High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF)
Canvas Category Consultancy : Company : Venture Capital
HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing start-ups in the fields of Deep Tech, Industrial Tech, Climate Tech, Digital Tech, Life Sciences and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports start-ups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Across its funds, HTGF has over 2 billion euros under management. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 750 start-ups and successfully sold shares in more than 180 companies.
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Dessia raises €3 million to automate engineering processes through AI
Dessia Technologies, a startup specializing in developing a software platform to automate engineering processes through AI, announced a €3 million funding round. Led by Matterwave Ventures, Supernova Invest, and the Orano Venture Fund, this funding will enable Dessia to accelerate its international expansion and reinforce its technical and commercial teams.
As part of this fundraising, Dessia will provide Orano, an international player in nuclear materials, with innovative “generative design” solutions. This will allow engineers to develop and implement AI programs to automate the generation of multiple system architectures, thereby improving engineering study performance.
Among its clients, Renault Group uses the software platform to optimize the thermal and electrical architecture of its automotive platforms, shortening development cycles. OPmobility, meanwhile, leverages Dessia’s technology to automate the design of hydrogen storage systems.
This funding will support Dessia’s international expansion, with the sales and marketing teams expanding to forge new industrial partnerships across Europe, followed by other continents.
Compare, Book, Print: 3D Printing Marketplace Craftcloud gets Growth Funding
All3DP GmbH, publisher of the online magazine All3DP.com and operator of the Craftcloud marketplace, has announced the successful completion of a financing round. The round was led by HZG Group, which joins existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Bayern Kapital and Deutsche Balaton AG as a new shareholder. The funds will primarily be used to accelerate the international growth of All3DP’s successful marketplace solution Craftcloud.
Craftcloud makes 3D printing as easy as booking a flight. Customers simply upload the digital model of their part and receive real-time quotes. With just a few clicks, the required quantities can be ordered from the desired provider. Approximately 180 international print service providers are connected to the marketplace and have all been validated by Craftcloud. In addition to costs, all providers are listed by name, company location and the processes they offer. This makes Craftcloud the most transparent platform on the market.
Caeli Wind, the digital platform for wind energy sites, secures €11 million in fresh capital in a Series A funding round
Caeli Wind, the platform for analysing and marketing wind energy locations founded by Ben Schlemmermeier and Heiko Bartels in 2022, announced that it has secured €11 million in growth capital from international investors. The round was led by renowned UK venture capital fund Notion Capital with the participation of Santander Alternative Investments and existing investors such as HTGF.
Caeli has developed an advanced AI-based analysis system and a marketplace to accelerate the expansion of wind turbines. In 2023, the company was able to identify 173 new locations for wind turbines in Germany and allocate them to project developers and energy suppliers. On average, the AI company accelerates the realisation of wind farms by 18 months thanks to its digital analysis and awarding platform.
Tomorrow Things raises €1.5M for AI-driven digital twins
AI start-up Tomorrow Things has secured €1.5 million in funding to continue the development of an AI-powered Operating System for machines on the internet. High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and neoteq ventures led the funding which was supported by Notion Capital, solo GP Robin Capital, and a number of business angels specializing in fundraising, marketing, and B2B SaaS (Christian Noske, Maximilian Eichler, Thomas Lang, Thomas Hollwedel, and Markus Doetsch).
Tomorrow Things is an intelligent automation platform that creates digital twins of technical assets. Tomorrow Things enables secure bidirectional data transfer between machines and internet applications. AI-driven control strategies can be created centrally by value-add partners and operated on the edge to execute optimised setpoints in the machine interface that achieve better results.
Valispace Joins Forces with Altium in a Strategic Acquisition
Altium, a leading provider of design software for the electronics industry, has acquired Valispace. Valispace’s capabilities in Systems- and Requirements Engineering will complement the Altium 365 cloud platform for product and electronics design. High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), one of Europe’s leading seed investors, was the firstinstitutional investors and has been a close supporter of the team since the seed investment in 2018.
Altium and Valispace are joining forces to accelerate the execution of a shared vision for empowering engineers. Products are becoming more and more defined by their electronics: While in the 1980s a car would contain around 20 chips, this number has grown to more than 2000. At the same time there are continuously higher demands to track regulatory and other requirements down to the component level, and modern systems engineering practices are needed more than ever to manage the rising complexity of products. Engineers therefore rightfully demand modern tools that allow them to develop future products with an end-to-end solution for which Valispace at Altium will be a major building block.
€1.6 million investment for XITO: Seed funding for easily accessible robotics
The start-up Toolify Robotics, founded by the three robotics experts Dr. Dennis Stampfer, Dr. Matthias Lutz and Dr. Alex Lotz, has convinced investors of its business model and completed its seed financing with a total of €1.6 million. “We will use the funds from this financing round to further accelerate our growth,” says Dr. Dennis Stampfer. “We plan to expand our innovative solution platform, hire new talent and strengthen our market presence.”
The aim of the Ulm-based startup is to develop further use cases to provide especially small and medium-sized companies with a path to automation. In addition to the existing investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), the group of investors for the seed phase now consists of the start-up BW Seed Fund of the MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH, the investment companies of the Sparkasse Ulm and Biberach as well as the robotics solution provider AiCobot and combines the financing of Toolify with the prospect of facilitating and accelerating the integration of robotics in medium-sized manufacturing companies.
COLIPI Receives EUR 1.8 Million Seed Funding
The conclusion of the Seed funding round marks a significant success for the Hamburg-based deep-tech startup COLIPI GmbH as it embarks on the year 2024. Investors include the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), the Innovationsstarter Fonds Hamburg (IFH), Nidobirds Ventures GmbH, and Stefan De Loecker. With this, COLIPI moves a significant step closer to its vision of “Fermenting Renewable Carbon For Generational Life Quality”.
The start-up founded in 2022, a spin-off from the Technical University of Hamburg, supported by the EXIST Research Transfer Program (German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action) and the InnoRampUp Program (IFB Innovationsstarter GmbH), is revolutionizing the way oil is produced. COLIPI is, in a sense, a brewery for oils. Carbon is sourced or filtered from the air rather than pumped from the ground. CO2-containing industrial emissions and organic by-products, for example, from the agricultural industry, are converted by microorganisms through fermentations into valuable biomaterials like Climate Oil. The oil is more sustainable than crude oil and palm oil, considering the CO2 footprint and its impact on biodiversity. It is enabled by a patented bioprocess, a combination of a specially designed gas fermentation bioreactor and the world’s fastest CO2-consuming bacteria. Industrial partners offering products such as cosmetics based on Climate Oil will be able to significantly reduce their corporate CO2 footprint. The founders, Philipp Arbeiter, Tyll Utesch, Jonas Heuer, and Maximilian Webers, aim to produce many millions of tons of Climate Oil annually by 2039, avoiding multiples of that amount in CO2 emissions. This will be an active contribution to climate protection and, consequently, humanity’s well-being. The recently completed Seed financing is another milestone for the young company. The capital will be utilized to expand the team, test the market with products manufactured by partners, and scale the technology.
Chipmetrics Secures € 2.4 Million Seed Funding Round to Accelerate Product Innovation and Global Expansion
Chipmetrics Ltd, the Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology company and a pioneer in 3D ultra-high aspect ratio test elements for metrology of semiconductor and advanced thin film material manufacturing, proudly announces the successful closure of a €2.4 million investment round. The international investor syndicate was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and co-led by OCCIDENT from Germany. Other investors were Innovestor, REDSTONE and BALD Engineering. This substantial investment serves as a testament to Chipmetrics’ groundbreaking advancements in the PillarHall® metrology test chip technology, positioning the company as a frontrunner in conformality measurements in material deposition processes. The funds raised will be instrumental in accelerating Chipmetric’s product development efforts, scaling production capabilities, and expanding its market presence with the already existing international customer base.
Next-generation laser technology: Midel Photonics secures EUR 1 million in seed funding
Bonn-based laser start-up Midel Photonics is ending the year with a bang: Its seed financing round has been closed, with investors including High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and renowned industry experts Thomas Merk and Dr. Markus Dilger.
Founded in 2022, high-tech start-up Midel Photonics is revolutionizing laser materials processing. In key areas such as cutting microchips, welding engines and batteries for electromobility and display manufacturing, current laser technologies are reaching their limits, leading to inefficient production processes and wasted resources. Midel Photonics’ innovation is a novel technology that shapes laser beams to significantly enhance the efficiency of existing processes while paving the way for new manufacturing processes. The company is working towards a more sustainable and intelligent manufacturing future.
Soluterials’ innovative and sustainable aluminium material revolutionises the industry
German start-up Soluterials has raised a seven-figure sum in the first closing of its seed round to accelerate the market launch of its innovative and sustainable high performance pure aluminium material SoluteriAL. SoluteriAL reduces the carbon footprint and offers superior properties compared to conventional aluminium metal or alloys, opening new opportunities for a wide range of industries. Backed by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and three business angels, the company will scale up production and expand its team.
SoluteriAL extends the properties of pure aluminium, such as high electrical conductivity, high thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance and low weight, with high mechanical strength and high creep resistance.
viboo secures CHF 1.5 million in successful seed round
Swiss viboo secures CHF 1.5 million in a successful seed funding round and plans to advance its predictive-control-as-a-service platform for building decarbonization and enable energy savings in commercial buildings. The investors, including High-Tech Gründerfonds, Swisscom Ventures and Rainmaking Impact, show great interest in viboo’s innovative solutions for building decarbonization.
The PCaaS platform from viboo enables manufacturers of smart thermostats to make the most of their potential. It learns the thermal behavior of a building and can predict future room temperatures, taking into account factors such as weather forecasts and occupant preferences. As a result, energy consumption can be made more efficient, leading to significant savings.
Toolify secures seed funding from HTGF to make robotics more accessible for SMEs
The Ulm-based start-up Toolify, founded by robotics experts Dr. Dennis Stampfer, Dr. Matthias Lutz, and Dr. Alex Lotz, has received seed funding from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). The company’s unique combination of an online marketplace and modular system, XITO, aims to make the complex world of robotics easily accessible..
Toolify’s XITO offers a solution to this challenge. The open, digital marketplace proposes tailored products for individual automation projects, helps with comparison, and enables online planning and a seamless transition to implementation. The user has the freedom to decide how much they want to handle themselves. XITO is already being used for tasks such as machine loading, assembly processes, gluing, pick & place, and palletizing.