HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds

🚀 Virtual Pitch Feedback Session: From Campus to Company Vol. 2 Are you an undergraduate, recent graduate, or PhD student with a startup idea? Our first session "Read, set, pitch - from campus to company" was a great success. Unfortunately, we could not invite everyone who submitted a pitch deck, so here's another chance. Or maybe you didn't have yours ready in February? Join us on May 6 at 4:00 PM for a private session designed to help you take your pitch to the next level.   🎯 What’s in it for you? ✅ Present your idea to our investment team ✅ Get personalized feedback on your business model, market strategy, and tech ✅ Learn from our experts: Hanna (Digital Tech) & Viola (Deep Tech)   📥 Apply now by submitting your pitch deck under the link in the comments. The deadline is May 1!

✳️ Podcast Update ✳️ 1️⃣ Am 3.4. war Martin Möllmann, Principal beim HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds, zu Gast bei Investment & Exits von Startup Insider und sprach mit Mickaël Bellaïche von Redstone und Host Jan Thomas über die Finanzierungsrunden des Berliner Startup voize und des Münchner Health Tech Sqior Medical. 2️⃣ In der gestrigen Ausgabe sprachen Johannes Weber, HTGF-Principal, und Dr. Till Stenzel von SET Ventures über die Seed-Runde von Beagle Systems, einem Hamburger Geodaten-Startup. 🎧 Jetzt anhören, über die Links in den Kommentaren 👇 

🚀 Successful exit for HTGF! Erlangen-based MedTech company German Medical Engineering (GME) is now a subsidiary of the Thomas Group, a leading manufacturer of innovative actuator and hydraulic solutions. Together, the companies aim to strategically develop GME's business with its innovative therapeutic laser and light systems. HTGF was one of the first institutional investors and has closely supported GME since the seed financing in 2011. As part of the transaction, HTGF is selling its shares. 🤝 With the acquisition of the HTGF portfolio company GME, Thomas is entering a new business segment. From being a provider of mechatronic solutions for the mobility and off-highway markets, the portfolio is now expanding to include innovative solutions for laser and light therapy under the still independent GME brand. 🗨️ Stefan Schulze, Managing Director of GME, says: “I would like to express my sincere thanks to HTGF for the constructive and trusting collaboration. HTGF has been a reliable partner for us over many years, providing us with advice and support as a company.” 💬 Dr. Jan Engels, Investment Manager at HTGF, says: “We are very pleased to have been able to support GME on its journey from its beginnings to a successful exit. We are convinced that GME will continue its growth strategy as part of the Thomas Group, a strong partner from the German Mittelstand.” Learn more by following the link in the comments 👇

What a night! 🎉  Yesterday we celebrated the launch of our new HTGF brand during a special edition of our HTGF Young VC Drinks – and the energy was incredible.  Over 150 guests signed up, with even more on the waitlist – a full house of VCs, founders, and ecosystem friends met up at our Berlin office. A huge thank you to everyone who joined, connected, and made it a truly memorable evening. With good conversations and the perfect Berlin backdrop, we couldn’t have asked for a better way to kick off this next chapter of HTGF.  🚀With our event Young VC series we’re bringing together young investors and analysts to encourage conversation and to build community. Let’s keep the momentum going – see you at the next one!

🧫💡 Let's revolutionize drug discovery by making animal testing obsolete. 🔬 Hamburg-based startup mo:re is making it possible with 3D cell culture models, which are a game-changer for pharmaceutical R&D. In March, the startup announced its €2.3M seed round led by HTGF. In our interview co-founder & CEO Lukas Gaats shares: ✅ How an idea in a university lab became a startup ✅ The biggest mental challenge of founding a company ✅ Why hardware, software & wetware must go hand in hand ✅ What’s next for mo:re after launching their platform Check out the full interview here. 👇 Links in the comments.

...and that's a wrap for MedTech Pitch Day 2025! While we're closing the day with more networking, let's recap the afternoon: We started off with our panel discussion moderated by Alexander E. Katzung, Vice President Acceleration & Innovation at B.Braun. Franzpeter Bracht of Lindis Blood Care GmbH, Sascha Preget of SmartAIs and Jana Hassel, consultant on digital policy at BAG SELBSTHILFE e.V., disussed startups working together with patient organisations. Then, Andrea Venturato of Apersys AG kicked off the second pitch session: This Swiss startup develops an advanced perfusion system, as the best possible environment for a liver outside the human body.   Cathrin Johansson presented Solutio by Swedish startup MedVasc. Their method enables pain-free deployment and precise distribution of local anesthetic agents by penetrating the vein wall from inside the vein. Skincubator Neocare from Israel, represented by Alon Metrikin-Gold, developed a wearable-based solution suite, that solves the key challenges to both immediate and prolonged skin-to-skin care to overcome the separation of parents and infants in the Neonatal ICU, to improve outcomes, and to reduce complications, and costs. Fourth to pitch this afernoon was Dr. Maximilian Brinkmann for Refined Laser Systems GmbH. This startup develops automated laser technology with switching speed for the fields of nonlinear microscopy, ultrashort pulse lasers and for white light sources. In our final presentation, Dr. Corentin Gondrand pitched for QuantiLight's portable diagnostic platform for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM), enabling chronic patients to perform blood tests at home. In his closing remarks, Dr. Thilo Brinkmann, Managing Director at B. Braun Stiftung - der Gesundheit neue Wege bereiten, announced that B. Braun will be hosting next year's MedTech Pitch Day. More details will be announced later. Dr. Achim Plum, Managing Director of HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds and responsible for the investment area Life Sciences & Chemistry, commented: "Our hosts at Dräger provided a great stage for this year's MedTech Pitch Day and the ten presenting founders. The event paves the way for highly innovative ideas to be put into medical practice. Ultimately, patients will benefit from this." Thank you to our co-organizers: B. Braun Group, B. Braun Stiftung - der Gesundheit neue Wege bereiten, Life Science Nord and this year's host Dräger. CC: Tom Gales, André Albrecht, Esther Vielitz, Mika Hansen Franziska Otto, Matthias Warken, Ingo Hämmerle, Julius Welsch, Oliver Schacht HTGF team: Achim Plum, Christian Kannemeier, Lena-Sophie Schütter, Jonas von der Decken, Kaja Buller, Jörn Thesen

What a great day for pitches and networking! This year's MedTech Pitch Day, hosted by our fund investor Dräger in Lübeck is off to a great start. Dr. Achim Plum, managing director at HTGF, and Tom Gales, Head of M&A at Dräger, and Global Innovation Manager Esther Vielitz opened the event. Then, we had participating investors introduce themselves in short reverse pitches - to make direct connections easier. Stefan Klebor and Dr. Raphael Richter were first to present for Celtrix. This Fraunhofer spinoff delivers battery innovations to critical industries by manufacturing high-performance, custom-developed solutions, bridging the gap between research and practical applications. Dr. Judit Angster pitched PropofolSafe and their measuring device for real-time monitoring of TIVA-Propofol. This promises Ideal Propofol dosage using measurement data on the patient's individual metabolism. Up next was MDA Medical Decision Alliance GmbH, represented by Daniel Bauer. The startup is developing AI-based software to support decision-making during an operation. Rodrigo Lima de Miranda presented Acquandas GmbH. The startup developed a unique fabrication technology, which enables and scales the development of disruptive therapies in the medical device and pharmaceutical therapies. The last startup to present in our morning session was Altavo. Rudolf von Buenau pitched the startup's product that improves speech output for laryngectomized, neuromotor-restricted and ventilator patients. The "Artificial Voice" principle captures articulation movements using non-invasive sensor technology and synthesizes natural-sounding speech from them in real time using machine learning algorithms, which is output via a loudspeaker. Along with our co-organizers, B. Braun Group, B. Braun Stiftung - der Gesundheit neue Wege bereiten, Dräger and Life Science Nord, we're looking forward to the second half of the day, after our networking lunch. CC: André Albrecht, Lena-Sophie Schütter, Christian Kannemeier, Alexander E. Katzung, Oliver Schacht, Julius Welsch, Jonas von der Decken

In case you missed our Deep Dive newsletter and our featured interview, dive in now! 🌍💡 We talked to Mike McCarthy, co-founder of cloudsquid, who wants to use AI to eliminate tedious paperwork. HTGF portfolio startup cloudsquid is helping operations teams automate document-heavy workflows: from accounting to insurance claims to supply chains. Mike talks about: ✅ The power of a diverse, global team ✅ AI adoption challenges in enterprises (and how to solve them) ✅ The biggest pivot that shaped cloudsquid’s journey ✅ A bold vision for AI-first workflows that were impossible pre-LLMs If you’re tackling complex document workflows, cloudsquid is ready to scale and looking for partners to join the journey. Read the full interview and discover how they’re redefining automation. 👇 Link in the comments.

📣 HTGF Deep Dive – March Edition! 🤿 🚀 AI-powered workflows, next-gen lab tech, and major funding rounds—this month’s newsletter is packed with exciting updates! 🔹 Mike McCarthy, co-founder of cloudsquid, shares how AI agents are transforming office tasks. 🔹 Lukas Gaats of mo:re talks about revolutionizing drug development with 3D cell cultures. 🔹 Big moves in our portfolio: Hprobe acquired by Mycronic, doinstruct raises €16.5M, and Selfapy joins MEDICE - The Health Family. 🔹 Welcome to Alpine Eagle GmbH and mo:re, our newest investments! 📅 Plus, save the date for HTGF Family Day 2025 – May 19-20 in Berlin! ⬇️ Read more ⬇️

📅 Just 7 weeks to go until HTGF Family Day 2025 🚀 🤝 Join 1,500+ participants, investors, corporates, and startups from the HTGF portfolio for THE networking event of the year! Expect inspiring keynotes and panels, and endless opportunities to connect and grow. Last year, our participants had more than 4,000 one-on-one meetings. Don't miss this opportunity and get your tickets now via the link in the comments. Keep your eyes peeled for the reveal of our first speakers next week. Check out our trailer to find out why Deepa Gautam-Nigge, VP Corporate Development & Investments SAP, likes coming back every year. Video: Dominik Tryba