High-Tech Grȕnderfonds, the corporate-backed state venture fund of Germany, is actively looking for investments overseas and is known to be in late-stage talks with one company outside its home country, in an unusual step for a state-backed venture fund.
The corporate-backed state venture fund, which raised €288.5m ($379.7m) for the first close of its second venture fund in October last year, secured the ability to invest overseas as part of the new fund.
It is unlikely many investments will be made overseas, however. Michael Brandkamp, spokesperson for the management of High-Tech Grȕnderfonds, said: “There will be just a few companies like this, 1% or 2% of the fund. These deals will be very much an exception.”
He added: “The main part of our money comes from the German taxpayer, so we do not want to invest in companies outside Germany. We want to do cross-border investment in companies growing up in other countries like France and Italy, yet we need a very high impact for Germany.”
He added: “We do not want to compete with local investors in other countries. It does not make sense to invest in Italian companies alone. We would like to do that together with Italian overseas investors to enlarge networks and to create value for the company.”
Additional reporting by Tim Lafferty, managing director.