Portfolio Finder

HighLine Technology GmbH develops and commercializes high-precision printing technology for the semiconductor industry. The current focus is the introduction of the parallel dispensing technology for the metallization of solar cells. The dispensing print heads enable parallel and homogeneous printing of high aspect ratio contact linesat finger widths below 30 µm. HighLine’s Dispensing Print Heads thereby enable the reduction of material costs at increased production throughputs for the application of print media. In addition, HighLine develops automation solutions for the integration of print heads in existing production platforms and thus cooperates with established automation manufacturers. The core competences of the company are component and process development for dispensing technologies.

HiperScan GmbH was founded in 2006 as a spin-off of the Dresdner Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS). The innovative scanning grating technology developed at the IPMS forms the basis for the near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer developed by HiperScan. The analytical systems make it possible to significantly reduce investment costs to make NIR-analytics affordable even to small companies. Today, the company HiperScan stands for high-quality technologies to quickly analyse nutrition facts of processed meat and fish and to reliably qualify pharmaceutical raw materials. So, the product Apo-Ident has been tailored for the safe and easy identification of compounding substances in pharmacies.

Hofmann & Stirner Zuführsysteme GmbH was founded in 2016 by Daniel Hofmann and Florian Stirner. The company develops powerful and flexible feeding systems using digital twins and artificial intelligence. Hofmann & Stirner work closely together with well-known companies in machine and plant construction.
More: www.designforfeeding.com

HQS Quantum Simulations predicts material properties using quantum computers. The company accelerates development cycles in the chemistry and pharma industries. Quantum computers can perform calculations impossible even for the most powerful supercomputers. Current quantum computers suffer from intrinsic errors that limit their performance. The HQS Team developes algorithms for quantum computers that can deal with these errors and enable our customers to profit from the performance advantage of quantum computers earlier than their competitors. Furthermore, HQS offers individual simulation solutions for conventional computers with an integration of high-end simulation methods and the possibility to utilize the upcoming quantum computers.

Lighting as a Service: Intelligent lighting with M2M (Machine to Machine) services in outdoor sector with focus on Information, Communication, Energy efficiency (ICE).

Exit since November 2016.

The immersight® 3D-Showroom is a cloud-based platform for virtual product presentations in stationary, mobile of web applications. Manufactureres can provide all their goods to retailers, who can now present an unlimited product variety through Virtal Reality techology to their customers.

InCirT is a deep-tech start-up which provides semiconductor IP solutions for high-speed wireless networks. The core product of the company is a digital-analog / analog-digital converter (a so called “transceiver”), which in its final version will enable data transmission of up to 1 Tbps. The company was started at RWTH Aachen. It was founded in the beginning of 2022 while participating in the EXIST technology transfer program. The InCirT founder team consists of Dr. Oner Hanay, Dr. Erkan Bayram, Dr. Mohamed Saeed Elsayed, Sebastian Waters und Univ.-Prof. Dr. sc. techn. Renato Negra.

Renewable electricity and yet unused, undervalued gases (e.g. CO2) can be converted into sustainable products such as climate neutral gasoline, clean Diesel and e-kerosene, high-quality waxes, green methanol or renewable synthetic natural gas (altogether: e-products). INERATEC (IC) sells compact plants for these conversions or invests into e-product production sites.
IC´s technology solves several challenges of the energy transition: management of a fluctuating supply of renewable energy, large and long-term energy storage as well as sustainable mobility and climate neutrality. Synthetic fuels will especially be needed for heavy-duty and maritime transportation as well as aviation. E-products are a viable option for the defossilization of many industries currently depending on fossil resources.

instagrid is specialised in mobile off-grid batteries, driving the energy system transition for off-grid electricity, which today is still dominated by combustion engines. With its patented technology, instagrid offers the provision of clean mobile power without compromises enabling the off-grid economy of tomorrow to power their work in a sustainable way. Already shipping to the entire EU, instagrids market-leading product, instagrid ONE, provides professionals in sectors such as construction, events or public safety with reliable and efficient access to electricity to replace highly polluting generators.

Founded by Johann Olsen, Nabil Imran and Felix Kruse in Flensburg, the IT company IO-Dynamics supports its customers in making the operation of electric vehicles in companies simple and cost-effective. It sees itself as a manufacturer-independent provider to meet the requirements of different charging stations and electric vehicles today and in the future. Its product IO-ELON creates a link between the energy and mobility sectors, as electric vehicles are charged according to demand and in coordination with energy generation. For companies with electric vehicle fleets in particular, this means greater transparency in the operation of vehicles and energy management that reduces costs and administrative work and responds to the individual needs of fleet operators.

IQ Evolution develops microcooling systems based on the selective laser melting technology for semiconductors used in high power diode lasers. This facilitates a significant increase in the lifetime of those components.

Kiutra develops fully-automatic cooling solutions for the generation of extremely low temperatures near absolute zero at -273°C. In contrast to conventional Helium based cooling methods, kiutra’s magnetic cooling technique is user-friendly, requires low-maintenance and is scalable. It is therefore highly suitable e.g. for the cooling of quantum technologies at industrial scale.

Kiwigrid is an energy management system, which is connecting producers of renewable energy, consumers, storages, electric mobility and the energy grid with Microgrids.
Purchaser of HTGF-Shares: AQTON SE

Exit since December 2016.

Sample analysis in structural biology often suffers from weak contrast in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The KonTEM PhazR solves this contrast problem and thus enables scientists to extract more information about structure and function of cells on molecular level.

Exit since May 2014. Purchaser: FEI Company (NASDAQ: FEIC)

Kõu Mobility Group consists of four micromobility companies: Comodule, which provides software and IoT solutions for light electric vehicles; Tuul, a rental service for electric scooters; Äike, a manufacturer of electric scooters; and Ampler, a developer of electric bicycles.

The group's vision is to encourage people to choose clean transportation and create a noise- and emission-free urban environment. The brands of Kõu Mobility Group make light electric vehicles safer, more comfortable and accessible.

Laclarée develops adaptive eyeglasses for presbyopia correction. Based on a patented technology, these eyeglasses offer presbyopes clear vision at all distances without levelling down aesthetic standards. Presbyopia appears by age 40-45 with increasing difficulties to focus at near distances and affects 400 million people in Europe, Japan and North America. Progressive lenses, featuring a vertical gradient of optical power, are today the best compromise to presbyopia correction. Still about 10% of presbyopes are very unsatisfied with these lenses, experiencing a reduced quality of life.
Laclarée’s product has been designed to answer this demand, corresponding to about 2 b€/y. Our solution relies on a disruptive fluid-filled doublet-lens activated by low-power microfluidic actuators inserted in the eyeglass arms and driven by a miniature infrared distance sensor. The lens offers a large field of view, is as transparent as any other ophthalmic lens and is compatible with most lens shapes and frame styles.
Laclarée’s team is highly motivated and gathers extensive skills in optics, microfluidic and vision science. The founder of Laclarée is an experienced entrepreneur, he has successfully established a world-leading company in variable optics for cameras. The team has achieved the Proof of Concept, with a fully functional portable demonstrator, enabling a small scale trial with presbyopic people and raising a marked interest in the ecosystem. Laclarée just closed its first seed investor round with Kreaxi and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).

LEON Mobility was founded in 2020 by two experts from the mobility industry who had clearly identified the problem of micro mobility: there is a lack of an economical and widespread charging infrastructure for sharing scooters. With XOO, LEON Mobility is building this smart charging infrastructure for sustainable micro mobility in public spaces. XOO charging points distributed across the city charge e-kick scooters and e-mopeds where the need is - efficiently, energy-saving and tidily. XOO is the game changer of micro-mobility. With XOO, mobility providers achieve considerable cost advantages, municipalities get a tidy cityscape and users get scooters ready to ride where they need them. Micro mobility is finally becoming a sustainable solution. For free roads, better air and tidy city centers.
XOO has already been able to achieve significant efficiency increases and improved sustainability for its customers with pilots. LEON Mobility is currently working on the roll-out for several urban customers and plans to grow significantly in 2022. At the same time, with the expansion of XOOnet, the individual XOO charging stations will be developed into AIoT Edge devices that will make XOOnet even smarter. With XOO, LEON Mobility will contribute to the successful implementation of the transport revolution and to the significant reduction of CO2 emissions in cities and municipalities.

Luphos develops and manufactures high-precision optical sensors for quality and process control in industrial fabrication as well as metrology platforms for the quality control of high precision optics.

Exit since May 2014. Purchaser: AMETEK Inc. (NASDAQ: Ametek)

MAGAZINO develops, builds and sells innovative storage and picking machines. They enable highly efficient individual item storage and dispensing of a wide range of objects.

Exit since May 2015. Purchaser: Siemens Novel Businesses.

Materials Nexus is a deep tech company on a mission to discover next-generation materials for everyday items that don’t cost the earth. It uses AI to find sustainable, cheaper and higher-performance alternatives to the advanced materials which are used to build the technologies we understand to be vital for a net-zero world. Materials Nexus’ ground-breaking software can accurately predict the properties of sustainable materials and understand the costs and processes associated with scaling and manufacturing them – all in a matter of months, not decades.

memetis develops foil-based miniature actuators made of shape memory alloys (SMA). SMA are metallic alloys that seem to "remember" a certain shape by electric heating that has been trained beforehand and then assume it independently. The alloy already disposes of these properties, so that no further mechanical components are required. memetis actuators thus enable high switching forces with better integration and higher flexibility compared to conventional solutions. memetis has the expertise to quickly adapt the developed actuators to customer requirements. Due to the extended range of applications, memetis actuators are used in a multitude of innovative industries and sectors.

MetisMotion is a Munich based tech Start-up, founded in 2018. Its core competence covers ultra-dynamic and space/ weight saving linear force actuators. The MetisMotion technology platform combines decades of experience in actuator development for challenging automotive and industrial applications. It is further addressing diverse use-cases, spanning from aviation to robotics.
Compared to conventional linear actuators, MetisMotion actuators are up to 80% smaller and lighter and respond up to 10x faster. In addition, they bring inherent sensing capabilities, which would not be readily available in electromagnetic, hydraulic or pneumatic solutions. This allows MetisMotion solutions to drive the electrification of hydraulics for the Industry 4.0 revolution.

Midel Photonics GmbH was founded in May 2022 and emerged from research in the "ML4Q" Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn. With its innovative laser beam shaping technology, the company solves highly topical problems in laser material processing and enables highly efficient laser systems. The founders were supported by EXIST research transfer funding from the BMWK, NRW.BANK, the High-Tech.NRW network, the enaCom transfer center at the University of Bonn and the RWTH Aachen incubation program. The founding team consists of David Dung, Frederik Wolf, Christian Wahl, Christopher Grossert.

MinCell develops innovative technologies and recipes for foam-glass gravel and board production. We are aiming to be the cost leader with high quality in this segment (me-too product). Having successfully finished our R&D and testing phase, we are in the process of setting up our manufacturing and distribution footprint for the European market.

Exit since August 2014.

Multiphoton Optics develops 3D printers for the serial production of optical components with previously unattainable precision.

Nanda sells wafer inspection systems to chip manufacturer world wide. The innovative optical design allows for faster inspection speed. This reduces costs dramatically and increases yield in the production process.

Exit since Nov. 2011. Purchaser: Nanometrics Inc. (Nasdaq: NANO).

Next Kraftwerke links microgeneration plants and creates a virtual power plant. Pooling such plants makes unused resources available to the electricity market

node.energy offers a software-as-a-service for the commercial optimization of local energy concepts – so-called microgrids. This allows industrial and commercial companies with on-site power generation to reduce both, their energy costs and CO2 footprint. The company is supported by the Climate-KIC Accelerator of the European Union and is the winner of the Startup Award 2017 of the auditing company EY. node.energy was founded in 2016 by Matthias Karger and Lars Rinn and is based in Frankfurt am Main.

Novum offers through AI and a hardware module exact battery monitoring that enables 15% more capacity usage and 20% longer lifetime. The on-site instant battery characterisation enables multiple second-life use cases for batteries with a strong sustainability impact and increased safety against fire or explosions.

OrbEx is an innovative space access company.