Lübeck/ Bonn - Dräger parti­ci­pa­tes in HTGF III, Europe’s most active early-stage inves­tor, which includes the German Fede­ral Minis­try for Econo­mic Affairs and Energy, KfW, the Fraun­ho­­fer-Gesel­l­­schaft e.V. and renow­ned busi­ness enter­pri­ses from all sectors and disci­pli­nes. HTGF has been a strong driver of successful high-tech start­ups since 2005, provi­ding indus­try with early access to start­ups and tech­no­logy trends.

Chris­toph Schwei­zer, Head of Corpo­rate Stra­tegy & Busi­ness Deve­lo­p­ment at Dräger: “The invest­ment in HTGF III is an important buil­ding block for Dräger to further expand our tech­no­lo­gi­cal compe­ten­cies in a targe­ted manner and thus supports our acti­vi­ties for the deve­lo­p­ment of new busi­ness models. Through HTGF’s network and the seat on the invest­ment commit­tee, we have the oppor­tu­nity to iden­tify inte­res­t­ing deve­lo­p­ments and promi­sing startup compa­nies at an early stage and to parti­ci­pate in them.”

Stef­fen Müller, Head of Mergers & Acqui­si­ti­ons / New Busi­ness Deve­lo­p­ment at Dräger, adds: “By coope­ra­ting with agile start­ups, we want to signi­fi­cantly streng­then our inno­va­tive power. Dräger’s in-depth know­ledge of custo­mer requi­re­ments and regu­la­ti­ons in the fields of medi­cal and safety tech­no­logy will help to drive the young compa­nies’ deve­lo­p­ment projects forward in a targe­ted and effi­ci­ent manner during the collaboration.”

Dr. Michael Brand­kamp, Mana­ging Direc­tor of HTGF confirms: “Dräger is a company with a long tradi­tion, expe­ri­ence and know-how in the key sectors of medi­cal and safety tech­no­logy. We are very much looking forward to the colla­bo­ra­tion and see great poten­tial for coope­ra­tion with our portfolio.”

In April 2017, Dräger alre­ady acqui­red the majo­rity shares in the Hamburg-based bentekk GmbH, which was seed-finan­­ced by HTGF. “The sale of bentekk to Dräger has alre­ady estab­lished a very good rela­ti­onship between Dräger and HTGF. I am convin­ced that we will have many more points of cont­act with our port­fo­lio,” adds Dr. Alex von Fran­ken­berg, Mana­ging Direc­tor of HTGF.

HTGF invests openly across all sectors and is inten­si­vely networked with all play­ers in the startup and inves­tor scene. This is precis­ely what guaran­tees the success of the port­fo­lio compa­nies and sustain­ably streng­thens Germany as a loca­tion for start-ups and business.

About HTGF
The seed inves­tor High-Tech Grün­der­fonds (HTGF) finan­ces tech­no­logy start­ups with growth poten­tial. With a total volume of 886 million euros distri­bu­ted across three funds (272 million euros Fund I, 304 million euros Fund II, target: 310 million euros Fund III), as well as an inter­na­tio­nal part­ner network, HTGF has alre­ady shaped nearly 500 start­ups into compa­nies since 2005. Its team of expe­ri­en­ced invest­ment mana­gers and startup experts focu­ses on high-tech start­ups in the soft­ware, media and Inter­net sectors, as well as hard­ware, auto­ma­tion, health­care, chemi­cals and life sciences.

Inves­tors in the public-private part­ner­ship include. the German Fede­ral Minis­try for Econo­mic Affairs and Energy, KfW, the Fraun­ho­­fer-Gesel­l­­schaft and the busi­ness enter­pri­ses ALTANA, BASF, B.Braun, Robert Bosch, BÜFA, CEWE, Deut­sche Post DHL, Dräger, Dril­lisch AG, EVONIK, EWE AG, Haniel, Hettich, Knauf, Körber, LANXESS, media + more venture Betei­li­gungs GmbH & Co. KG, PHOENIX CONTACT, Post­bank, QIAGEN, RWE Gene­ra­tion SE, SAP, Schufa, Schwarz Gruppe, STIHL, Thüga, Vector Infor­ma­tik and WACKER.

About Drae­ger
Dräger is a leading inter­na­tio­nal medi­cal and safety tech­no­logy company. Dräger products protect, support and save lives. Foun­ded in 1889, Dräger gene­ra­ted sales of over EUR 2.5 billion in 2016. The Lübeck-based company is repre­sen­ted world­wide and employs more than 13,000 people. www.draeger.com