15 million euros for Gründerfonds Ruhr II

Düssel­dorf — In order to streng­then the start-up ecosys­tem in North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia, NRW.BANK has inves­ted EUR 15 million in Grün­der­fonds Ruhr II in the first closing. The Essen-based early-stage fund raised a total of EUR 31 million from inves­tors. The invest­ment focus is on inno­va­tive, tech­­no­­logy-orien­­ted start-ups from the Ruhr area and neigh­bor­ing regi­ons. “In order to shape the future in North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia, we need a faster pace of inno­va­tion and more ideas from inno­va­tive start-ups. This needs to be finan­ced,” says Johanna Anto­nie Tjaden-Schulte, Member of the Mana­ging Board of NRW.BANK (photo © NRW.BANK). “With our parti­ci­pa­tion in Grün­der­fonds Ruhr II, we want to do even more to promote the poten­tial that exists in the Ruhr region with its dense rese­arch land­scape and urban envi­ron­ment.” Grün­der­fonds Ruhr II is mana­ged by Ruhr­grün­der Manage­ment GmbH under the leader­ship of Ann-Chris­­tin Kortenbrede and Jan Gräfe. Both have exten­sive expe­ri­ence in support­ing young growth compa­nies and are actively shaping the stra­te­gic direc­tion of the fund. The aim is to acquire further fund commit­ments over the next twelve months in order to reach the target volume of 50 million euros. In coope­ra­tion with Initia­tiv­kreis Ruhr and NRW.BANK, Grün­der­fonds Ruhr offers not only early-stage finan­cing but also a strong part­ner network, direct access to the indus­try and valuable know-how for start-ups. The fund focu­ses on compa­nies from the chemi­cals and new mate­ri­als, energy and indus­try, life scien­ces and health­care, logi­stics and digi­tal economy sectors. Initia­tiv­kreis Ruhr and NRW.BANK initia­ted the first edition of Grün­der­fonds Ruhr with a volume of EUR 34.5 million in 2017. To date, invest­ments have been made in ten inno­va­tive start-ups. Further infor­ma­tion on NRW.BANK’s start-up support can be found at www.nrwbank.de/gruender and www.nrwbank.de/venture Further infor­ma­tion on Grün­der­fonds Ruhr can be found at www.gruenderfonds-ruhr.com

About NRW.BANK — Deve­lo­p­ment Bank for North Rhine-Westphalia

NRW.BANK is the deve­lo­p­ment bank for North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia. In close part­ner­ship with its owner, the state of North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia, it helps to ensure that inno­va­tive start-ups receive the right start-up support. Because: No good idea in North Rhine-West­­pha­­lia should fail because of finan­cing. To achieve this goal, NRW.BANK provi­des a compre­hen­sive range of equity capi­tal. This covers the entire life cycle of compa­nies: from the pre-seed, start-up and early stages through to the growth and later stages. It places a parti­cu­lar focus on the trans­for­ma­tion topics of sustaina­bi­lity and digi­ta­liza­tion. NRW.BANK also stimu­la­tes the deve­lo­p­ment of the venture capi­tal and private equity market through its acti­vi­ties as an inves­tor in third-party mana­ged funds. In addi­tion to capi­tal, NRW.BANK also provi­des start-ups with its network and know-how.