Bonn, Germany-based High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) announced on Tuesday, February 28, that it has closed its fourth fund, HTGF IV, at €493.8M, making it the largest fund of HTGF to date.
Dr. Alex von Frankenberg, Managing Director of the High-Tech Gründerfonds, says, “Despite the extremely difficult environment, we are proud to have significantly increased the number of private investors in HTGF IV.”
“The investor base of the HTGF IV reflects the strengths of the German economy: In addition to the majority of hidden champions, selected large corporations, the Fraunhofer Society and, for the first time, five family offices are investors in the HTGF IV,” he adds.
High-Tech Gründerfonds collected €319.5M for its third fund.
With the HTGF IV fund, the German VC has increased the number of private investors to 45 compared to the third fund. Besides, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) and KfW Capital, were involved in the fund.
The representative of the private investors in the new fund is Alexa Gorman. As Senior Vice President of SAP.iO, Gorman leads all startup activities of SAP SE worldwide.
High-Tech Gründerfonds says that initial investments have already been made. They include:
- Reflex Aerospace (individual and high-performance satellites)
- Phialogics (biologicals that balance the immune response in acute and chronic inflammation)
- VisioLab (AI-based check-out solutions)
Criteria
Through the HTGF IV fund, the VC will invest in the startup up to €1M in the seed round. Overall, the HTGF can invest up to €4M in a startup across all financing rounds.
Startups have to be less than three years old and have their headquarters in Germany or a branch in Germany if the company is based in another European country.
“The very successful fundraising enables us to continue to finance a large number of startups with future-oriented innovations. Thanks to our fund investors, we can use more capital per investment. This is a significant shift in this market phase,” says Guido Schlitzer, Managing Director of the High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds
The seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) finances technology startups with growth potential. To date, the VC has supported more than 700 startups since its inception in 2005.
With the start of the fourth fund, High-Tech Gründerfonds has around €1.4B under management.
High-Tech Gründerfonds focuses on high-tech startups in digital tech, industrial tech, life sciences, chemistry, and related business areas.
To date, external investors have invested more than €4.5B in more than 2,000 follow-up financing rounds in the High-Tech Gründerfonds portfolio.
The fund has also successfully sold shares in more than 160 companies.
