TIXEL develops and markets systems and solutions for high speed and reliable data transfer over wide area networks (WAN). The IT start-up company from Hannover focuses on experienced partners for expanding its business and receives €700k venture capital from hannover innovations fonds (hif) and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).

Conventional methods for data transfers over wide area networks based on the well-known file transfer protocol (FTP) are very sensitive to typical effects such as packet losses, jitter and delay, and thus deliver very poor data rates. Tixel, a spin-off of electronics company Thomson, has developed a solution for reliable data transfer with significant reduced transfer times. Its TIXstream technology, based on the patented Reliable WAN Transfer Protocol (RWTP) efficiently exploits long distance connections over existing 1G and 10GBit/s Ethernet infrastructures – and provides transfer speeds of about 4 GBit/s.

“TIXstream is therefore interesting for all organizations whose businesses depend on frequent large data transfers like in the media industry, where e. g. raw footage has to be transferred from the set to the studio,” says CEO Eduard Siemens. Large US-based companies like Dreamworks already use TIXstream in their production workflow. The technology also offers globally operating enterprises, internet service providers as well as data center operators and cloud service providers substantially accelerated processes and opens up completely new fields of application.

“The new innovative transfer technology has immediately convinced us,” says Andreas Quauke, Senior Investment Manager with HTGF. “Due to the fact that worldwide data volume is increasing continuously in the age of cloud computing, an investment in such an unrivalled technology is of strategic and visionary importance ,” Quauke continues.

And the market potential is still expandable: “At the moment the TIXstream technology is valuable for enterprises. In the medium term, however, also private users will be able to benefit – an enormous market with potential for growth,” added Sven Klose, Investment Manager, EnjoyVenture GmbH.

At present Tixel is focussing on expanding its partner network and the marketing of its business with large customers. Furthermore the new capital will be invested in optimizing the technical infrastructure and the local headquarter’s staff. “We are therefore very glad to have found two committed investors with hif and HTGF, who are supporting us in our expansion strategy financially as well as with their network to find additional investors and thus helping us to grow,“ says company founder Eduard Siemens.

“The Tixel investment is a great success for the founding and technology location of Hannover,” announces Ralf Meyer, CEO of hannoverimpuls. “We managed to bind a high-potential startup of our own network to this location, which we have been accompanying intensively for some time. This will be a benefit for the local IT industry. Tixel’s expansion strategies are a strong commitment to Hannover.”

For further information please visit www.tixeltec.com

About hannover innovations fonds (Invest Impuls)
With two funds under the umbrella of Invest-Impuls hannoverimpuls finances technology startups in two phases essential for their further development. Hannover innovation fonds (hif) is a regional seed fund and invests into promising early-stage technology ventures in the fields of automotive/optical technologies, ICT, life science/healthcare and energy. Partner and co-investor of hif is inter alia the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). The growth fund HBF (Hannover equity funds) finances startups, always investing in addition to a 50 % co-funding by private investors und offers up to €1.5m venture capital. Hif and HBF are managed by EnjoyVenture, specialized on seed and spin-off investments.

Contact:
hannoverimpuls GmbH
c/o EnjoyVenture Management GmbH
Sven Klose
Investment Manager
Vahrenwalder Str. 7
30165 Hannover
Germany
Sven.Klose@hannoverimpuls.de
www.hannoverimpuls.de/investimpuls

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds is a Germany-based VC and invests in technology companies in the seed stage. It invests venture capital in young, up-and-coming technology companies, which implement promising research results in the industry. The startup companies are planned to lead their R&D projects to the production of a prototype or a “proof of concepts” or market launch by means of the seed financing of up to €500k. Investors of the public-private partnership are the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology, the KfW Bank group as well as the six industrial groups BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch, Daimler and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has a fund volume of around €272m.

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Andreas Quauke
Senior Investment Manager
Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2
53175 Bonn
Germany
Telephone: +49 228 – 82 300 100
Fax: +49 228 – 82 300 050
a.quauke@high-tech-gruenderfonds.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de