Weigl
    CEO
    Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2
    53175 Bonn
    Phone: +49 228 227790-26
    Johannes.Weigl@bomedus.com
    www.bomedus.com

    About NRW.Bank
    NRW.BANK Corporate Finance, the investment arm of the state development bank of Northrhine-Westphalia, is an investment unit specialized in direct- and fund investments into small and medium enterprises. The unit prefers to invest in seed, start-up, early, mid and later stage ventures, buy-outs and spin-offs. It seeks to provide private equity and venture capital financing to enterprises that focus on established industry sectors and companies active in IT, software and media technologies as well as in life sciences and cleantech. NRW.BANK Corporate Finance is based in Düsseldorf, Germany.

    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 500,000 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 Technology, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE Color, 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
    Kay Balster
    Investment Manager
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Phone: + 49 228 823001-12
    info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • figo GmbH – FinTech startup successfully completes financing round

    figo GmbH, Europe’s first banking service provider, successfully completed another financing round. In addition to High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF), the new investment syndicate consists of Carlo Koelzer, founder of professional e-trading platform 360T, and Joerg Heilig, Vice President of Engineering at Google. This financing round sets a milestone for the Hamburg-based FinTech startup. The team is now set to strengthen the German market position and to capture the financial sector in Europe, taking advantage of newly emerging regulatory Standards.

    Europe’s foremost banking service provider delivers its service offer through a proprietary API. The figo API easily integrates with third-party systems, allowing clients to link their products and services to over 3,100 banks and other financial service providers. Figo’s sophisticated ‘Banking-as-a-Service’ platform connects modern services with more than 50 million online banking accounts.

    “figo has recognized the opportunities arising from regulatory changes and the requirements they entail. figo not only provides an established banking API, but an entire banking services platform, supporting a vast number of innovative banking solutions. I believe in the significance and the positive impact of the change in this sector. Hence my decision to invest”, states Carlo Koelzer.

    As a founder of the e-trading platform 360T, Carlo Koelzer is a main player in the digitalization of the financial and the FinTech sector. As such, he is well aware of the potential inherent in the financial industry and of figo’s pioneering rôle.

    “We are very proud to be able to close this financing round successfully. It means so much more than just additional growth capital. The support of such renowned investors confirms the increasing significance of our business model. During the coming eighteen months, we will focus on developing our products and strengthening our presence in the European markets. Additionally, we are actively seeking further partners and fostering innovation within the financial industry”, says André M. Bajorat, CEO of figo GmbH.

    “In addition to Joerg Heilig’s expertise, we can benefit from Carlo Koelzer’s network and his reputation in the FinTech sector”, explains Heiko Rahlfs, CFO at figo GmbH. “Moreover, HTGF remains optimistic about our company’s development prospects and continues to be supportive and involved.”

    “The figo team has been doing an outstanding job. We are certain that the growth achieved during the past year will not only continue, but will gather pace”, affirms Stefan Wendel, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF.

    For further information about figo, please visit www.figo.io.

    Do you have any questions? Please do not hesitate to contact us:

    figo GmbH
    Stella Regna
    Head of PR
    Phone: +491797504310
    eMail: stella.regna@figo.me

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests risk capital in young, promising technology companies, who convert promising research results into enterprise. With the help of seed finance the start-ups should carry out the R&D right through to the production of a prototype or a “Proof of Concept” or market launch. Each receives 500,000 Euro from the fund initially; in total up to two million Euro per company are available. Investors in the Public-Private Partnership are the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology), the KfW Banking group and the following 17 businesses 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 a total fund available of around 576 million EUR (272 million EUR Fund I and 304 million EUR Fund II).

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Stefan Wendel
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel: + 49 228 / 82 30 01-00
    Fax: + 49 228 / 82 30 00-50
    info@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

     

  • Soley GmbH: A consortium of Business Angels invests, together with HTGF, in Engineering Intelligence

    The Munich-based company, Soley GmbH, demonstrates how better decisions can be made, and more quickly, in engineering, even in complex situations. Soley is developing and marketing a new type of software for Engineering Analytics. A consortium of Business Angels has now invested in Soley GmbH, together with High-Tech Gründerfonds.

    Developers must understand and manage large quantities of data and dependencies in their processes and products more quickly. The quantity of information is growing with every product and variant. Experts spend lots of time and money collecting and processing important information, in order to, for example, save costs by using modular approaches. The corresponding analyses are prone to errors, cannot be repeated and the knowledge about them cannot be passed on easily – the necessary tools were lacking until now. With Soley, experts can now automate the processes of data preparation, analysis and visualization. The number of possible user fields is growing all the time, and here the software from Soley is saving time and money already. In variant management, portfolio management, change management and other areas of application, relevant information can be analyzed efficiently and prepared for making better decisions.

    “With our investors we have strong partners by our side, to bring the idea of Engineering Intelligence successfully forwards into the market,” say Dr. Bergen Helms and Dr. Maximilian Kissel, Executive Directors of Soley GmbH.

    Soley uses semantic graph technology, which allows it to combine a variety of data from the business. Unlike classic database queries, the users of Soley can formulate their analyses in almost normal language. The results of an analysis can be simply packaged in reusable blocks of knowledge and shared with colleagues. In this way a new approach to dealing with data and expert knowledge is possible in the business. “This innovative technology helps us to noticeably reduce our resource costs in decision-making,” says Dr. Josef Ponn, Platform Project Manager, JD Electronics & Drives at HILTI. Complex analyses can be realised even during meetings at the push of a button and be taken into account for important decisions.

    Since the spin-off from TU München in 2013, Soley has been able to win prestigious businesses as customers, from SMEs right through to large companies in a variety of sectors, such as automotive, electrical engineering, machine tools and packaging industries. In other areas too, there is growing interest in the new software technology for automating network analyses, including logistics, insurance, pharmaceuticals and media. Networks that can be analysed using Soley are everywhere. The potential for Engineering Intelligence is correspondingly high. With the new capital Soley wants to make products and processes more scalable, extend its partner network and win new customers.

    Dr. Guillem Sague, Senior Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds: “We see a great need for Intelligence solutions for technical product data. Precisely at the intersection between PDM systems and Business Intelligence solutions, that is where Soley Technology is deployed.”

    About High-Tech Gründerfonds
    High-Tech Gründerfonds invests risk capital in young, promising technology companies, who convert promising research results into enterprise. With the help of seed finance the start-ups should carry out the R&D right through to the production of a prototype or a “Proof of Concept” or market launch. Each receives 500,000 Euro from the fund initially; in total up to two million Euro per company are available. Investors in the Public-Private Partnership are the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology), the KfW Banking group and the following 17 businesses 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 a total fund available of around 576 million EUR (272 million EUR Fund I and 304 million EUR Fund II).

    Contact details:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Dr. Guillem Sagué
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel: + 49 228 / 82 30 01-00
    Fax: + 49 228 / 82 30 00-50
    info@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

    About Soley
    In 2013 Soley was founded from the Chair for Product Development at the Technical University of Munich. The four founders, engineers and computer scientists, were enthused by the idea of enabling quicker access to complex dependencies for engineers. At Soley, competence in innovative software technologies combines with broader engineering methodologies in a unique way. With its product range Soley provides solutions to formalise expert knowledge and to enable the use of that knowledge at the push of a button. More detailed information and test versions are available at the www.soley.io website.

    Contact details:
    Soley GmbH
    Dr. Maximilian Kissel
    Pöckinger Straße 10
    81475 München
    Tel.: +49 (0) 89 2314 1312-0
    info@soley.io
    www.soley.io

  • High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) concludes a cooperation agreement with one of China’s most successful investment banks – Donghai Securities (Donghai)

    China is the world’s largest and most dynamic market, and one that is difficult for small companies to develop. The Chinese investment bank Donghai Securities and the German HTGF have therefore concluded a cooperation agreement that will allow German high-tech companies to access this important market. Not only will Donghai contribute its expertise and excellent contacts, it will also facilitate German high-tech companies with capital resources for production set-up and market launch in China. HTGF can now offer selected portfolio companies access to capital and expertise, with the aim of helping them gain a foothold in the Asian market and grow significantly. Up to 300 million euros is targeted to be invested in German start-ups over the next five years with the help of Donghai and HTGF.

    Last year China and Germany announced to carry out the cooperation in “Industry 4.0″in the Action Outline for China-Germany Cooperation issued after the third round of China-Germany inter-governmental consultations. As a rapidly developing and urbanising country, China is looking to use information and communications technologies to make its fast expanding cities smarter and enable a better quality of life for their citizens. However, China is also facing great challenges. The demographic trend is leading to an aging society with a growing need for medical innovations. Urbanisation requires new energy and environmental concepts. Accordingly, Donghai is mainly focused on the life sciences, clean technology, Internet of Things (IOT) and Industry 4.0 sectors.

    Prof. Kai Desinger, initiator of the cooperation points out: “Life Science and Cleantech Start ups face the challenge to spend a lot of energy in market and production structure if they want to expand into foreign contries. Besides this product development is very capital-intensive. Without strong partners in the new market this challenge is not feasible. The asian market has a lot of potential. I am very happy, that I could initiate the cooperation with Donghai Securities.“

    Zhu Kemin, Chairman of Donghai, is confident about the agreement: “In cooperating with Europe’s most active seed fund, we see an outstanding opportunity to establish urgently needed technologies and business concepts from the fields of life sciences, clean tech and Industry 4.0. Thanks to our capital and market expertise, all participants win.”

    Dr. Michael Brandkamp, Managing Director of HTGF, adds: “In order to grow, start-ups must operate internationally. For many HTGF portfolio companies, it is very worthwhile to acquire access to Chinese markets and develop production in China. Both need a lot of capital and support from insiders who know how to do business in China. With Donghai, we have an excellent partner here.”

    The agreement was signed by Zhu Kemin and Dr. Michael Brandkamp within a signing ceremony which was led by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German chancellor Angela Merkel.

    HTGF sees considerable additional potential for its companies. Around 50 percent of the follow-up financing into HTGF’s portfolio already comes from abroad.
    In spite of significant competitive advantages, production, market access, and growth represent a task that is difficult to solve for young high-tech companies in Germany. Growth financing in Germany has become a bottleneck. Not only does China have large financial resources, but it also offers the opportunity to address really large market potential. All large German companies are active in China. The small ones, however, need strong local partners that not only understand business in China and the entire Asian market but also have the right contacts.

    These partners in China have understood for a long time that just a straight company transfer from Germany to China will not work. Instead, they want to expand the German location so that production, quality, and innovation can be permanently secured.

    For German early phase investors, the outstanding expertise of Donghai in the capital market also results in additional exit possibilities with major dynamic capital market (China mainland market and Hong Kong market). The chairman of the investment bank, Zhu Kemin, has recognized the cooperation potential. His team – led by Dr. Alex Liu, who, having earned his PhD at Cambridge, knows the European market and its culture – is professional and fully committed to the task. In Germany, Donghai is supported by entrepreneur and investor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Desinger, who initiated the agreement between Donghai and HTGF and will help and advise in the selection process and supports companies by making them fit for Donghai and the Chinese market.

    The first participation of a HTGF-financed company will soon be concluded.

    About Donghai Securities
    Donghai was established in 1993. It is one of the earliest founded investment banks operated with full licenses in China. Donghai is a front runner in equity investment, as well as in fixed-income, derivatives and other innovative businesses, managing assets amounting to EUR 30 billion (CNY 200 billion). Donghai has established solid relationships with many listed companies, investment banks and other financial institutions through equity investment and M&A businesses, realizing its wide industry coverage with abundant resources.

    About Kai Desinger
    Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai Desinger is a successful entrepreneur and manager. He provides consulting services for government agencies on the state and federal level regarding technology transfer, corporate financing and MedTech clusters. In 1999, he founded Celon AG medical and successfully sold it to the Japanese blue chip company Olympus Medical in 2005. In 2012, Mr. Desinger was awarded the title of honorary professor at the Technical University of Berlin. In 2005, he was appointed by the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to the Federal government initiative “Partners for Innovation”. Here, he was involved in the design of the current High-Tech Gründerfonds. In 2007, he was appointed as a committee member of the “High-Tech Gründerfonds” of KfW by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Industry and since 2009 he has been chairing the investment committee of the High-Tech Gründerfonds. In 2015, Mr. Desinger initiated the strategic cooperation between Donghai and HTGF.

    About High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF)
    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 500,000 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. Michael Brandkamp
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel: + 49 (228) 823 001-00
    Fax: + 49 (228) 823 000-50
    info@htgf.de

    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • Berlin-based market intelligence start-up IPlytics successfully closes seed funding with High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF)

    The leading German start-up for market intelligence and technology trending has successfully closed its first investment round, raising a 6-digit funding from High-Tech Gründerfonds. IPlytics develops a SaaS Solution (IPlytics Platform) that connects millions of data points on relevant market activities, helping companies to make better business decisions. With just a few clicks IPlytics Platform provides answers to critical questions such as: Who is the technology leader in a market segment? Who holds the relevant IP and how valuable is it? How does competition develop? Who are new market entrants or upcoming start-ups? What are new technology trends and who is investing?

    IPlytics uses big data frameworks to intelligently connect and visualize multiple data sources providing its users faster and better market insights. The user subscribes to IPlytics Platform on a monthly basis, logs-in to the tool with any browser and simply enters a keyword. With only one click IPlytics Platform provides visual results on the latest technology trends, market positions and company performances. IPlytics leverages the use of patent, standards and company data to calculate sophisticated statistical value and trend indicators. All data sources are publicly available and constantly updated to ensure transparency and up-to-date information. IPlytics cooperates with leading scientific research organizations such as Fraunhofer, TU Berlin, ParisTech or Northwestern Chicago to guarantee trustworthy and reliable data processing and data calculation methods.

    Founded as spin-off from TU Berlin‘s innovation economics department, the company has been profitable for the past year. „Teaming up with a strong investment partner is the strategic next step to evolve both in product development and international sales strategy“, states Dr. Tim Pohlmann, CEO and founder of IPlytics. Across the US, market intelligence solutions have already been well spotted. Californian start-up QUID, a major competitor of IPlytics, had recently closed an investment round of $39 million US dollars. The worldwide market potential for market intelligence tools is estimated to around $40 billion Euros per year* forecasting prosperous future possibilities for IPlytics. „In an increasingly complex world the demand for intelligent analytics solutions is constantly rising“, says Michael Wieser, investment manager at HTGF. „IPlytics delivers just that, by providing its users a quick, efficient and trustworthy tool, freeing them from tedious, time-consuming and costly analyses“.

    With data becoming more accessible and searchable, companies find it increasingly difficult to draw conclusions from the abundant information. However, in a quickly changing environment, companies need to make immediate business decisions. Pohlmann explains: „We are do not deliver just data, we provide business results. Soon data will become a commodity. What really matters is understanding it!“

    IPlytic‘s strategic decision to collaborate with HTGF is not solely financially but very substantially driven. „The participating industry companies within the investment fonds form a perfect match for us from a strategic business development perspective“, continues Pohlmann. IPlytics addresses clients from any tech-related branches ranging from Automobile or ICT to Biotech.

    About IPlytics
    IPlytics offers an online-based market intelligence tool (IPlytics Platform) to analyse technology trends, market developments and a company’s competitive position. The underlying big data algorithm enables an intelligent linking, processing and visualization of comprehensive data sources such as e.g. patents, M&A deals, industry alliances or standards. With IPlytics Platform, users can easily navigate, analyze, and drill down into information enabling in-depth market analyses or a long term monitoring of particular technologies or market segments.

    Press contact:
    Plytics GmbH
    Rosann Brandt
    brandt@iplytics.com
    www.iplytics.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 500,000 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
    Michael Wieser
    Senior Investment Manager
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn, Germany
    +49 228 82 300 100
    m.wieser@htgf.de
    www.htgf.de

     

  • High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) invests in the waiting service virtualQ®

    Waiting on hold is part of many call centers. The startup virtualQ® based in Berlin and Stuttgart puts an end to waiting on hold. HTGF supports this idea with a seed funding.

    Now customers do not have to wait on the phone anymore, not knowing when it is their turn. With the virtualQ® waiting service they can choose to wait virtually and hang up the phone. In addition, they can also line up with an App on their smart phone or using the Web. A push notification or text message is sent to inform the caller, when it is their turn. Thus they can be connected to an agent directly without waiting time. This saved time can be used productively, whereas call centers can improve their peak management and lower their line costs at the same time.

    Interested parties and first customers come from various industries such as energy, insurance, banking and telecommunications. virtualQ® is of interest to anyone operating a call center. The ROI is less than one year since line costs can be saved drastically. Call center pay a small fee for installation, a fee per saved waiting minute and an annual license fee. The service is free of charge for all callers.

    „This service of virtual waiting is the first of its kind worldwide“, stated the industry expert Ralf Mühlenhöver a few months ago. The jury of the popular IKT Innovation award is also convinced of the idea and awarded a prize to virtualQ®. With the seed investment from HTGF, virtualQ® will develop the product further, scale their team and realize the international market entry.

    Dr. Tanja Emmerling, Investment Manager of HTGF, says: “Companies using the virtualQ service can improve their customer service and cut costs at the same time. Several references prove that the team meets an urgent need with their solution.”

    About virtualQ GmbH
    virtualQ® was founded by three entrepreneurs in November 2014. Since then the company works on digitizing waiting on hold. virtualQ® is located in Berlin and Stuttgart.

    Contact:
    virtualQ GmbH
    Jens Kühnapfel
    Papellallee 78/79
    10437 Berlin
    +49 17672586742
    jens@virtualq.io
    www.virtualq.io

    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 500,000 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. Tanja Emmerling Phone:
    +49 228 82300-100
    t.emmerling@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • Change the way you think storage – cloudplan closed first financing round

    Hamburg based cloudplan develops a next generation file storage solution that can replace central storage based products such as dropbox™, local NAS (Network Attached Storage) etc. To accelerate further development and market entry a first round of financing has been closed with OP Advisory Services GmbH and High-Tech Gruenderfonds.

    Led by an experienced team that has successfully built up other companies in the past such as Telecom Carrier Broadnet AG (IPO 2000, tradesale 2006), cloudplan is now implementing a new concept for the multi-billion dollar storage market for business customers and taking advantage of the founder`s experience and knowledge for this target group.

    Frank Bruegmann, CEO cloudplan: “We are developing an intelligent, autonomous file storage solution for the business market that has the potential to disrupt existing products such as cloudstorage, VPN, backup, NAS and comparable solutions. The customer is seeking a simple to operate platform, that is highly available, protected against unauthorized external access and can be used without special IT knowledge. We will entireley fulfill these requirements!”

    Dr. Kirchheim, Investment Manager HTGF: „We see great potential in this rapidly growing market segment in which a simple solution, that also ensures the data ownership, is still missing.”

    Dr. Marcus Opitz, OP Advisory Services: „An innovative product created by an experienced team has convinced me to invest”.

    About cloudplan GmbH
    cloudplan develops a software-as-a-service application, connecting PCs and servers of a company to a low cost and highly available data storage network. Companies can build their private network storage, organize backups and integrate cloud storage without special IT expertise. All network stations are found automatically without further configuration and connect directly, whether on the local network or globally on the Internet. Companies gain maximum availability and reliability at minimum cost. cloudplan GmbH has its headquarters in Hamburg. The founders Frank Brügmann and Matthias Krueger are an experienced management team with a successful track record including IPO. 12 software developers are currently working on the implementation of the innovative product. Among the investors are business angels as well as the High-Tech-Gründerfonds. https://www.cloudplan.net

    Contact:
    cloudplan GmbH
    Matthias Krueger
    Dorotheenstrasse 48
    22301 Hamburg
    040-228623311
    pr@cloudplan.net
    www.cloudplan.net

    About OP Advisory Services GmbH
    OP stands for Operational Progress. OP Advisory Services invests in young as well as established SMEs. Besides these activities OP Advisory consults actively in the further development as well as the (international) expansion of enterprises and financing. Dr. Marcus Opitz has successfully built up several enterprises with sales in the high hundreds of millions range.

    Contact:
    Dr. Marcus Opitz
    OP Advisory Services GmbH
    Mommsenstrasse 164
    50935 Köln
    marcus.opitz@me.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 500,000 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:
    Dr. Ansgar Kirchheim
    High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel + 49 228 – 82 30 01-00
    Fax + 49 228 – 82 30 00-5
    info@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de