HTGF (High-Tech Gründerfonds)

Germany's largest public-private pre-seed/seed fund has operated for roughly 21 years with over €2B+ AUM (Fund IV is ~€500M), boasting 780+ investments and ~200 exits. Focusing exclusively on B2B and B2G opportunities with no B2C investments (past B2C investments included Mister Spex and Emma), the fund aims to be the first institutional investor and is developing into a classical pre-seed lead, as seed is often too late. It provides an initial ticket of €500K-1.2M with a sweet spot of ~€0.9-1M, prefers to lead the first round, and offers multi-stage follow-on up to €30M, though it does not lead rounds after the initial one. Its investments are managed by three teams focusing on software and vertical AI infrastructure (Hanna's team), deep tech including space and defense (e.g., Proxima Fusion), and life sciences/biotech. Limited partners include the German State and major corporates or hidden champions like Deutsche Bank, DHL, and Bosch, which provide warm sales intros to decision-makers, assist with due diligence and reference calls, and have co-invested in and acquired portfolio companies. While its home turf is Germany (Berlin/Bonn/Munich), it invests across Europe but requires a network for non-DACH dealflow; it does not invest in the US or in Delaware Inc.s.

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