NRW.BANK and regional family offices invest in early-stage fund Earlybird VIII

Düssel­dorf — For the first time, NRW.BANK is inves­t­ing speci­fi­cally in South West­pha­lia toge­ther with Early­bird from Berlin and seve­ral family offices. At the current closing of the Early­bird VIII early-stage fund, EUR 15 million was mobi­li­zed for start-ups from the region. The aim is to streng­then the regi­on’s inno­va­tive power and competitiveness. 

“Inno­va­tions with which we shape the future are crea­ted all over the coun­try — even away from the major metro­po­li­tan areas. That’s why we support start-ups in all regi­ons of our state and thus actively drive change and progress,” says Johanna Anto­nie Tjaden-Schulte, Member of the Mana­ging Board of NRW.BANK (Photo: NRW Bank). “The fact that we are inves­t­ing in South West­pha­lia toge­ther with Early­bird and important family offices is a strong signal for the inno­va­tive strength and attrac­ti­ve­ness of South West­pha­lia as a loca­tion and for North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia as a whole.” 

First regio­nal closing in the Early­bird VIII fund

In addi­tion to the five million euros from NRW.BANK, private inves­tors also parti­ci­pa­ted in the current closing. These include, for exam­ple, the family offices of large family busi­nesses such as Viega and Krom­ba­cher. A total of EUR 15 million is thus available to turn young and promi­sing busi­ness ideas from South West­pha­lia, parti­cu­larly in areas such as arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, robo­tics, new mate­ri­als, indus­trial digi­ta­liza­tion and sustainable tech­no­lo­gies, into viable compa­nies. This also streng­thens the inno­va­tive power and econo­mic deve­lo­p­ment of the region as a whole. 

For Early­bird, one of the most renow­ned early-stage finan­ciers in Germany, the current closing is the first targe­ted commit­ment in a region of North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia. The fund’s manage­ment had speci­fi­cally recrui­ted NRW.BANK as a part­ner in order to streng­then the commit­ment with addi­tio­nal exper­tise and expe­ri­ence for the start-up scene in NRW and South West­pha­lia. The part­ner­ship between Early­bird and NRW.BANK had alre­ady proven its worth in two previous funds. The Early­bird VIII fund has a total volume of EUR 360 million, which flows into start-ups throug­hout Europe. In South West­pha­lia, the Early­bird Inno­Ven­tures team pools capi­tal and know-how from the regio­nal economy to promote and finance tech­­no­­logy-driven start-ups from the region. 

About NRW.BANK — Deve­lo­p­ment Bank for North Rhine-Westphalia

NRW.BANK is the deve­lo­p­ment bank for North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia. In close part­ner­ship with its owner, the state of North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia, it helps to streng­then SMEs and start-ups, create afforda­ble housing and improve public infra­struc­ture. NRW.BANK offers people, compa­nies and muni­ci­pa­li­ties in NRW tailor-made finan­cing and advi­sory services. It works with finan­cing part­ners, in parti­cu­lar all banks and savings banks, on a non-compe­­ti­­tive basis. In order to streng­then the trans­for­ma­tion proces­ses, it provi­des targe­ted promo­tio­nal impe­tus — towards a sustainable, climate-neutral and digi­tal NRW.