HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds

🎄Here's our final Deep Dive Newsletter of 2024! We would like to take this opportunity to thank you and all partners of HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds. This strong network is essential to our ability to contribute to the further development of the start-up ecosystem! 📰 We have put together the latest news, investment rounds and exits – as well as our interview with Romy Schnelle and Alex von Frankenberg, looking back on the year. Click below ⬇️

👏 Successful exit for HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds! Everfield has acquired ondeso - Industrial IT made in Germany, a leading provider of OT administration software, offering equipment operators and manufacturers centralized management and enhanced security for their industrial PC landscapes. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Regensburg, Germany, ondeso serves a range of renowned customers in the DACH region, including multinational corporations such as Mercedes Benz Group and ThyssenKrupp Steel. HTGF was an early investor and will sell all its shares in this transaction. 🗨️ Markus Kreßmann, partner at HTGF, adds: "This is perfect timing and the right step for Everfield to expand its expertise and its manufacturing software ecosystem in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Congratulations to the team at ondeso!"

🚀 Let's hyper-personalize website with artificial intelligence! Bonn-based AI start-up pagent.ai takes the web experience to a new level with a specially developed AI system relieving marketing professionals of the time-consuming creation and evaluation of A/B tests and automatically displays the most effective version of the website to the user. The founding duo receives a high six-figure pre-seed financing from HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds for their idea that helps companies can better achieve their marketing goals. 📈 For 2025, the start-up is planning to expand the training and learning functionalities of its technology to include elements such as structure, design and video content. Selected pilot customers are already using the AI solution and creating so-called “pagents” that automatically optimize website elements, test variants and display the best version to their users. 💬 Constantin Dißelkamp, founder and CEO of pagent.ai, says: “AI is revolutionizing how we communicate with customers online. It's no longer enough to just build a nice landing page - every user needs to be addressed personally.”  🗨️Christopher Helf, founder and CTO of pagent.ai, adds: “Telecommunications and fashion e-commerce companies in particular are showing great interest in the automation solution. No matter what type of conversion target is involved - whether sales, newsletters, sign-ups or video clicks. For any organization with an online presence, there is great potential in marketing automation with AI to better achieve their goals.”  🎉HTGF congratulates Constantin and Christopher! Learn more by following the link in the comments 👇

🩸 Congratultions to Lindis Blood Care GmbH on the first closing of a funding round. Participating investors include Brandenburg Kapital GmbH , HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds, existing and new private investors as well as the founders. The second closing expected by the end of Q1 2025. The new funds will be used in preparing for upcoming approval and product launch of CATUVAB® in Europe. CATUVAB® is a novel approach designed to be a safe and cost-effective way to reliably remove tumor cells from autologous blood. 💬 Dr. Franzpeter Bracht, founder and Managing Director of Lindis Blood Care says: “We are grateful for the continued support of our existing shareholders and welcome our new investors who share our vision of introducing the first medical device that has the potential to redefine the protocols of intraoperative blood salvage in cancer surgeries.” 🗨️ Dr. Angelika Vlachou, Partner at HTGF, comments: “We are excited to support Lindis Blood Care to revolutionize the autologous blood management in surgery for tumor patients and backing this vision from the very beginning.” Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eux3nd57 

♻️ For the latest edition of our Deep Dive newsletter, we had the pleasure of interviewing Maike Lambarth and Dominik Novakovic, two of the founders of Cyclize. Discover how they are revolutionizing the circular economy with innovative solutions for plastic waste management. Maike Lambarth shared the story of how the idea for Cyclize was born: "We knew that we could recycle carbon with our very efficient plasma reactor. The question was therefore whether it could be used for a different economic application. Stephan ultimately came up with the idea of using plastic waste. This had two crucial advantages. We obtained, on the one hand, an additional source of carbon and, on the other hand, a source of energy. This significantly reduced the amount of electrical energy required, making the process economically viable under current market conditions." Don't miss out on this insightful conversation! Learn about their journey, challenges, and the impact they are making in the industry. 📅 Read the full interview in our blog 👉 https://lnkd.in/eGAwuMB5 

🌟 Join Us for the HTGF Family Day 2025 in Berlin! 🌟 Mark your calendars for 19 and 20 May 2025! HTGF Family Day is the perfect platform to exchange ideas, draw inspiration, and seize unparalleled investment and cooperation opportunities. Be one of our 1,500 guests and connect with a diverse community of investors, industry experts, policymakers, visionary founders from the HTGF portfolio, and like-minded innovators. What to Expect: 📅 Monday, 19 May 2025: HTGF Networking Night (6 p.m. - midnight) Immerse yourself in an evening of exciting encounters and inspiring conversations. Connect with top players from investment, innovation, and start-ups in exclusive networking formats. Experience an evening full of innovation and creativity. 📅 Tuesday, 20 May 2025: Full-Day Family Day + 20 Years Birthday Party (9 a.m. - 2 a.m.) Our program kicks off at 9 a.m. with high-level discussions and presentations on venture capital, start-ups, and innovation. Look forward to exciting pitches and intensive networking throughout the day. The grand finale will be a big birthday party in the evening to celebrate our 20th anniversary and two decades of success. Don't Miss Out! Two days of meaningful connections, knowledge exchange, and business opportunities await you. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eY7nNXt ⬅️ 🎟️ Early-bird registration is open until 6 January 2025. Stay tuned for more information on the agenda, speakers, and side events. We look forward to seeing you in Berlin!

🍾 Successful exit for HTGF! COREDINATE GmbH is now part of the Nomadia Group, a leading provider of intelligent SaaS solutions for mobility and field service management. Founded in 2014 and based in Uffenheim, Germany, COREDINATE offers a cloud-based solution dedicated to optimizing the operational processes of field teams conducting surveillance patrols, control rounds, and maintenance or cleaning tasks. Its innovative technology enables real-time tracking of interventions, daily task management, and incident documentation through NFC-enabled mobile devices. The acquisition of COREDINATE strengthens Nomadia’s presence in Europe and reinforces its position as a leading player in Field Service Management by integrating an innovative intervention management solution tailored to the Security and Facility Management sectors. HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds was among the first institutional investors in COREDINATE in 2015 and will sell all its shares in this merger. 💬 Michael Kulig, CEO of COREDINATE, says: “I am very proud of Coredinate’s integration into the Nomadia group, which has demonstrated strong momentum in recent years and clearly expresses its ambition to become the European leader in SaaS solutions. Coredinate will benefit from this strategic synergy to drive its own development into other European markets.” 🗨️ Christian Ziach, Principal at HTGF, comments: “Michael and Sebastian Kulig are textbook entrepreneurs. It's no wonder that they learned their trade at home. With Coredinate, they have successfully built up a company that has digitized the security industry in the long term. It has been a great pleasure for me to accompany these two founders over the past seven years because they have distinguished themselves through their high level of adherence to plans, continuous growth and profitability. These are all values that are not found everywhere in the tech and startup world. I am therefore delighted that we were able to find a crowning conclusion for all of us with the successful exit to Nomadia.” Learn more ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eVw3AUX9

👏Successful exit for HTGF: Today, Citrix, a business unit of Cloud Software Group Inc., announced the strategic acquisition of HTGF portfolio company deviceTRUST GmbH, a pioneer in advanced contextual security solutions, to provide greater value for its customers by integrating their secure access technologies. Citrix provides a secure app and desktop delivery platform that companies of all sizes can use to enable secure, flexible work. HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds was the first institutional investor in deviceTRUST, leading the seed financing round in 2017. 🗨️ Sascha Goeckel, former CEO at deviceTRUST, said: “Our current success is based not least on the healthy foundation that we have built up with HTGF as a reliable partner. The acquisition by Cloud Software Group makes us very proud and enables us to expand the leading Contextual Access technology further together and make it accessible to even more customers. We look forward to the future!” 💬 Dr. Tanja Emmerling, Partner at HTGF, comments: “We are delighted to have been the first institutional investor to back deviceTRUST. With a deep understanding of secure access, long before hybrid work environments became the norm, the team of deviceTRUST recognized the relevance of contextual security. The topic has rapidly gained momentum ever since and we are excited that their important security solution has now gained an even larger foundation with Citrix.” Learn more by following the link in the comments 👇 

🎉 Congratulations to ATMOS Space Cargo! The pioneering European NewSpace startup, today announced the appointment of Lori Garver, former NASA Deputy Administrator, as an industry expert to its advisory board. Garver’s expertise will be instrumental in advancing ATMOS’s mission to deliver commercial space cargo return services, with its first missions slated for Q4 2025 to and from Low Earth Orbit.   🚀 A transformative leader in the aerospace industry, Garver served as NASA’s Deputy Administrator and leader of the agency’s transition team from 2008 to 2013, where she spearheaded NASA’s shift toward commercial partnerships.   💬 Lori Garver says: "NASA’s plan to reduce space transportation costs by leveraging private investment was never about supporting a single company or sector. Lowering the barrier to entry for commercial space projects was designed to stimulate a range of activities in the space domain, and life sciences research has always been of particular interest to me. I’m thrilled to be joining ATMOS Space Cargo in their quest to support reliable and affordable orbital research. I look forward to being part of a global team whose sights are set on utilizing the unique properties of space to benefit humanity."   🗨️ Christian Ziach, Principal at HTGF, adds: "During her tenure as NASA Deputy Administrator, Lori Garver gave start-ups and commercial space companies a chance to prove themselves and helped the New Space movement to break through. The fact that she has decided to support a start-up that I funded makes me very proud and honored at the same time. I am very excited to work side by side with such a transformative leader to drive the further development of Atmos Space Cargo."   Learn more ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ee982-_C

Dr. Achim Plum will join HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds as Managing Director on 1 January 2025, to be part of the management team alongside Romy Schnelle and Dr. Alex von Frankenberg. Dr. Plum, who holds a PhD in genetics, was appointed to the role by HTGF's Investor Advisory Board. He succeeds Guido Schlitzer who, as previously announced, will leave HTGF on 31 December this year.   🔬 With more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry and extensive management expertise, Dr. Plum has gained extensive knowledge in areas such as diagnostics, precision medicine, life science tools and medical technology. Dr. Plum has held senior management positions in early stage, growth stage and global technology companies. He has successfully established processes, created structures and led organisations through periods of strong growth.   🗨️ Dr. Achim Plum: “I’m looking forward to switching my perspective from entrepreneur to seed investor and supporting Germany’s start-up ecosystem in this new role. I have great respect for my new assignment and am very excited about working with my fellow Managing Directors and the entire HTGF team. I will leverage my experience and network to ensure we continue this success story – both for HTGF and its portfolio companies.”   👏 Welcome, Achim! We’re looking forward to having you on board. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e4fhw8DT