Fresh Growth Capital: Innerspace secures € 5.7 Million for Further Expansion to the USA

February 1, 2024

• Financing round secures Tyrolean start-up €5.7 million for continued growth  
• Cooperation agreement with global industry association “PDA” 

Innsbruck, 1 February 2024. The Innsbruck-based tech start-up Innerspace, which enables risk assessment of production processes and effective training of cleanroom personnel for leading pharmaceutical companies using software and Virtual Reality (VR), can advance its growth trajectory after a highly successful funding round. In July, U.S. investor Riverside invested in the Tyrolean company. Just days before the year-end, Innerspace finalized a substantial seed round with the new lead investor Matterwave Ventures. The existing three investors, MAD Ventures, aws Gründungsfonds, and High-Tech Gründerfonds, also reinvested.

The significant interest from investors naturally reaffirms our successful path. Digital twins for process design and training are essential for critical manufacturing processes. We already count several of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies among our customers and will multiply both revenue and the number of customers in the coming years.

Walter Ischia, CFO of Innerspace

Innerspace enables its customers to avoid quality problems and minimize production-related contamination risks. We were impressed by the team’s accumulated expertise in one of the most highly regulated industries. The technology allows for significant process improvements and, consequently, substantial customer benefits.

Benedikt Kronberger, Partner at Matterwave Ventures

With the fresh capital, Innerspace will expand its international market presence and further develop its unique “Frame-by-Frame” technology. The Tyrolean company will focus even more on the large growth market in America in the future. Numerous renowned pharmaceutical companies worldwide already trust the company’s expertise.

The necessary care and precision in pharmaceutical manufacturing have so far eluded simple digitization approaches. With our proprietary Frame-by-Frame approach, we break down this barrier. Design, development, and training of any manufacturing process can now be done in the digital twin. This saves a tremendous amount of time and money while increasing process security and quality.

Sebastian Scheler, Co-founder and Chief Methodologist of Innerspace

Innerspace also achieved another milestone in its young corporate history in the past fiscal year: The globally operating “Parenteral Drug Association” (PDA), with more than 10,500 members, and Innerspace announced a long-term strategic partnership for the development of globally recognized PDA training courses. This close cooperation includes the use of Innerspace technology, i.e., VR simulators with Frame-by-Frame risk profiling functions, in PDA’s standard training programs. The goal of this partnership is to offer a series of training courses for professionals in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industry worldwide.

These courses include essential VR modules that are not only much more effective and immersive than traditional methods but also provide a wealth of data on how people learn more or less easily and where risks exist that can be optimized through more training or process redesign.

Sebastian Scheler

About Innerspace 
The Austrian company Innerspace focuses on risk assessment and effective training of cleanroom personnel for leading pharmaceutical companies. Through the targeted use of psychological insights and innovative technologies, Innerspace aims to minimize errors in pharmaceutical processes and reduce risks. This includes the proprietary method of “Frame-by-Frame Risk Profiling” for comprehensive risk assessment, as well as a standardized cleanroom simulator for personnel training in virtual reality. In its role as an official partner of the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA), Innerspace actively engages in the development and implementation of high-quality training courses for the pharmaceutical industry. https://innerspace.eu 

About Matterwave Ventures 
Matterwave Ventures is a venture capital company based in Munich, specializing in deep-tech innovations with industrial applications for many years and active with investments throughout Europe. As an early-stage investor, the focus is on early stages of companies and includes software and hardware-based business models. The goal is to build leading companies worldwide, primarily driving the future of industrial value creation through resource efficiency and digitization. The vision is to regain technology leadership, production capacity, and energy and raw material autonomy in Europe. Over the past 20 years, the team has invested in more than 60 companies “full-stack,” from materials to components to complete systems and software solutions, with managed capital of over EUR 250 million. Matterwave typically participates in seed and Series A financings throughout Europe, with initial investments ranging from EUR 1-4 million, and follow-up rounds of over EUR 10 million per portfolio company. https://www.matterwave.vc  

About the aws Gründungsfonds 
The aws Gründungsfonds is an Austrian venture capital fund with a fund volume of approximately €70 million. As a seed investor, it supports startups from the early growth phase through subsequent financing rounds (Series A/B) to exit. The fund sees itself as a long-term, stable partner with a hands-on mentality and actively supports founder teams. Since 2013, aws Gründungsfonds, together with national and international co-investors, has invested more than €500 million in 45+ investments and has achieved numerous successful exits. 

Über den High-Tech Gründerfonds    
The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) finances technology start-ups with growth potential and has supported more than 700 start-ups since 2005. With the launch of the fourth fund, HTGF has around €1.4 billion under management. The team of experienced investment managers and start-up experts supports young companies with expertise, entrepreneurial spirit, and passion. The focus is on high-tech startups in the digital-tech, industrial-tech, life sciences, chemistry, and related fields. External investors have invested around €5 billion in more than 2,000 follow-up financing rounds in the HTGF portfolio. Additionally, the fund has successfully sold shares in more than 170 companies. The fund’s investors  include the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital, and 45 companies from various industries.  

Media Contact 
Tobias Jacob, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager    
T.: +49 228 – 82300 121  
t.jacob@htgf.de