Thomas Doppelberger, head of the Fraunhofer Venture Group confirmed that more than half of the fund’s target size of up to €60 million had been raised, but declined to give further specifics. Investors include SAP, Swisscom and KFW Bankengruppe, as well as Fraunhofer itself.
Independently managed by Munich Venture Partners, a new Munich-based venture capital firm, the fund will consist of a mix of investments from the Fraunhofer portfolio as well as other high-tech companies.
Andreas Äpfelbacher, project manager at Fraunhofer’s Munich-based Venture Group, responsible for spin-offs and investments, told ScienceBusiness in October that the new venture fund is expected to bring in “know-how from the outside to help increase” Fraunhofer’s chances of getting further funding and to create closer contacts with industry.
Fraunhofer, best known for having invented the MP3 digital music format, has 80 research units which include 59 research institutes across Germany. These institutes have produced more than 4500 patents. Fraunhofer already has an active spin-out program under which some 80 startups have been financed. The new fund is designed to increase the spin-outs chances for success.
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