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Category: News

  • KUKIMI secures seven-figure investment

    Innovative diet program raises capital from existing investors as well as new partners

    Losing weight no longer has to be associated with sacrificing good taste or flavour. KUKIMI aims to fill the gap between convenience and health. The start-up delivers fresh and tasty ready-to-eat diet meals. Convinced by the concept, investors, like the founders themselves, the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), seedcamp and existing partners like Atlantic Labs, Valessa Tech and NewBorn Capital invest a seven-digit number in the innovative nutrition program.

    Already after entering KUKIMI’s office at Rosenthaler Street, one can feel the vibe and energy that the team radiates. This for sure is one of the major reasons why a lot has happened since KUKIMI appeared on the convenience food market in the beginning of the year. The Berlin-based start-up delivers fresh and tasty ready-to-eat meals all throughout Germany. In order to guarantee maximum taste and the best consistency for the ingredients, KUKIMI opts for the sous-vide technique. This vacuum-cooking process has so far only been used in the industry and high-end restaurants. It allows the preparation and preservation of foods with without using any additives or preservatives. On the KUKIMI website the customer can choose between a variety of over 20 sous-vide cooked meals, including vegetarian and vegan options. In the following months a Paleo as well as a fitness line will be launched. Current market figures show that innovative diet programs like KUKIMI are more than relevant at the moment. 48 per cent of men and 31 per cent of women are currently obese in Germany, and the figures have significantly risen in the last years.

    HTGF is reacting to these trends and therefore is investing a great deal of money in the company. On board with HTGF and KUKIMI are both founders, Laurent Kaestli and Daniel Verst but also other former investors, like Atlantic Labs, Valessa Tech, NewBorn Capital and seedcamp. “KUKIMI convinces with its convenient and high-quality nutritional concept. KUKIMI is a pioneer in the sous-vide end consumer market.” says Chiara Sommer, Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds.

    The seven-digit figure gained in the seed financing round, will be used to expand the company geographically, to continuously develop the product and to enhance the marketing strategy. “Our concept is innovative. Right now we focus on diet products and the respective customers. In the long-term we can also imagine to expand in a new direction based on our three core qualities: freshness, taste and convenience.” forecasts Daniel Verst, one of the KUKIMI founders.

    About KUKIMI
    Searching for recipes, buying groceries and cooking can be very time consuming. On average Germans spend six hours per day on the preparation and the cooking of their food. KUKIMI addresses this very point and delivers fresh and tasty ready-to-eat meals all throughout Germany. The diet packages can be ordered for 1, 2 or 4 weeks and can individually be put together. All meals are calorie-controlled, low in carbohydrates and enable the customers to loose weight without feeling hungry or investing too much time.

    For further information visit www.kukimi.de

    High resolution pictures can be downloaded on https://kukimi.de/presse/

    Press contact:
    KUKIMI
    Leah Peschel
    Rosenthaler Straße 13
    10119 Berlin
    0157 / 58855179
    leah.peschel@kukimi.de
    www.kukimi.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 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
    Chiara Sommer
    Tel: +49 228 823001-00
    c.sommer@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • Pharmaceutical research and life sciences profit from unique biosensor technology

    Biametrics GmbH today announced the completion of their most recent financing round with €3.1 Million. Partners of the A Series Investment were LBBW Venture GmbH, MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft BW, and KfW Bankengruppe. Together with seed investors HTGF and Seedfonds BW, they are aiming to accelerate the expansion of Biametrics’ bioanalytical business activities to an international level. The fresh capital will facilitate the development of the operating production and sales activities as well as the further advancements of Biametrics’ label-free analytical devices for the life science market.

    Currently, microarray technology is one of the most important bioanalytical tools in the search for new compounds/active agents by the pharmaceutical industry and in medical diagnostics. Within only a single measurement and a short period of time, it is possible to identify possible candidates for further development. A wide range of relevant biomolecules from peptides, proteins and antibodies up to whole cells can be investigated and their binding characteristics evaluated quantitatively. Based on their patented “1-lambda RIDe technology”, Biametrics offers the first label-free measurement technique for the detailed characterisation of native biomolecular interactions of such compounds without the need of fluorescent dyes or other markers. Furthermore, the technology is robust, fast and cost-effective so that it can be used directly at the point of need. Measurement results are obtained within only a few minutes, so the technology perfectly suits applications in process control or safety, such as the screening of passengers at airports for infectious virus particles.

    “The successful conclusion of this financing round is an important step for Biametrics’ expansion activities,” said the founders Dr. Florian Pröll and Dr. Günther Proll. “We are now able to further develop our analytical devices as well as to build up and extend our sales and production activities. This will help Biametrics to firmly establish itself in the bioanalytical market”.

    Biametrics “b-screen” micro-arraying device is marketed together with the partner Berthold Technologies GmbH & Co. KG (Bad Wildbad). The device is capable of analysing up to 10,000 spots per cm2 in a standard microarray format within a few minutes. It therefore perfectly fits the needs of pharmaceutical research for high-throughput screening, identification and characterisation of new active compounds. In the second line of products is the “b-portable”, a small, mobile and robust device for applications at the point of need. Results are obtained directly within a short time and thus the device is well suited for the use in process control, e.g. in bioreactors and fermenters, or in human and veterinary diagnostics. The “b-portable” has a similar level of performance to established commercial label-free products, but at an unbeatable price.

    “Biametrics’ analytical devices are noticeably advantageous when compared to competing products and they have the potential to conquer the world market”, said Dr. Harald Poth (LBBW Venture GmbH), who is the chairman of Biametrics’ advisory board.

    The development of these innovative devices is based on the patented “1-lambda RIDe technology”. Here, light is partially reflected and partially transmitted when illuminated at thin films with different optical properties. The reflected light interferes and this interference changes when biomolecules bind to the functionalised biosensor surface. Detection of this change over time provides information not only about concentration of the analyte but also about thermodynamic and kinetic constants of the interaction. The used biosensor chips can be made of any transparent material, preferably glass or low-priced plastics. With specifically tailored surface chemistry that has been developed and optimised over many years, these materials can be functionalised to provide optimal properties for measurements in a variety of analyte matrices.

    About Biametrics GmbH
    Biametrics GmbH is a spin-off at the University of Tübingen and was founded in 2010 by Dr. Günther Proll and Dr. Florian Pröll. It develops and markets label-free analytical devices for application in life science and diagnostics. Based on the patented “1-lambda RIDe technology”, biomolecular interactions can be detected and characterised quantitatively. The portfolio of devices consists of the “b-portable”, which is a small, robust and cost-effective device with high performance and low detection limits, as well as the “b-screen” that is marketed together with Berthold Technologies and can screen up to 10,000 biomolecular interactions per cm2 within only a few minutes.

    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 Management GmbH
    Martin Pfister
    Senior Investment Manager
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel: +49 (228) 823 00-100
    Fax: +49 (228) 823 000-50
    m.pfister@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

     

     

  • EBS Technologies raises additional 1.1 million Euros in new round of financing

    Investor group led by Earlybird and High-Tech Gruenderfonds sees strong growth potential in the neurostimulation market segment

    EBS Technologies, focused on the development and commercialization of EBS Therapy for the treatment of visual field loss, has successfully launched a new round of financing by raising 1.1 million Euros. Three private investors joined the new round led by Earlybird and High-Tech Gruenderfonds which is still open to additional investors. The newly raised capital will be invested in a faster market penetration and will help the company achieve financial independence. EBS Therapy is an innovative non-invasive treatment option for patients with visual field loss. The treatment was introduced in the German market in 2014 and is available in selected German eye care clinics and therapy centers.

    Proven concept, strong innovation potential

    “The therapeutic effectiveness of the electrical neurostimulation is clinically established for a number of brain and spinal cord indications, and we have known for years that the concept works“, states Prof. Dr. med. Jens Ellrich, former CMO at Sapiens, which is part of Medtronic now. Ellrich supports EBS Technologies in its market penetration and growth strategy with his longstanding experience in the neurostimulation segment. “The positive und statistically significant effectiveness of the CE-marked EBS Therapy has been proven in a clinical study with 82 patients with damage to the optical nerve caused by glaucoma or circulatory disorders“, says Ellrich.

    Rapid growth of the neurostimulation market

    Private investor Rainer Christine sees strong potential for EBS Therapy in the rapidly growing neurostimulation market. „EBS Technologies has developed an effective therapy option for the treatment of visual field loss and an attractive business model, and the company has successfully established itself in a strongly growing market segment“, explains Christine his decision to invest in the German medical technology company.

    Ambition for a US market entry in the short term

    “We are very pleased with the trust expressed by our existing and new investors in the latest round of financing“, says Ulf Pommerening, CEO of EBS Technologies. “The additional funds will allow us to further strengthen our market position in Germany and to expand our presence to international markets. The round of financing is still open to new investors; any additional capital raised in this round will be invested in an accelerated US market access.“

    About EBS Technologies
    EBS Technologies GmbH, based in Hennigsdorf close to Berlin, Germany, develops software and hardware for medical stimulation therapies. The company holds several patents in the EU and the USA, and has successfully completed a clinical trial of the EBS therapy. The EBS therapy system is approved for the treatment of visual field loss in accordance with EU regulations as a medical device with a CE label. For more information on EBS Technologies, please visit: www.ebstech.eu

    More information on the EBS therapy and a complete list of therapy centers is available under www.ebs-therapy.com

    About Earlybird Venture Capital
    Established in 1997 Earlybird has raised over € 700 million in fund commitments. We 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 our active portfolio currently includes 35 companies across the consumer Internet and enterprise services space.

    Further information is available at: www.earlybird.com, Twitter: www.twitter.com/earlybirdvc. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/earlybird-venture-capital or Facebook: www.facebook.com/EarlybirdVC.

    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 Technology, the KfW Banking Group, as well as thirteen industrial groups of ALTANA, BASF, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE Color, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gruenderfonds has about EUR 563 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million EUR HTGF I, EUR 291 million HTGF II).

    For more information, please visit: https://www.htgf.de/

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gruenderfonds Management GmbH
    Kay Balster
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Tel.: +49 228 823001-12
    Fax: +49 228 823000-50
    k.balster@htgf.de

    Media Contact:
    BSKOM
    Eva Birle / Martina Frank
    Tel: +49 089 13 95 78 27 11 /18
    Email: birle@bskom.de / frank@bskom.de

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • payever makes commerce easier for everyone and closed a seed round with the leading early stage venture capital firm in Germany

    Over 3.000 businesses of all types and sizes use payever solutions to run and grow – in online shops, websites, facebook or local stores. Huge banks and payment service provider like PayPal, Stripe or Santander Consumer Bank cooperate with payever. After two years the team closed their first investment round with High-Tech Gruenderfonds.

    Europe´s small commerce businesses miss access to tools big businesses have in order to maximise their revenue. Especially payment is a critical factor. While merchants in the United States simply implement PayPal and Credit Card to satisfy their customers – European businesses spend thousands of Euros for integration and maintenance of many payment APIs -to keep customers from leaving their checkout.

    “And that´s just the tip of the iceberg for running and growing your business today. We are on a mission to change the unfair advantage of big retailers over our community. Our businesses will
    get access to the same world class tools Amazon or Zalando have”, says Artur Schlaht, CEO of payever GmbH.

    payever´s technology is modular and looks like a box full of commerce solutions. Everything works without coding: Businesses select payment options and selling channels per mouse tip and get started in minutes. In 2014 payever simplified installment payments in cooperation with Santander Consumer Bank. Today the company offers all payment options and enables
    merchants to get paid via mail, invoice, website, online shop, in their local retail store and even through facebook. Every month a new solution will be added.

    Michael Wieser, Investment Manager at HTGF: „The team created high-end technology and matches a real demand. payever has a great chance to become a relevant international player in the booming ecommerce market.

    payever is not a blind spot on the startup map. The team joined two accelerator programs, including Berlin based Microsoft Ventures Accelerator and won several awards.

    Remarkably, payever was self-financed for 2 years. “We monitor payever since they got started. The team established a loyal community of businesses and we are happy to go on an exciting journey with them.“ says Michael Wieser.

    About payever
    payever was founded in December 2013 by Artur Schlaht and Viktor Butsch to make commerce easier for businesses of all types and sizes. The company provides a modular SaaS solution to sell everywhere and accept all payments. The innovative technology works without coding, hosting or maintenance. payever enables businesses to accept PayPal, Sofort, Direct debit,
    Installment, Pay after delivery or Bitcoin payments in different channels like online shop, website, facebook, via invoice, mail or a local pos app. payever is a Microsoft Ventures Accelerator alumni and headquartered in Hamburg.

    Press contact
    payever GmbH
    Simon-von-Utrecht Strasse 1
    D-20359 Hamburg
    Tel.: +49 173 3726736
    presse@payever.de
    www.payever.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 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
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Michael Wieser
    Tel: +49 (228) 823 001-62
    Fax: +49 (228) 823 000-50
    m.wieser@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

     

  • Web 3.0 with the Semantic Product Search from SEMKNOX

    Who hasn’t had the problem of using an online shop’s search engine and just not finding the right products? Over the past three years, SEMKNOX has developed an unparalleled semantic product search engine that understands customers’ queries in everyday language. Search queries such as “long summer dress in red with sequins” or “affordable 4K TV with YouTube app and 50 inch screen” can be precisely understood and only fitting results shown. The High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and WestTech Ventures are financing SEMKNOX along with additional investors to support the establishment of this pioneering Web 3.0 product search in online shops.

    Only relevant products and no empty result lists—this is what the Dresden-based company SEMKNOX makes possible for their clients with their semantic product search engine. Existing product search engines often fail at answering even the simplest keyword queries, showing incorrect or incomplete results. The semantic product search from SEMKNOX can accurately determine the product category and detect the desired features in both simple and complex queries so that only matching products are displayed. To convey the unique abilities of this semantic product search to the end user, the autocomplete feature presents possible natural-language queries based on current search trends. The basis for all this is the SEMKNOX product ontology, a sort of “Google Knowledge Graph” on a smaller scale and exclusively for products, upon which SEMKNOX’s algorithms run. This knowledge graph contains thousands of features related to numerous product categories, which can be retrieved using a huge variety of synonyms and formulations. When this comprehensive ontology is applied to the client’s product data, the search domain is expanded considerably – to a size much larger than a conventional, index-based search could ever achieve.

    Dr. Sebastian Suhr, Investment Manager at HTGF, has stated, “SEMKNOX’s technology has enormous potential in the field of product search as well as possible applications in online marketing.”

    Dr. David Urbansky, founder and CEO of SEMKNOX, is convinced their technology makes it easy for online shops to offer a high-quality search engine: “Clients do not have to worry about maintaining and updating their search; SEMKNOX takes care of everything.”

    In addition to HTGF, other investors have participated in the 6-figure funding round, including WestTech Ventures and LeROI Online Marketing GmbH, both located in Berlin, as well as seto GmbH and Philipp Katz in Dresden.

    About SEMKNOX GmbH
    SEMKNOX’s founders are Dr. David Urbansky, Sebastian Sprenger, and Simon Schabel, three computer scientists who, in 2012, came up with the idea of an all-knowing virtual salesman who can answer every search query a visitor enters. Through their studies at the TU Dresden and their work in the Department of Computer Networks, the team already had the knowledge needed to develop such a system. After a year and a half of development financed by Dresden exists and an SAB SEED grant, SEMKNOX GmbH was founded at the beginning of 2014 and its semantic product search first introduced to the public at CeBIT 2014. SEMKNOX has since been focusing on online shops and price comparison sites as potential clients.

    Press Contact
    SEMKNOX GmbH
    Simon Schabel
    Webergasse 1
    01067 Dresden
    Phone: (+49) 351 – 32 123 102
    simon.schabel@semknox.com
    www.semknox.com

     

    About the 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. Sebastian Suhr
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Phone: +49 (228) 823 001-57
    Fax: +49 (228) 823 000-50
    s.suhr@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • coModule Raises €500,000 from High-Tech Gruenderfonds to Empower Electric Vehicle Revolution

    Estonian mobility company coModule has secured €500,000 in capital for its seed round from renowned German investor High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF) to bring mobile connectivity, data analytics and Internet of Things to the world of electric vehicles.

    The “Android of light electric vehicles”

    coModule has developed a hardware and software platform for Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs). The hardware monitors vehicle and environmental metrics and sends the data directly to the end user’s smartphone. The mobile app then visualises the available range, helping to eliminate range anxiety. Data on the vehicle is also sent to the manufacturer of the LEV who can then make better product development decisions and utilize the direct communication with the end user.

    The platform kills all anxieties for end consumers by visualising range and battery health, tracking rides and vehicle location and allowing the user to directly communicate with the dealer or manufacturer. At the same time, the online service offers in-depth knowledge of the vehicles technical performance and user behaviour to the manufacturer. “coModule saves time and money on life cycle tests and warranty management” says Michael Wieser, investment manager at HTGF. “Most importantly it creates opportunities for better client engagement and loyalty to generate after-sales.”

    The era of the LEV
    There are more than 100 million LEVs on the streets today. According to IDTechEx the annual sales will reach 130 million vehicles before 2025, making it one of the world’s largest industries. At the same time there is still a lot of room for improvement.

    “Most e-bikes are just a dumb piece of metal – they are primitive and give very little information about battery status, available range or vehicle location,” says Welix Klaas, one of the co-founders of coModule. Even BMW’s E-Mobility manager Stephan Augustin has been quoted as saying: “The continuous upgrade of the bicycle product is a must. But this is a problem for the bicycle industry. They don’t have e-knowhow. They have to learn quickly. Otherwise the automotive industry will take over.”

    The HTGF seed financing will be used to fuel the growth, to implement the technology and begin the market entry. “The core technology has gone through several iterations and is now ready for industrialisation and mass production” says CEO and co-founder Kristjan Maruste. The software and hardware platform or “Android” for light electric vehicles will be publicly unveiled later this year together with key-partners at the World’s leading bicycle fair Eurobike.

    About coModule
    coModule was founded in 2014 by electric racing car development engineers from Tallinn University of Technology. The team has years of experience in automotive engineering as well as software development. The company has grown to more than 10 engineers with HQ in Berlin and development office in Tallinn, Estonia. Today coModule is making revenue and has several pilot customers from different European countries. First coModule-connected vehicles are on the streets, they are gathering data and streaming it live into the online data visualization platform.

    coModule believes that the electric vehicle revolution is now! The way to manage over-populated cities and increasing air pollution is to convert to clean forms of transport that require less space and maintenance – light electric vehicles (LEV). To empower the LEV revolution we need to address all issues keeping consumers from adoption. coModule believes in the need to take LEVs from dumb metal to the age of technology.

    Contact:
    COMODULE GmbH
    Welix Klaas
    Charlottenstraße 2
    10969 Berlin
    Phone: +49 174 670 55 77
    founders@comodule.com
    www.comodule.com

    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
    Michael Wieser
    Schlegelstraße 2
    D-53113 Bonn
    Phone: +49 228 / 823001-00
    Fax: +49 228 / 823000-50
    m.wieser@htgf.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

  • A consortium led by High-Tech Gründerfonds and Innovationsstarter invests in Sonormed: E-health solution Tinnitracks can alleviate tinnitus

    In a series-A financing round, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg, Quotas Beteiligungs GmbH and Heiko Hubertz, the Bigpoint founder, have invested jointly in Hamburg-based medical technology company Sonormed GmbH.

    With its Tinnitracks solution, the young company offers a therapeutic option for people affected by tinnitus. In Germany alone, three million people suffer from the bothersome ear sound. The classified medical product treats the causes of subjective, tonal tinnitus in the auditory cortex by individually filtering the affected person’s favorite music. Its scientific basis is so-called tailor-made notched music training (TMNMT), whose efficacy has been confirmed in independent clinical studies.

    “With Tinnitracks, the Sonormed team has developed a trendsetting technology in digital audiology. Within a very short time, academic research results were translated into a practical form of therapy accessible to patients. Dr. Martin Pfister, Senior Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds, explains the Sonormed investment: “With this technological know-how, Sonormed has the potential to decisively influence the growing e-health sector.”

    “The support of the consortium led by HTGF and Innovationsstarter means that we have reliable and experienced partners at our side. For us, it is an ideal combination of a strong network and experienced entrepreneurs that support us and set the course for additional growth”, says Jörg Land, co-founder and CEO of Sonormed. The company will use the money for product development and further corporate expansion. It has created an integrated solution and collaborates with ENT physicians, hearing aid audiologists and renowned audio specialist Sennheiser.

    Sonormed has already won numerous awards and start-up competitions, the most recent being the internationally renowned American SXSW Accelerator Award in the category “Digital Health and Life Sciences Technologies”. Before that, the company had won first place in the EU competition of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology in Eindhoven (EIT) and the “IKT Innovativ” prize of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

    About Sonormed
    Sonormed GmbH, founded in 2012 in Hamburg, is a medical technology company specializing in digital audiology that developed the medical product Tinnitracks with an interdisciplinary team of sound engineers, computer scientists and neurobiologists. Sonormed has already received a lot of domestic and international financial support and prizes for developing and introducing Tinnitracks into the market. For more information, visit: www.tinnitracks.de//

    Press contact:
    HOSCHKE & CONSORTEN Public Relations GmbH
    Marta Iza de la Torre, Christina Siebels
    Heimhuder Str. 56
    20148 Hamburg
    Phone: +49 (40) 36 90 50-45, -58
    E-mail: m.iza@hoschke.de; c.siebels@hoschke.de

    Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg
    Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg invests risk capital for young, innovative Hamburg-based companies in order to strengthen their R&D activities. Envisaged are active partnerships in joint-stock companies up to a maximum amount of 1 million euros. Fund investors are the Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The fund volume amounts to 12 million euros. IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH is a 100% owned subsidiary of Hamburg-based Investment and Business Development Bank. For more information, visit: www.innovationsstarter.com//

    Contact:
    IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH
    Doreen Huhle
    Besenbinderhof 31
    20097 Hamburg
    Phone: +49 (40) 657980592
    E-mail: huhle@innovationsstarter.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).

    Further information can be found on www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de

    Contact:
    High-Tech Gründerfonds
    Dr. Martin Pfister
    Schlegelstraße 2
    53113 Bonn
    Phone: +49 (228) 823 001-00
    Fax: +49 (228) 823 000-50
    E-mail: info@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
    www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de