Press

Computer-Brain-Interface Company CereGate Closed Series A Financing Round

September 3, 2020

The Healthtech VC Heal Capital led the round with participation of HTGF and TruVenturo

CereGate, a leading German neurostimulation company developing a software-based Computer-Brain-Interface (CBI), today announced the successful closing of a series A financing round led by the new European healthtech VC Heal Capital with participation from the existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and TruVenturo. The parties agreed to not disclose any further details of the financing round.

CereGate is one of the worldwide leading players in the field of CBI. Its software augments existing therapies for neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease and also develops revolutionary new therapeutic approaches. In 2020, CereGate has successfully completed an in-humans proof of concept study with more than 15 patients. The new funding enables CereGate to continue development and clinical studies towards commercialization of first products.

To realize its clinical vision, CereGate has developed and successfully demonstrated a novel method to bring “mind writing” capabilities to present-day conventional Deep Brain Stimulation and other neuromodulation systems. This effectively means, CereGate’s CBI technology is able to “write” or “transmit” information into the brain, rather than just passively conduct reading of or sense ongoing neural activity.

Being able to write information directly into the brain is a revolutionary step in the evolution of information interfaces. With our platform, we have everything in place to rethink the way we treat the role of external information in neurological therapy. We are excited to start this next chapter of our journey together with our new partner.

Dr. Bálint Várkuti, Founder and CEO of CereGate

CereGate GmbH is headquartered in Munich, Germany, with an affiliated company CereGate Inc, headquartered in San Diego, USA. The company was founded in 2019 by Dr. Bálint Várkuti with a team combining decades of experience in neurotechnology and neuromodulation.

State-of-the-art software for existing brain stimulating devices provides a tremendous opportunity to improve the patients’ quality of life. With CereGate, Germany has a leading healthtech company in this field, which fits exactly in our investment scope and shows how the interplay of science, technology, and healthcare can have a huge impact on the future of how we enhance the treatment of complex diseases.

Eckhardt Weber, General Partner at Heal Capital

The excellent clinical data proves the progress of CereGate since our seed investment last year. We are impressed by the execution capabilities and speed of the CereGate-Team and are happy to join this financing round.

Tobias Faupel, Senior Investment Manager of HTGF

About CereGate
CereGate is a software-based company in the computer-brain-interaction space, driven to develop new ways of interfacing with the human brain through the latest technology. Its mission is to provide patients with neurological disorders or sensory deficits with new opportunities to adapt and improve their condition under their own power, increasing patient independence while improving quality of life are the guiding principles.

Media Contact
CereGate
Dr. Balint Varkuti
contact@ceregate.com

About Heal Capital
Heal Capital is a leading European venture capital fund with a target volume of 100 million euros. The fund invests in technology-enabled healthcare champions at series A stage, that are actively driving the innovation of healthcare. Heal Capital provides capital, know-how, and market access through leading private healthcare insurers as fund investors. Additionally, Heartbeat Labs and Flying Health are invested as anchor investors, complementing the Heal Capital team with expertise in building and scaling digital health companies. The fund was launched under the umbrella of the Association of the German private healthcare insurers in 2019 and is led by Eckhard Weber and Dr. Christian Weiß as managing partners.

Contact
Heal Capital
Konstanze Pflüger
press@healcapital.com
0157 806 096 91

About TruVenturo
TruVenturo is one of the most successful early stage investors and company builders in Europe. For over a decade TruVenturo has been investing at the forefront of digitalization and life sciences, always focusing on identifying big future markets and disruptive business models. Therefore, the team is a strong believer in pharma to prevent age related disease and prolong healthy human lifespan as well as utilising neurostimulation technologies to create bi-directional Computer-Brain-Interfaces. TruVenturo’s current portfolio includes over 20 companies, among them several industry leaders and hidden champions.

Contact
TruVenturo
Florian Haupt
info@truventuro.de

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is a seed investor that finances high-potential, tech-driven start-ups. With around EUR 900 million in total investment volume across three funds and an international network of partners, HTGF has already helped forge almost 600 start-ups since 2005. Driven by their expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and passion, its team of experienced investment managers and startup experts help guide the development of young companies. HTGF’s focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digital tech, industrial technology, life sciences, chemistry and related business areas. To date, external investors have injected over EUR 2.6 billion into the HTGF portfolio via more than 1,600 follow-on financing rounds. HTGF has also successfully sold interests in more than 100 companies.

Investors in the public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, KfW Capital, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and 32 companies. Our Fund Investors

Contact
High-Tech Gründerfonds
Tobias Faupel
Schlegelstraße 2
T.: +49 228 823 00 100
t.faupel@htgf.de

Stay up to date

Subscribe now and receive the latest press releases on investments and other news from High-Tech Gründerfonds. We inform you about important developments at HTGF and provide you with interesting news from our portfolio. Whether it’s a successful exit, a new exciting investment or HR news – you’ll be the first to know!

More Press posts

Press
23. April 2024

Cultimate Foods raises 2.3 million EUR seed funding from leading Biotech and Foodtech investors to revolutionize the alternative meat industry

BERLIN, April 23, 2024 – Cultimate Foods, a biotech startup based in Berlin’s Biocube and Hannover (Institut für Technische Chemie, Leibniz Universität Hannover), successfully closes its seed round to scale up production processes, expand commercial collaborations and operation. The 2.3 million EUR round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), one of Europe’s leading seed investors. HTGF was joined by the Life Science ValleyWachstumsfonds, b.value AG and Kale United. Le
 
Press
19. April 2024

Successful Exit for HTGF: DocuWare Announces Acquisition of natif.ai 

With AI at the forefront of DocuWare’s product strategy, natif.ai’s technology further increases the competitive edge of the DocuWare platform. High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) led the pre-seed round in 2020 as the first institutional investor of natif.ai and has actively supported the start-up on its path to becoming a leading provider in the field of intelligent document processing. Christian Arndt, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF: “The team of natif.ai has shown a great perfo
 
Press
11. April 2024

Scavenger AI secures €1.1m pre-seed funding for data-driven decision making 

The AI start-up helps companies to use their data to make the best possible decision under any circumstances.  Scavenger AI receives € 1.1 million from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Calm/Storm Ventures, Femventix and the B4i Investment Fund.  The new capital will be used to launch the first version of the software on the market and serve customers on the waiting list.   Frankfurt, 8 April 2024 – The German data analytics & AI start-up