Evonik Venture Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of Germany-based chemicals producer Evonik, revealed a single-digit million US dollar commitment to US-based venture capital firm Tech Council Ventures’ second fund yesterday.
Tech Council Ventures is a sector-agnostic investment firm that targets early and expansion-stage companies based in the mid-Atlantic region of the US east coast.
The firm’s second fund, Tech Council Ventures II, will back startups in the materials, life sciences, healthcare, internet-of-things and energy sectors, making initial investments ranging from $500,000 to $2m.
Tech Council’s previous investments include deals for telehealth system provider Forefront Telecare, blood purification system producer CytoSorbents, internet-of-things software provider Stratis and video content creation platform Vydia.
Bernhard Mohr, head of Evonik Venture Capital, said: “Fund investments are an important part of Evonik’s venture capital activities.
“The partnership with Tech Council Ventures enables us to get in touch with a broad range of innovative startups that are located near our North American headquarters and will provide us with an excellent overview of new technologies in that region.”
Evonik has combined fund-of-fund commitments with direct investments since it formed the unit in 2012. Its second venture capital fund, which launched with a $170m commitment in February 2019, is intended to connect the corporate to cutting-edge technologies.