Exit for HTGF: Volkswagen Financial Services takes over sunhill technologies

The previous owners of sunhill technologies GmbH have sold 92 percent of their partnership shares to Volkswagen Financial Services AG. As early as 2008, the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and MIG 7 had provided seed funding for the innovative mobility service provider. In 2010, Bayern Kapital and the KfW Bank Group also came on board as investors.

sunhill technologies has developed apps that allow users to make secure and easy payments for parking, electric vehicle charging, and public transportation tickets straight from their mobile phones. Providers benefit from sunhill’s systems that provide new opportunities to communicate with customers and solidify customer loyalty.

Its wealth of experience and its attractive market position in the mobility sector helped sunhill technologies, which is based in Erlangen, to secure Volkswagen as an investor and majority shareholder. The startup company has become the European market leader in mobile payment and ticketing solutions, with over two million users in more than 150 locations. Thanks to its acquisition by Volkswagen Financial Services AG, the start-up now disposes of new resources for technological development and sales.

“Over the past couple of years, the technology standard we created has been received very positively by customers. Volkswagen Financial Services AG is the ideal partner for raising the bar even higher and advancing our standard both domestically and internationally,” explains Matthias Mandelkow, founder and managing director of sunhill technologies. Co-founder Christoph Schwarzmichel adds: “We can now kick into high gear, so to speak. With the support of VW Financial Services, we are looking forward to a future of strong growth in the field of digital mobility services.”

Jens Baumgärtner, who managed the transaction for the seed investor HTGF, is convinced: “As the first investors on the scene, we believed in sunhill technologies from day one. The founding team has done an outstanding job of managing the company. We are delighted that sunhill now has Volkswagen Financial Services AG at its side, a strong partner for developing the business. By selling our shares at an attractive price, we were also able to achieve a very positive exit result.”

About sunhill technologies
Since 2001, sunhill technologies GmbH has been developing cashless payment methods and mobility services for mobile phones in cooperation with leading German and European mobile communications providers. Secure yet functional solutions for mobile payment are in high demand worldwide – to date, more than two million users at more than 150 locations trust in payment systems created by sunhill. Years of experience in development and practical operation make sunhill technologies a reliable and competent partner for customers, cooperating partners and communities alike. In the growing market of mobile payment solutions, sunhill technologies has taken on a pioneering role, specializing in mobile ticketing and mobile parking management. Volkswagen Financial Services AG is the new majority shareholder of sunhill technologies GmbH. The firm was previously supported by leading German corporations and investors, among them MIG, HTGF, KfW and Bayern Kapital. www.sunhill-technologies.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:
Jens Baumgärnter
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