• iThera Medical

  Participated · Equity · Dec 2022

  iThera Medical, based in Munich, develops and markets Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT) imaging systems that use the photoacoustic effect to convert light into sound waves and visualize optical contrast at high resolution in deep tissue. The company’s MSOT technology is used for preclinical and clinical research and is already deployed at leading academic hospitals worldwide. Led by CEO Christian Wiest, iThera has focused on demonstrating MSOT’s clinical potential across a variety of disease areas. The company closed a €13M financing to support its next stage of development. Proceeds will be used to develop a MSOT device optimized for routine clinical use, to pursue CE and FDA regulatory approvals, and to expand clinical evidence in priority clinical indications. The financing included new and existing investors to accelerate the company’s transition from research deployments toward regulated clinical applications. iThera Medical is a spin-off from the Helmholtz Zentrum München that develops and markets multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT), a non-invasive imaging technology providing real-time anatomical, functional and molecular information in living tissue. MSOT was invented by Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos and Dr. Daniel Razansky at Helmholtz Zentrum München and is positioned for preclinical drug-discovery validation across oncology, neurology and cardiovascular indications, with future potential in clinical diagnostics. The company plans to use the recent funds to further develop and commercialize the technology for both preclinical and clinical applications. Earlier this year iThera secured a Phase II grant from the GO‑Bio programme (funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF, and managed by Projektträger Jülich). Ascenion, the Helmholtz Zentrum’s technology transfer partner, supported the company’s foundation and funding and holds equity. The company is led by co‑founder and CEO Christian Wiest.

• casavi

  Participated · Series B · Dec 2021

  Casavi is a German proptech platform (offices in Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin) that offers property-management software including online ticket and workflow management, tenant service apps and the Relay service-provider platform. Relay enables collaboration with up to 55,000 real-estate service specialists; casavi supports roughly 1,000 property managers and housing associations. The company currently manages over 70,000 buildings and 1.6 million residential units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland and has a team of about 75 employees. Since its 2015 launch casavi has more than doubled its client base over the past two years. The startup plans to use new funding to expand its product offering, accelerate European growth and invest in product development with a strong focus on workflow automation. Planned product rollouts include an integration for hybrid property-owner meetings and an EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) module; casavi also intends to expand its 30+ partner solutions and deepen system integrations while growing the team by 50+ hires. Founded in Munich in 2015 and led by CEO Peter Schindlmeier, casavi provides a cloud-based property management platform that serves as a digital link between all parties active in the property sector. The solution enables housing companies and administrative bodies to get in contact with residents and supports digital process management. Feature set includes a German property law and tenant service app plus interfaces with existing accounting software and service provider portals. The company has gained more than 200 clients from German-speaking regions since market launch, who manage over 600,000 housing units in total. casavi raised a seven-figure additional financing round and will use the funds to expand in German-speaking regions. casavi provides a SaaS customer service and engagement platform for property management and residential real estate companies that connects with internal tools and processes. Led by CEO Peter Schindlmeier, the platform is designed to increase customer satisfaction, lower redundant enquiries and decrease process costs. After a pilot period the platform has been publicly available since autumn 2015 and is currently in use by over 20 companies in Germany and Austria. The company raised an undisclosed amount of funding from institutional backers and plans to use the proceeds to build out its sales organisation. casavi also intends to establish strategic partnerships with industry suppliers such as energy companies, software vendors and cable network providers. No revenue figures or other financial metrics were disclosed in the article.

• CatalYm

  Participated · Series B · Nov 2020

  CatalYm's lead product, visugromab (CTL-002), is a humanized monoclonal antibody engineered to neutralize tumor-derived GDF-15 and thereby reverse immunosuppression and resistance to checkpoint inhibitors. The company reported impressive Phase 1/2a (GDFATHER) data showing deep, durable anti-tumor activity in combination with nivolumab, including several complete responses in NSCLC, urothelial cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. CatalYm plans a broad Phase 2b development program, expanding into randomized Phase 2b studies in select checkpoint‑naïve frontline and second‑line treatment settings and preparing to launch further randomized, controlled studies in multiple indications in the first half of 2025. The company completed an oversubscribed $150 million Series D to fund that expansion. Founded in 2016 with early support from Forbion Ventures Fund III and BGV, CatalYm is positioning visugromab as a new class of cancer immunotherapy to address resistance across high‑need solid tumor indications. CatalYm’s lead program is visugromab, a humanized monoclonal antibody engineered to neutralize tumor-produced Growth Differentiation Factor‑15 (GDF‑15) and thereby enhance immune cell infiltration and antitumor activity. The company is expanding Phase 2 development after encouraging efficacy and durability signals in Phase 1 and continued positive responses in the ongoing GDFATHER-2 trial. GDFATHER-2 evaluates visugromab in combination with an anti‑PD‑1 antibody in patients with advanced solid tumors who are relapsed/refractory to prior anti‑PD‑1/PD‑L1 therapy, with sites enrolling in Europe and the United States. CatalYm plans to use new funding to accelerate and expand the Phase 2 program and move visugromab toward pivotal studies. The company reported first Phase 2 data readouts expected in early 2023. Financially, CatalYm closed an oversubscribed EUR 50 million Series C to support these clinical plans. CatalYm develops monoclonal antibodies designed to overcome tumor immune suppression by neutralizing GDF-15, a protein that helps tumors evade the immune system. Its lead candidate, CTL-002, targets GDF-15 to enhance immune-cell infiltration, improve dendritic-cell priming of T cells, and boost T-cell and NK-cell tumor killing. CTL-002 is planned for development both as a monotherapy and in combination with approved PD-1/PD-L1 antagonists in checkpoint-blocker refractory patients. The company was founded in 2016 as a spin‑off from Julius‑Maximilians‑University of Würzburg and is led by CEO Dr. Manfred Rüdiger and CSO Christine Schuberth‑Wagner. CatalYm has backing from international venture investors and received support from the EIF via the EIB‑EIF Co‑investment Facility backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments. The company recently closed a €50m Series B financing to advance its clinical development.

• ProGlove

  Participated · Equity · May 2018

  ProGlove builds a small-form-factor, lightweight scanner glove that delivers hands-free barcode scanning across manufacturing, logistics, transportation, e‑commerce and retail. Its smart glove gives users optical, haptic and acoustic feedback to reduce errors and speed workflows. ProGlove says the device can cut scanning time by up to four seconds per scan, representing as much as a 50% improvement in scanning efficiency for some customers. The company’s products are integrated at brands including Audi, BMW, Bosch, Daimler, DHL and Lufthansa Technik. ProGlove positions its wearables as an extension of workers’ tools to strengthen human roles in increasingly automated environments. The company plans to use new funding to expand its international footprint and further connect the human workforce with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). ProGlove is a Munich, Germany–based Industrial IoT startup that connects workers to the industrial IoT and helps them work faster and more ergonomically in production and logistics environments. Its first product, MARK, is a hand-wearable scanner launched in October 2016 that can scan goods with no integration needed. The company is led by founder and CEO Thomas Kirchner. ProGlove completed a second $6.7M round of financing and has raised a total of $9.2M to date. The company plans to use the new funds to further scale its intelligent glove into North America. The product and strategy focus on improving speed and ergonomics for frontline workers in manufacturing and logistics. ProGlove builds smart gloves that augment workers’ hands with embedded sensors and scanners for manufacturing and logistics. The gloves enable staff to work faster and more safely by alerting workers immediately to operational errors. The system also allows automatic recording of workflow and process-compliance data. The company raised $2.2M in a Series A round and intends to use the funds to accelerate production and launch its smart glove system. ProGlove was founded in December 2014.

• numares HEALTH

  Led · Equity · Aug 2016

  Numares Health AG develops the AXINON System, a fully automated in‑vitro diagnostics platform that combines nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and artificial intelligence to collect and analyze metabolomic data from blood or urine. The system evaluates groups of metabolites, called “metabolite constellations,” using machine learning rather than single biomarkers. Numares aims to improve diagnostic quality for chronic kidney, heart and liver diseases, as well as cancer and multiple sclerosis. Several major U.S. laboratories are already using the chemical‑free technology, indicating early commercial traction. The company plans to scale commercialization in the EU and U.S., supported by recent funding for R&D and marketing. Financial support is intended to accelerate product development and mass commercialization of its proprietary technology. Numares Health is a German healthcare diagnostics company that applies machine learning to metabolomics and other biomarkers to develop advanced tests for diagnosing and measuring disease progression. Its core products are AXINON® tests designed to improve assessment of conditions related to metabolic dysfunction, including chronic kidney, liver, cardiovascular, and neurologic diseases. Two tests — AXINON® GFR(NMR) for kidney function and AXINON® lipoFIT® for cardiac risk — are expected to gain FDA 510(k) approval early next year. The company’s modality uses transparent algorithms combining multiple biomarkers to measure disease progression more accurately and may enable earlier intervention to slow progression. Numares has expanded its collaboration with Mayo Clinic to include clinical research support plus an innovative convertible equity investment intended to accelerate its development pipeline. The company says the investment will drive research collaborations and enhance its ability to deliver this diagnostic technology to U.S. physicians as an improved clinical tool. numares AG develops and markets integrated in-vitro diagnostic test systems that use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and proprietary MGS technology to interpret patients’ individual metabolism profiles. The company’s diagnostics aim to provide insights into the origin, extent and seriousness of diseases. Led by Executive President Dr. Volker Pfahlert, numares focuses on translating metabolic profiles into actionable diagnostic information. It completed a €2m financing round to support its growth. The company intends to use the funds to expand its development pipeline and continue its international expansion. numares is based in Regensburg, Germany and currently employs about 50 people. LipoFIT Analytic develops diagnostic technology that uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to interpret human and other metabolic patterns quickly. Its core business areas include human diagnostics as well as biogas and plant analytics. The company plans to use the €7m in new funding to expand its diagnostic technology across those core areas. Backers on the round include SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement, KfW Bankengruppe, Bayern Kapital and a private investor. LipoFIT was founded in April 2004 as a spin-off of the Institute for Biophysics at the University of Regensburg and is based in Regensburg, Germany. The company is led by Managing Director Fritz Huber and COO Volker Pfahlert.

No current team members are available.