HIGH-TECH GRÜNDERFONDS MANAGEMENT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Senior Vice President of SAP.IO
Alexa is Senior Vice President of SAP.iO, responsible for SAP's early-stage startup acceleration and scaling globally across 11 locations. SAP.iO's mission is to turn innovative startups into SAP partners in order to deliver value for SAP customers. Until end of 2022, 530 startups have successfully completed one of SAP iO's many programs.
Alexa is also co-founder and in the Board of encourageventures, a non-profit organization that connects female angel investors with female founded startups with the purpose of driving more diversity in the startup and investor ecosystem.
Alexa has 20+ years of experience in the tech industry around the world in many functions such as business development, strategy, marketing and open innovation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Anna Stetter grew up between Switzerland and Chile, which had a lasting impact on her view of global problems and their ecological and economic effects. This perspective shaped her decision to attend the University of St.Gallen, where she studied Business Administration. During her Master's degree in Business Innovation at the University of St.Gallen, she deepened her knowledge in business model innovation and product market fit. After graduation, Anna spent two years as Head of Operations & Finance at an emerging CleanTech start-up in the construction sector. Anna joined the Industrial Tech team in September 2023.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Antje Hansen studied Economics in Mainz and Paris and is also a qualified banking professional.
Céline Göhlich - Founder, Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Member of the HTGF Management Team
Welcome, Achim. We are delighted that you joined us as Managing Director on 1 January.
Dr. Achim Plum: I am also very pleased. It has been an intensive first few weeks, but in the best sense of the word. The deal flow at HTGF is impressive, and my colleagues bring an incredible amount of expertise to the table. The team has involved me directly in all important topics - thank you very much for that! This has made it easy for me to familiarise myself with the company and I am looking forward to delving even deeper in the coming weeks, getting to know our great partners and working with the team, our portfolio companies and fund investors to further strengthen the start-up ecosystem and drive innovation.
Dr. Achim Plum: Indeed. I have a PhD in genetics and have been working in the life sciences industry for 25 years. I have got to know companies in the early and growth phases as well as large technology conglomerates. Along the way, I have learnt about many innovative technologies and business models, built up, restructured and - unfortunately sometimes - liquidated companies. These experiences have shown me what the needs of start-ups but also established companies really are and how to structure productive collaborations between them.
Dr. Achim Plum: There are a few pieces of wisdom that I've picked up along the way, but they never get old:
Dr. Achim Plum: The biggest challenge is often mutual understanding. Often enough the term "lost in translation" applies. The cultures and general conditions are often very different. Since I know both sides, I have learnt how to build bridges. Today, corporations are already much better positioned to work with start-ups. Insourcing - the integration of innovative technologies - is now the standard rather than the exception. The work of HTGF contributes to this. We bring start-ups together with SMEs and large corporations and thus create added value for all parties involved at many points along the value chain in the form of collaborations or M&A.
Dr. Achim Plum: Thanks to modern high-throughput technologies, we can now generate huge amounts of high-resolution biological data very cost-effectively. Coupled with advanced methods of data analysis and AI, this makes it possible, for example, to better understand disease mechanisms and derive new therapeutic approaches and develop them more efficiently. These therapies can be realised as classic small molecule drugs, biologicals, or (stem) cell therapies. Genome editing opens completely new possibilities in gene therapy. In addition, we will see more and more decision-support systems in medical diagnostics that are based on large, heterogeneous data sets and whose algorithms were developed with the help of AI, but which will also contain active AI in the future.
Dr. Achim Plum: In the long term, I see big potential in synthetic biology. It could help us to overcome major challenges such as climate change or the transition to a more sustainable economy. At the same time, medical technology will continue to advance. Just think of intelligent implants, innovative human-machine interfaces or implantable biosensors, which could enable early and optimised medical interventions.
Dr Achim Plum joins the management team at the beginning of the year. The Bonn office relocates and HTGF launches with a new corporate design.
Dr. Andreas Olmes, Principal & Authorised Signatory, has a PhD in physics from Leibniz Universität Hannover and invests in hardware-related start-ups at HTGF in the Industrial Tech Team. He has always developed companies strategically: In his first ten years in the profession, he managed the transformation of an ophthalmic surgery practice into a clinic, built his own VC-funded technology company and successfully established a pure distribution company, together with the owner, in the laser market. Currently, his diverse portfolio includes seven companies. Andreas has led numerous financing rounds and has already supported nine successful exits, including the IPO of Mister Spex in July 2021, one of HTGF's biggest successes.
Dr. Angelika Vlachou has been investing venture capital in biotech, pharma and life science start-ups for over 10 years. Over the course of her career, she has managed many transactions ranging from seed-stage venture capital and growth financing to licensing agreements, trade sale transactions and IPOs. Her expertise is also based on her virology-molecular biology research experience. One of her strengths is to combine scientific innovation with commercial potential. She is a valued sparring partner for founders, investors and stakeholders. With a doctorate in biology, she started her professional career in investment banking.
Dr Bernd Goergen, Partner, has been a part of High-Tech Gründerfonds' Life Science Team since early 2008. He holds a PhD in biology and is a certified biotech analyst with the German Association for Financial Analysis and Asset Management (DVFA). He brings with him five years of research experience in the field of virology and immunology and seven years in international diagnostics marketing for German and international companies. Between 2000 and 2007, Dr Goergen also acquired extensive knowledge in M&A and capital market deals while working in the investment banking division of a major German bank.
Job Titles:
- Vice Chairman of the Advisory Board
Bernhard Mohr has headed the newly founded Evonik Venture Capital unit since 2012. He has more than 20 years of professional experience in venture capital financing and the chemical industry. Before joining Evonik in 1996, he held various positions at BASF Group in Germany and Spain. Bernhard Mohr is active in various specialist and supervisory bodies and has advised on IPOs and M&A transactions.
After studying chemistry in Stuttgart and Cincinnati, he obtained his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. He then spent research periods in Japan, the USA and France, where he worked with the later Nobel Prize winners Robert Grubbs and Jean-Pierre Sauvage.
Job Titles:
- Senior Investment Manager
- Senior Investment Manager Investment
Dr Frank Hensel holds a PH.D. in biology and has a longstanding experience as Entrepreneur in a Start-Up developing human monoclonal antibodies for cancer treatment. Since being part of HTGF in 2015 Frank built a solid portfolio of start-ups with a focus on drug development companies. Out of this portfolio 3 companies already entered the clinical stage and one company, Amal therapeutics, was successfully exited to Boehringer Ingelheim with a deal volume of up to 425Mio.
Dr. Frank Hensel: Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) remain a strong trend. We already had a successful exit with Emergence, and with Tubulis and Alentis, we have key players in our portfolio.
Another central theme in 2024 was immunology. Our early investment in SciRhom back in 2016 is now paying off- the company now has the financial resources to demonstrate efficacy in clinical trials. This clearly shows the strategic value of a diversified portfolio-both in terms of indications and modalities.
Dr. Laura Pedroza: We are also seeing enormous interest in AI-driven solutions. A standout example is the financing round of Aignostics -a flagship project in AI-powered digital pathology with roots inCharité. AI is increasingly establishing itself as a valuable tool in biotech, opening up new possibilities for target discovery and asset development.
Frank Hensel: The financing is one of the biggest rounds on the European stage this year and in several recent years, actually. The consortium is broadly based and highly qualified with the new investors Andera Partners, Wellington Partners, Hadean Ventures, MIG Capital, Kurma Partners and Bayern Kapital. The fact that SciRhom was sufficiently financed to bring its active ingredient to clinical maturity was certainly a clear advantage.
Job Titles:
- Senior Investment Manager
Dr. Gernot Berger is a physicist with a strong affinity for the strategic development of companies. He was co-owner of a start-up company and contributed significantly to its success as sales, marketing and product manager. With his keen sense of market requirements and business development, he helped to establish the invention as a worldwide industry standard in optics manufacturing after the exit. Parallel to his work, he earned an Executive MBA from the Mannheim Business School in 2018, which focuses on entrepreneurship and strategic leadership. Before joining HTGF in 2019, Gernot used his strategic knowledge profitably for a medium-sized company selling high-tech B2B products in the highly competitive 3C industry with complex stakeholder structures.
Katharina Severin joined the Life Science Team in September of 2021. She was born and raised in the Ruhr area and spent time in the US and Asia during her education. Among these stays was a one-year research stay in the lab of Tom Rapoport at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Katharina obtained her PhD in Medical Biology and received numerous scholarships and awards, among them stipends from the German National Academic Foundation and the Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard Foundation. Through networking opportunities from these foundations and as an attendee of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, Katharina discovered and cultivated her passion for interdisciplinary scientific exchange. Her research findings mark a starting point for a novel therapeutic approach in the treatment of cancer. Katharina is fascinated by entrepreneurial questions and is passionate about bringing scientific results and genious business ideas to profitable ventures.
Dr. Koen Geurts joined the HTGF Industrial Tech team in September 2023 as investment manager. Before going into venture capital he worked 15 years in the space industry as engineer and manager, mainly in the space exploration domain. Highlight in these years was his involvement in Rosetta's comet landing in 2014. Since 2017 Koen was as executive responsible for a business line with 250+ staff in the Earth Observation, Navigation, SatCom and Human and Robotic Exploration domains, where he successfully developed innovative solutions and services in the area of ground segments and operations.
Koen studied mechatronics and aerospace engineering, completed a PhD in space engineering and in 2022 an Executive MBA. He is fluent in Dutch, English, German and Italian.
Job Titles:
- Senior Investment Manager
- Senior Investment Manager of Our HTGF Life Science Team
Dr. Laura Pedroza is an Senior Investment Manager of our HTGF Life Science Team. Prior to that, she worked as a postdoc and obtained her promotion in protein biochemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen. In addition to her promotion, she continued her education in business administration. During her studies in medical biology at the Universities of Duisburg-Essen and Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, she completed various internships and stays abroad in the USA (Boston) and worked as a research assistant at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE).
Dr. Laura Pedroza: Strong networking is essential. HTGF and its early-stage consortium partners have successfully engaged not only major European but also U.S. funds. We are also seeing more pan-European teams, which are helping to bring the biotech community even closer together.
Job Titles:
- Investment Manager
- Investment Manager in the Life Science Team at HTGF in Bonn
Dr. Lena Schütter is an Investment Manager in the Life Science Team at HTGF in Bonn. Prior to this, she worked for several years in various sales positions at QIAGEN GmbH. She completed her studies in molecular biology in Göttingen. During her studies, she completed numerous internships in Germany and abroad. Lena Schütter then completed her doctorate in genetics at the renowned ageing research institute CECAD in Cologne. In addition to her doctorate, Lena Schütter studied business administration at the University of Hagen.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Advisory Board
- Chairman of the Investors Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Senior Investment Manager
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and CEO of Cultimate Foods
Job Titles:
- Principal
- Principal in the HTGF Industrial, Climate and Deep
Jens Baumgärtner is a principal in the HTGF Industrial, Climate and Deep Tech Investment Team and is building up his portfolio with a focus on enterprise software and sustainable hardware solutions. He has a particular interest in hardware topics, where he has financed companies such as Ineratec, EcoPals and MetisMotion. Before joining the investment team, he worked in the controlling team at HTGF from 2008 to 2016. Jens Baumgärtner studied business administration and holds a degree in controlling/finance and accounting from Pforzheim University.
Johannes Weber has been supporting HTGF in Berlin since November 2020 in the fields of ClimateTech, DeepTech und IndustrialTech. Johannes holds a master's degree in Industrial Engineering and an MBA from universities in Germany and UK. He started his career as a management consultant and then spent six years building a VC-funded start-up as Co-Founder & CEO and successfully sold it to an international medical and safety technology group. The product was awarded with the German Innovation Prize and is available in more than 20 countries worldwide. Johannes brings extensive entrepreneurial experience to the collaboration with startups.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Founder
- CEO and Founder of Finmarie
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and CEO of Anybill ( Picture
In December 2019, Lea Frank and Tobias Gubo co-founded anybill to build a modern solution for the obligation to issue receipts, which came into force in Germany at the beginning of 2020. anybill used the momentum to drive digitalisation and connectivity at the point of sale: the digital receipt was born. Today, the digital receipt is not only a reason for greater sustainability for many retail companies, but also a valuable marketing tool.
What perhaps unexpected developments or challenges did you experience in the initial phase, and how did you react to them as a team?
We hired our first employees in March 2020 - right at the start of the Covid crisis. Of course, we all started working remotely back then, but that wasn't a problem at all, as we all know that this works very well in these times. As soon as on-site meetings were possible again, we met regularly on site. Since then, we have mainly worked in the office and occasionally from home. However, the majority of the team regularly comes to the office. It is precisely this team spirit that makes us special.
What should founders pay particular attention to when setting up a start-up now?
Think very carefully about which path you want to take, in particular which form of financing suits your own business (e.g. bootstrapped or VC financed), position yourself as capital-efficiently as possible and always maintain your focus.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and CEO of Mo
The road to animal-free drug discovery - an interview with Lukas Gaats of mo:re
Job Titles:
- Senior Talent Acquisition Manager
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and CEO of COLIPI ( Image
Job Titles:
- Communications and PR Consultant
Job Titles:
- Team Communications & Relations
Job Titles:
- Senior Marketing & Communications Manager