• The Seed round was co-led by Join Capital and the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, with participation from Auriga Cyber Ventures.

• The funds will accelerate sales and marketing, expand the enclaive Multi Cloud Platform (eMCP) functionality, and support further international expansion.

Berlin, Germany – 3 February 2026 – enclaive, a deep tech cybersecurity company specializing in confidential computing, today announced the successful closing of a €4.1 million Seed funding round, co-led by Join Capital and the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, with participation from Auriga Cyber Ventures.

A perfect storm of aggressive AI adoption, strict new data laws, and sophisticated cyber threats has turned the cloud into a high-stakes compromise. While the cloud offers undeniable scale, 59% of organizations remain paralyzed by security concerns.⁽¹⁾ They are searching for a way to embrace the future without being forced to ‘trust’ their infrastructure.

For many security and compliance teams, the challenge is what happens when data is actively processed. This “last mile” of exposure has become a barrier to moving workloads to the cloud, particularly in sectors such as the public sector, finance, healthcare, critical infrastructure, and AI, where even momentary access can pose material risk.

enclaive addresses this bottleneck by making confidential computing practical at scale. The company’s Multi Cloud Platform (eMCP) enables organizations to deploy applications in “secure enclaves” across any cloud provider, ensuring data remains protected at all times - without requiring changes to existing code, tools, or processes.

“Cloud adoption has moved faster than trust. As companies push AI and sensitive workloads into multi-cloud environments, they need security guarantees that go beyond policy and perimeter defenses,” said Andreas Walbrodt, Co-Founder and CEO of enclaive. “With enclaive, businesses don’t need to trust the cloud - their data, microservices, and AI models are shielded from unauthorized access at every moment. We’re making confidential computing accessible for any organization, regardless of technical expertise.”

“Confidential computing has existed in academia for years, but remained inaccessible to most organizations. The breakthrough is hardware-based memory encryption that only the CPU can unlock - we’ve built the software layer that makes this technology deployable in days, not months,” added Prof. Dr. Sebastian Gajek, Co-Founder and CTO of enclaive.

Unlike competitors that require significant development resources, enclaive’s operations-first approach enables rapid deployment with full control across all trust elements, vendor independence, and a modular architecture. The platform supports enterprise workloads, including Kubernetes clusters, virtual machines, and AI applications across multiple cloud environments.

“enclaive is the key to unlocking a truly free and private internet,” said Simone Lavizzari, Principal at Join Capital. “While others demand complex integrations, enclaive delivers a ‘zero-code-change’ solution that scales. This is the breakthrough in confidential computing that AI needs to go mainstream and enclaive is the clear frontrunner to become the default confidential layer for the industry.”

“Confidential computing represents the solution to a 40-year-old security challenge - creating an unhackable black box where data remains encrypted even during processing,” said Ion Hauer, Principal at APEX Ventures. “The timing is critical. With regulations such as the US Cloud Act, which allow authorities to demand data from servers regardless of location, European organizations face a sovereignty dilemma. Confidential computing offers a technical answer to this political challenge - even if data is demanded, it remains encrypted and inaccessible. This is infrastructure-level security that the market urgently needs.”

The funding will support commercial scaling through expanded sales and marketing efforts, enhancement of the eMCP platform functionality, team growth focused on engineering and operations, and initial international expansion.

Founded in 2022, enclaive has built a strong foundation with its 20-person team distributed across Berlin and EU countries. The company has earned significant industry recognition, including the 2025 Prix Croissance at the InCyber Forum, 2024 TeleTrust Product of the Year, and the 2023 ITSA Up Award.

Düsseldorf, Germany – 20 January 2026 – NEOintralogistics, a German robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pioneer in warehouse automation, today announced the successful closing of a €3 million seed funding round, led by the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund and strong participation from Cetus Holding.

The urgency for accessible automation solutions has never been greater. Despite the clear business case for automation with potential operational cost reductions of up to 65% adoption has been severely limited by the high upfront investment required ⁽¹⁾. 80% of global warehouses still operate manually, largely due to cost barriers that have made traditional automation accessible only to the largest operators^{. (2)}

NEOintralogistics’ mission is to transform intralogistics by making warehouse automation affordable, scalable, and fast to deploy with zero upfront investment. Its robotic picking system enables both brownfield and greenfield warehouses to automate operations in just a few weeks, rather than months or years. With a pay-per-pick model, automation shifts from a capital expenditure to a flexible, performance-based service.

“We’re removing the barriers that have historically made warehouse automation unattainable for most businesses,” said Michael Drodofsky, Co-Founder of NEOintralogistics. “Our RaaS model eliminates the need for costly infrastructure or warehouse redesigns. Customers can integrate our system into their existing shelving and realize immediate efficiency gains.”

Unlike traditional systems that are expensive and rigid, NEOintralogistics delivers cost-effective, rapid automation that can reduce manual labor by up to 70%. The company is already collaborating with leading industry partners, including Magazino (a Jungheinrich company), GLS, and BITO.

“NEOintralogistics has cracked the code on scaling automation for the underserved majority. By converting a massive CapEx and integration barrier into a highly scalable, recurring RaaS model, they are not just entering a market; they are fundamentally redefining the unit economics in intralogistics,“ said Tim Hos, Associate at APEX Ventures. “NEOintralogistics has the potential to be a category-defining venture with the potential for explosive market adoption and a clear path to becoming the dominant infrastructure layer for warehouse automation globally.”

The funding will support commercial scaling and customer acquisition, product refinement, expansion of R&D capabilities, and team growth, with a focus on engineering and operations.

Today, NEOintralogistics’ ten-person team operates from offices in Düsseldorf, Berlin, and Hamburg, with plans for strategic growth while focusing on scaling commercial deployments. As global demand for warehouse automation acce

The Skycore Semiconductors’ Team

• The Denmark-based fabless semiconductor company pioneers Power Integrated Circuit (IC) solutions delivering extreme power density and efficiency for 800V HVDC architectures in next-generation AI data centers.

• The funding round was led by the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, with participation from First Momentum, Mätch VC, and Balnord. Combined with €2.5M in previous funding and grants, Skycore has raised approximately €7.5M to date.

• The funding will accelerate team expansion, product development, manufacturing capabilities, patent portfolio growth, and co-development projects with strategic partners in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market.

Copenhagen, Denmark -- 13 November 2025 -- Skycore Semiconductors, a startup specializing in Power Integrated Circuit (IC) technology for next-generation AI data centers, today announced it has raised €5 million in seed funding. The round was led by the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, with participation from First Momentum, Mätch VC, and Balnord.

Founded in Denmark, Skycore Semiconductors has developed a breakthrough Power IC technology platform that enables the development of power solutions for applications with extreme power density and efficiency demands. The company’s silicon-validated technology addresses the critical power infrastructure challenges facing next-generation AI data centers, particularly the emerging 800V High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) architectures that promise to revolutionize data center power and compute density.

The company’s Power IC solutions deliver extreme power density and efficiency in a compact and flat form factor, addressing a critical bottleneck in scaling AI infrastructure. With a growing portfolio of 6 patent families and validated silicon technology, Skycore is developing the 800V HVDC power architectures that will power the next generation of AI factories.

“Skycore is solving the power bottleneck that’s limiting AI’s explosive growth,” said Ion Hauer, Principal at APEX Ventures. “Its Power IC technology isn’t just an incremental improvement—it’s a paradigm shift for 800V data center architectures and beyond. We’re thrilled to back a team that will define how the world powers AI infrastructure.”

The fresh capital will be used to expand the team across both technical and business development functions, accelerate product development and manufacturing capabilities, strengthen the company’s patent portfolio, and establish a robust and scalable supply chain. The company will also execute co-development projects with potential customers and deepen engagement with strategic partners. This funding addresses an urgent industry challenge: today’s AI factories are hitting the physical limits of 54 VDC power distribution, with copper busbars unable to efficiently serve racks exceeding 200 kW. As Nvidia’s recent announcement confirms, the industry is racing toward 800V HVDC architectures to overcome these constraints—making Skycore’s power-dense IC solutions essential for the AI infrastructure of tomorrow ⁽¹⁾.

The Skycore Semiconductors’ chip

“Scaling today’s AI compute infrastructure requires a fundamental change in how data centers are powered, and 800V HVDC power architectures are the first step on that path,” said Pere Llimós Muntal, CEO and Co-founder of Skycore Semiconductors. “Our Power IC technology platform delivers power solutions with extreme power density and efficiency in flat, compact form factors, all essential to enable HVDC architectures. We design our solutions to be inherently scalable to meet the evolving demands of future power architectures. This funding enables us to accelerate our market entry from validated silicon to market-ready products, positioning Skycore as a key enabler of next-generation data center power delivery.”

Skycore is a Startup Member of the Open Compute Project (OCP), the largest collaborative community focused on redesigning hardware to efficiently meet the growing demands of compute infrastructure. The company is also a member of the Berkeley Power & Energy Center (BPEC) at the University of California, joining prominent industry members including Nvidia, Google, Intel, Tesla, and Analog Devices.

Previous investors include Morph Capital and Thorbjørn Rønje, who led earlier funding rounds that, combined with grants, provided €2.5M to validate the company’s technology and build initial partnerships.

Today, Skycore’s eight-person team plans modest growth while focusing on commercializing its Power IC solutions with strategic partners. The company is working towards market entry with its first commercial products, leveraging its validated technology platform and strategic partnerships to capture the rapidly growing market for AI data center power solutions.

Looking ahead, Skycore’s vision is to become the global leader in Power Integrated Circuit solutions for high-voltage architectures in next-generation AI data centers and other applications with extreme power demands.

Leipzig, Germany – 25 September 2025 – enaDyne, a startup specializing in fully-electric, non-thermal plasma catalysis technology for sustainable chemical production, today announced it has raised €7 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by Amadeus APEX Technology Fund (a collaboration between Amadeus Capital Partners and APEX Ventures) and Energy Capital Ventures, with participation from Antares Ventures, Possible Ventures, and returning business angels Wolfram Drescher, Andreas Werne, and Sven Sieber.

enaDyne prototype

Founded in 2021 by Philipp Hahn, Christian Koch, Martin Drößiger, and Torsten Lorenz, enaDyne combines expertise in plasma physics, catalysis, engineering, and materials science. The company has developed a breakthrough reactor technology that converts CO₂ and other process gases into valuable chemicals such as syngas, methanol, and ethylene. Its modular, containerized systems also abate hard-to-treat emissions, including CF₄ and PFAS, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional chemical manufacturing.

enaDyne’s approach integrates proprietary enaCeramics electrodes with plasma-active catalysts to deliver superior performance. Current results demonstrate CO₂ conversion rates exceeding 70% with competitive selectivities, while the modular architecture allows rapid deployment and scaling across industrial applications.

“What sets enaDyne apart is their precision approach—like using a scalpel instead of a hammer,” commented Wolfgang Neubert, General Partner at APEX Ventures. “Its non-thermal plasma catalysis represents a fundamental breakthrough in how we approach chemical manufacturing. As winners of Germany’s prestigious SPRIND Carbon-to-Value Challenge, they’ve proven this technology can profitably turn industrial waste into valuable chemicals while operating at a fraction of traditional energy requirements. This is the kind of paradigm shift the chemical industry desperately needs.”

The fresh capital will be used to build and deploy a 20-foot modular pilot plant at an industrial customer site by mid-2026, develop a first commercial product for plasma-based PFAS abatement, and establish a first scalable production value chain. This comes at a time when the chemical sector faces an unprecedented need to decarbonize.

The global chemical industry generates more than 2 gigatons of greenhouse gases annually⁽¹⁾—about 5% of global CO₂ emissions ⁽²⁾—while consuming 14% of all oil and 8% of all gas supply as feedstock and fuel ⁽³⁾. Over 70% of the world’s top 100 chemical producers have committed to carbon neutrality by 2050 ⁽⁴⁾, yet the sector has underperformed broader stock markets since 2022, with operating margins falling to their lowest levels since the Great Recession ⁽⁵⁾. These dynamics underline the urgent need for new approaches.

enaDyne’s plasma-based solutions directly address this challenge by enabling customers to produce sustainable chemicals at or below fossil-based costs while significantly reducing emissions from both production processes and persistent pollutants.

“The chemical industry has been locked into fossil-dependent processes for over a century—we’re breaking that dependency with pure electricity and precision,” said Philipp Hahn, Co-Founder and CEO of enaDyne. “Our plasma technology doesn’t just compete with traditional chemistry—it fundamentally reimagines it. We can switch our reactors on and off like a light switch, deploy them anywhere renewable energy exists, and serve both conventional syntheses and the valorization of waste CO₂, producing the exact chemicals our customers need. This funding gives us the resources to prove that sustainable chemistry isn’t just possible—it’s inevitable and profitable.”

One example is CF₄, a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 7,390 times stronger than CO₂ that persists in the atmosphere for over 50,000 years. PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” resist natural degradation and accumulate in the environment and the human body. Both are difficult to treat with conventional processes due to their ultra-stable bonds, creating a high-value market opportunity as companies face mounting regulatory pressure to address these pollutants.

“What excites us about enaDyne is that they are building a truly scalable platform technology for sustainable chemistry, while at the same time unlocking an immediate business case,” said Stefano Galiasso, Vice President at Energy Capital Ventures. “The ability to rapidly eliminate ultra-stable PFAS emissions not only creates early commercial traction, but also proves the versatility of the underlying plasma catalysis approach. This rare combination of near-term impact and long-term industry transformation is exactly what we are looking for in Green Molecules® at Energy Capital Ventures.”

The company has achieved significant technical and commercial milestones, including winning the SPRIND Carbon-to-Value Challenge and securing its first paying pilot customers. enaDyne has also been recognized with multiple awards, including two awards received at Hello Tomorrow 2023, the 2023 East German Innovation Award, and the Sächsischer Gründerpreis 2024.

Today, enaDyne’s 30-person team—spanning 14 nationalities—plans to grow modestly to around 35 employees while expanding its IP portfolio, running certification programs, and deepening strategic partnerships. Looking ahead, the company’s long-term vision is to become the global platform for non-thermal plasma-based chemical synthesis, deploying tens of thousands of containerized units by 2050.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – 27 August 2025 – Farang, an AI research lab developing next-generation foundational Large Language Models, today announced it has raised €1.5 million in seed funding led by Voima Ventures and the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, with notable entrepreneur angel investors including Tero Ojanpera (Co-founder, Silo AI), Nilay Oza, and Niraj Aswani (Former Founders, Klevu).

The Stockholm-based company has created a novel architecture for Large Language Models, competing with the existing Transformer architecture used by current market leaders ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Instead of predicting text word-by-word, Farang’s architecture comprehends the complete response first - like imagining a picture before painting it - and then translates that concept into words. While recent AI models have added reasoning steps that provide “thinking time,” they still rely on word-prediction. In Farang’s approach, this thinking process is conducted internally through non-textual mechanisms, resulting in more coherent responses while dramatically reducing computational requirements.

Emil Romanus, Farang’s Founder

Emil Romanus, Farang’s Founder, comments: “We’re not building another application layer on top of existing models. We’ve developed a completely new foundational architecture that enables us to create specialized AI assistants that outperform current solutions in specific domains like programming and medicine, while using twenty-five times less computational resources. Based on current testing, we believe the percentage of resources used will decrease even further in the future.”

The funding will primarily be used to scale up its proof-of-concept models and invest in the compute power needed for training and fine-tuning models toward select specializations such as programming or the medical field.

Building Specialized AI for Real-World Problems

Farang plans to initially focus on specialized applications where current AI assistants struggle or underperform, including AI assistants for specific programming languages and frameworks, specialized medical fields, and internal company AI tools. The company’s first target is React programming, where it aims to produce more optimized and iterable code than existing LLMs.

“The beauty of our architecture is that it enables us to create highly specialized models for niche use cases like untapped medical domain models that would be prohibitively expensive with traditional approaches,” Romanus explains. “We can analyze unstructured medical data or create programming assistants that truly understand specific frameworks, not just general coding patterns.”

Farang’s technology also enables organizations to deploy specialized AI models on their own premises with full privacy controls—a critical advantage for healthcare, legal, and financial services companies handling sensitive data. Rather than sending proprietary information to external AI services, companies can train and run Farang’s models entirely in-house while maintaining complete data sovereignty.

“Our vision is that companies will have these specialized assistants running on their own infrastructure, integrated with their existing systems,” Romanus added. “A law firm could have an AI that understands its specific practice areas and case history, or a research hospital could have an assistant trained on their unique patient data—all while keeping that sensitive information completely private.”

An Ambitious Long-Term Vision

While starting with niche applications to prove the technology, Farang has set its sights on becoming a market leader in artificial intelligence, ultimately aiming to compete with and surpass OpenAI in the general AI space.

“We’re taking a different path than the big tech companies,” said Romanus. “By proving our architecture works in specialized domains first, we’re building the foundation to eventually challenge the current leaders across all AI applications.”

Inka Mero, Managing Partner & Founder of Voima Ventures: “We look for exceptional founders and technologies that reset the curve—not just optimize around the edges. Farang showcases how Europe can step up in the global AI race, as its foundational architecture provides a true paradigm shift—specialized, efficient, and enterprise-grade from day one.”

Ion Hauer, Principal at APEX Ventures, added: “We’re constantly evaluating breakthrough technologies that could redefine entire sectors, and Farang caught our attention immediately. For years, the industry has been making incremental improvements to the same Transformer foundation. What Emil and his team have developed represents a fundamental architectural leap—the kind of foundational change we believe will separate the next generation of AI leaders from today’s incumbents.”

Founded in 2025, Farang consists of a team of five highly experienced researchers, developers, and business professionals. The company is led by Emil Romanus, an engineer with over 20 years of experience in search, AI, and previous startup ventures.

The company is targeting individual developers and AI enthusiasts as early users, and has launched a waitlist for initial access to its technology.

Leoben, Austria – 17 July 2025 – Fiber Elements, a startup specializing in automated basalt fiber manufacturing for the construction industry, today announced it has raised €2.6 million in seed funding. The round was led by LEA Partners alongside the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund.

Founded in 2023 by architect-turned-entrepreneur Wolfgang Fiel, Fiber Elements has developed breakthrough technology for the fully automated production of three-dimensional basalt fiber structures, offering a sustainable alternative to steel-reinforced concrete. Its technology has been brought to market in collaboration with the Technical University of Leoben (MUL), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), and the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien).

Nano Factories-©Habau Group

The company’s approach combines finite element analysis with advanced manufacturing processes to create mineral composites that are three times stronger than steel while weighing two-thirds less.

In 2025, the hardware and building materials market worldwide generated a revenue of US$1.79 trillion ⁽¹⁾ and faces mounting pressure to decarbonize. Fiber Elements’ basalt-concrete solutions address this challenge head-on, offering up to 70% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to traditional steel reinforcement while maintaining superior performance characteristics. Unlike steel, basalt fibers do not corrode, enabling complete material recycling at the end of their life.

Automated fiber processing

The company has successfully completed pilot projects and currently serves five customers while holding one granted patent with several additional applications filed in 2025. The fresh capital will accelerate industrial scaling, expand the team from 10 to 20 employees by year-end, and advance full automation of the digital workflow with AI-supported optimization.

The company plans to introduce nano-factories for on-site production, which will dramatically reduce transport costs and environmental impact, while making sustainable, prefabricated concrete components more accessible across the construction industry.

Fiber Elements has secured recognition through the Deep Tech Seed financing award from Austria Wirtschaftsservice (AWS) and participation in the EIT Manufacturing Venture Building Programme 2025, supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.

Addressing the urgent need for Space Traffic Management, OKAPI:Orbits leverages AI-powered platforms to ensure safer and more sustainable space operations amid rising satellite congestion.

[Braunschweig, 24 April 2025] — OKAPI:Orbits, the leading European Space Traffic Management solutions provider, announces today the completion of its latest financing round led by Ventech, a pan-European early-stage VC deeply rooted in Germany, with strong support from Matterwave Ventures, a European industrial deep tech investor, and existing investors, such as the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund.

In addition to venture capital firms, the company’s new financing round attracted investments from well-known individual investors such as Christian Miele, former chairman of the German Start-up Association. The funding will be used to advance the company’s technical capabilities, expand the team, and scale its international footprint.

OKAPI:Orbits provides end-to-end Space Traffic Management (STM) solutions designed to support space missions from the mission planning phase to end-of-life. The company’s AI-based Space Traffic Management platforms leverage advanced data fusion to predict, detect, and deal with risks and movements in space, frequency interference, and environmental impacts. Besides increasing operational efficiency for satellite operations, OKAPI:Orbits offers full simulation capabilities and tools to ensure compliance with international regulations and standards.

“Our goal is to create lasting value for our customers while ensuring the long-term viability of our orbital environment. This round allows us to further solidify our leading role in the space industry. Based out of Europe and backed by worldwide best talent we are in the unique position to build resilient and independent Space Domain Awareness capabilities for commercial and institutional customers internationally.” commented Kristina Nikolaus, the company’s CEO.

In addition to Europe’s focus on space sustainability with regulatory frameworks such as the EU Space Act, ESA launched its Strategy 2040 in March, outlining an ambitious roadmap that emphasises innovation, sustainability and autonomous access to space. In short, the European space industry needs innovative infrastructure and services, and this is where OKAPI:Orbits comes in.

Nicolas Barthalon, Principal at Ventech adds: “As the interest in space skyrockets, satellite operators are in dire need of an extensive space asset catalogue, trustworthy collision risk predictions, predictable space mission unit economics, and finally an industry-vetted collaboration platform. In that context, Okapi brings the full package thanks to its strong IP and ties to key industry players. We are thrilled to support OKAPI:Orbits in becoming the backbone for safe and sustainable space missions, along with new and existing investors. ”

Benedikt Kronberger, Partner at Matterwave Ventures, adds: “Billions of consumers, as well as businesses and governments increasingly rely on the delivery of services enabled by satellites. OKAPI:Orbits offers the most advanced and reliable Space Traffic Management solution we have seen, setting new industry standards. Europe needs strong tech champions, particularly also in space tech, and we are committed to supporting the team at OKAPI:Orbits as they scale their impact and drive European leadership in the space sector.”

Wolfgang Neubert, Partner at Amadeus APEX Technology Fund comments:

“We are delighted to reinvest in OKAPI:Orbits as they strengthen their European foothold with established investors, addressing the critical issue of Space Traffic Management where daily conjunctions occur, and operators rely on inadequate communications. Rather than being merely investors, we see ourselves as long-term business partners and are consistently impressed by how the team tackles a genuine market challenge. Their German-engineered solution serves as a neutral, non-political platform where operators can communicate bidirectionally, creating a coordinated protocol for safer orbital operations.”

Since its founding in 2018, as one of the first commercial Space Situational Awareness (SSA) companies, by Kristina Nikolaus, Christopher Kebschull, and Jonas Radtke the company has achieved a leading market position, serving commercial and Institutional customers in Europe, Asia, and the USA.

Hyperheat Founders - Frederick Lessmann (Left), Dr.-Ing. Lars Amsbeck (Right)

Offenburg, Germany - 26 November 2024 — HyperHeat, the startup using renewable energy to make Zero-Carbon industrial heat, has successfully raised €3.5 million in a funding round. The investment was led by the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund with participation from Finindus, Possible Ventures, E44 Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, and a group of seasoned business angel investors.

HyperHeat plans to use the funds to continue building and testing its first industrial products, which are expected to be deployed by 2025.

Over 25 percent of global CO2 emissions come from heavy industry, making products critical to our modern way of life but contributing to global warming. ⁽¹⁾ Steel, cement, and chemicals production are the world’s most carbon-intensive industries. These sectors face significant challenges in decarbonization, including the need for extremely high temperatures and the inherent release of carbon dioxide during production processes.

To address these challenges, innovative solutions must be developed to reduce emissions and transition to sustainable practices. HyperHeat is rising to the challenge by developing a breakthrough technology for emission-free, high-temperature heating. Its mission is to move fossil fuel-reliant industries like steel, cement, and chemicals toward a future powered by renewable electrical energy.

To do this, the company is developing an electrically-powered system capable of reaching unmatched temperatures of up to 2000°C without typical degradation.

The novel low-cost industrial heater uses oxide ceramics for ultra-hot resistive heating. Its solution can be compared to a super-hot electric hair dryer, a drop-in replacement for a natural gas burner. This heater can rapidly decarbonize high-temperature processes in industries like steel, cement, and chemicals through cost-efficient retrofitting when powered by renewable electricity.

“Our goal is to bring a transformative and economical solution to industrial heat generation that accounts for nearly 16 percent of global CO2 emissions⁽²⁾,” said Dr.-Ing. Lars Amsbeck, co-founder and co-CEO of HyperHeat.

Frederick Lessmann, co-founder and co-CEO of HyperHeat continues: “We’re not just reducing emissions—we’re providing a practical, scalable, and most importantly economical solution for industrial companies facing increasing carbon regulations and market pressure. Our electric heater can retrofit existing furnaces and reach flame-like temperatures with unprecedented efficiency and durability.”

“The HyperHeat founding team combines a rare blend of technical brilliance and strategic vision that sets them apart in the industrial decarbonization space. We’re confident their solution will play a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions and driving sustainable industrial growth,” said Wolfgang Neubert, General Partner at APEX Ventures.

“More than 60 percent of the industry’s energy is required in the form of heat. Much of this is high-temperature heat generated by burning fossil fuels. The cutting-edge technology of HyperHeat allows decarbonizing the demand for heat at well over 1000 °C, even up to 2000 °C. This electric heater technology offers a unique value proposition in terms of cost and durability, ideally suited for heavy industries,” said Hans Maenhout, Investment Director at Finindus.

Based in Germany, near the border with France, HyperHeat was founded in 2023 by Dr. Lars Amsbeck and Frederick Lessmann and is at the forefront of the power-to-heat movement to decarbonize industries that have long relied on fossil fuels.

With this investment, HyperHeat will increase its R&D efforts and deploy the technology in partnership with pilot-customers. By offering a high-temperature heating solution that aligns with the world’s clean energy goals, HyperHeat is well-positioned to become a leader in renewable industrial heat and contribute to a sustainable future for our planet.

Bochum, Germany — November 19, 2024 — AI hardware startup GEMESYS has successfully raised €8.6 million in a pre-seed funding round led by the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund together with Atlantic Labs. Participation from NRW.BANK, Sony Innovation Fund, and Silicon Valley-based Plug and Play Tech Center, as well as grant funding from the German government, complemented the round.

With this new funding, GEMESYS will accelerate research and development and expand its team to further advance its novel chip architecture. The company is now actively hiring for roles, including Senior C++ Developer and Senior Simulation Engineer, to build on its promising technological foundation.

Europe’s Solution to Tech Independence

As AI hardware innovations are predominantly led by Asia and the US, GEMESYS emerges as Europe’s answer to the demand for technological independence and innovation. With a mission to establish a European counterweight in the global AI landscape, GEMESYS presents an innovative solution proudly developed in Germany. Backed by the German government and through the EXIST “Transfer of Research” funding program, GEMESYS is pioneering new AI innovation that has the potential to revolutionize the industry.

This advancement signals a rising star in AI hardware and highlights Europe’s capability to lead in tech. It offers an alternative rooted in data privacy, efficiency, and sustainable development. GEMESYS’s commitment to on-device AI training represents a giant leap forward for technological sovereignty, putting Germany and Europe firmly on the map as formidable forces in AI.

Dr. Dennis Michaelis, CEO of GEMESYS, commented, “At GEMESYS, our mission is to bring learning capabilities to every device through technology developed in Europe. Building on this foundation, we’re pioneering new applications that empower edge devices like never before—positioning Europe as a leader in distributed intelligence and setting a new standard for industry innovation.”

GEMESYS has already built a working hardware demonstrator and anticipates upcoming silicon testing, which will showcase the full potential of its revolutionary AI chip. Ion Hauer of APEX Ventures expressed his support, saying, “We’re excited to see GEMESYS redefine what’s possible in Edge AI. Its technology can transform countless industries and push the boundaries of on-device inference and training.”

Redefining AI Technology

GEMESYS is advancing the field of AI by making on-device training possible and efficient. This groundbreaking chip is designed to operate with unparalleled data and energy efficiency, allowing it to train neural networks with a fraction of the data required by conventional architectures. This breakthrough opens up a new range of mobile device and sensor applications, enabling them to process and learn directly from data at its source.

“GEMESYS is reinventing AI hardware with a truly innovative approach to edge intelligence. Its technology isn’t just an incremental improvement—it’s a game-changer,” says Quentin Calleja from Atlantic Labs.

“GEMESYS’s innovative architecture addresses the long-standing ‘von Neumann bottleneck’ while maintaining solid roots in CMOS technology essential for the supply chain. We’re thrilled to support the GEMESYS team as they pioneer a new era of energy-efficient computing,” said Antonio Avitabile, Managing Director – EMEA at Sony Ventures.

By supporting self-learning and distributed capabilities such as outlier detection, data drift management, and model personalization, GEMESYS is demonstrating its transformative impact across diverse industries. This approach brings substantial advantages, including enhanced data privacy, offline processing, and reduced bandwidth usage—critical factors for IoT providers.

Furthermore, GEMESYS introduces an innovative training methodology that compresses neural networks, boosting efficiency for inferencing tasks. With its advanced capabilities, GEMESYS is setting a new standard for AI training on edge devices, positioning itself as a must-have for IoT solutions globally.

Founded by Dr. Dennis Michaelis, Dr. Enver Solan, Moritz Schmidt, and Daniel Krüger, GEMESYS is based in Bochum, Germany. Its growing team of 19 includes five female members and five employees from diverse international backgrounds. GEMESYS is committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture as it pursues its mission to revolutionize AI on edge devices.

The funding, led by prominent global investors Energy Capital Ventures®, joined by Blackbird, the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund and Aussie Angels, alongside all their existing investors, will be used to scale the firm’s flagship product, BRIO, into pilot projects.

BRIO – a product of extensive research and development – is a revolutionary biogas technology that:

• Generates biomethane up to 3 times faster than currently possible

• Boosts energy production by up to 60% from the same amount of waste

• Is flexible, having the potential to service the entire industry, at every scale

• Easily retrofits into existing anaerobic digestion plants

• Is highly adaptable to diverse systems – controls existing bacteria rather than by introducing new bacteria, enabling the potential to utilise any waste stream.

The new funding will be directed towards accelerating the adoption of the BRIO technology in commercial units across various applications, from full scale wastewater treatment plants to the large-scale biogas plants, that are integral components of the renewable energy ecosystem.

The global biogas market is projected to grow at around 5.2% annually from 2020 to 2030, reaching $86.7 billion by 2030. Europe is expected to be one of the major players in this field, having set biomethane production targets to reach 35 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year by 2030.

Vertus Energy is a Waste-to-X industrial biotech startup specialising in advanced control of bacteria behaviour. Encouraged by the region’s ambitious biomethane production agenda, the company made the strategic move of establishing its regional HQ in Vienna, Austria, to expand influence across the breadth of Europe and the UK, where existing AD plant infrastructure increased by 30% to reach a total of 1,322 biomethane-producing facilities by April 2023.

Leading the operations from the UK, Co-founder and COO, Benjamin Howard will focus on delivering Vertus Energy projects across Europe and implementing a strategy for global commercialisation.

“Vertus Energy is determined to radically improve access to sustainable energy and help Europe meet its renewable energy objectives,” he says. “Thanks to the backing of our proprietary BRIO technology by world-class investors, we’re able to deliver some key objectives.”

“We’ve already established relationships with global players, who have recognised how the technology can help them to meet their renewable energy goals and are genuinely excited by what we can deliver. It’s an incredible time for us as we partner with companies to pursue an enormous common benefit, impacting on global energy equity, sustainability and resilience. BRIO is the first of many innovations we’re working on; but our purpose remains the same.

“Delivering Energy Justice for All.”

Vic Pascucci, Managing General Partner and Cofounder of Energy Capital Ventures, comments: “As the only venture capital fund solely dedicated to green molecules™, we have devoted the last several years to analysing technologies and start-ups in biogas, biomethanation and renewable natural gas. It was abundantly clear from our exhaustive due diligence that Vertus Energy’s technology, commercial progress and team were far superior to anything in the market. We backed Vertus Energy because they have a fantastic team, clearly demonstrative technology and verifiable results that vastly surpass competitive options.”

For Wolfgang Neubert, General Partner at the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, it was the scientific data that drew them to invest. He comments: “We were impressed by Vertus’ commitment to deep-tech innovation and their solid foundation of scientific data. It aligned perfectly with our focus on supporting companies that are not only driven by innovation but also committed to sustainability. Looking through a long-term lens, we are excited by BRIO’s potential for further advancements in the biogas market and look forward to uncovering those broader possibilities, with Vertus being positioned at the forefront of the sustainable energy push.”

- ATMOS designs and manufactures return capsules, opening up the highly anticipated market for ‘microgravity on demand’ for a fraction of current market prices

- The seed financing was oversubscribed, closing at €4 million

- Leading space tech investors High-Tech Gründerfonds, the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, Seraphim, E2MC, VENTIS and another.vc all show strong support of cutting-edge space cargo return technology developed by founder Sebastian Klaus and a highly experienced team

- ATMOS is entering a booming life sciences market. The total in-space manufacturing market is expected to reach €7 billion in 2030. ATMOS’s sustainable cargo return technology is aimed at tackling fundamental obstacles of growing demand in the space sector

- Its patented Phoenix return capsule represents a scalable solution to growing market demands, likely to broaden access to space and microgravity within the next 24 months

- CEO Sebastian Klaus confirms first demonstration mission at the end of 2024 to return cargo from space

- Christian Ziach, Principal at HTGF: “The technology developed by Sebastian Klaus is not only highly innovative, it is extremely scalable and superior to conventional capsule designs in terms of mass and cost efficiency.”

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Baden-Airpark, Rheinmünster, Germany - June 22, 2023 - ATMOS Space Cargo (ATMOS), a pioneering NewSpace startup, announces the successful closure of its initial seed funding round, raising €4 million. The round was oversubscribed, with investments from renowned industry leaders including lead investors High-Tech Gründerfonds and the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, alongside Seraphim, E2MC, VENTIS, and another.vc. The company is on track to embark on its first demonstration mission at the end of 2024.

ATMOS specializes in the development and manufacturing of space capsules capable of safely returning any cargo from space, regardless of scale. Its highly innovative Phoenix capsules represent the first sustainable solution for a large range of payloads and experiments. They have been designed to offer microgravity on-demand ranging from three hours to three months in orbit. These capsules open up unprecedented opportunities for a wide array of applications, including biomedical and material sciences research, In-Orbit Demonstration and Verification (IOD/IOV), and the manufacturing of products in space.

ATMOS was co-founded by Sebastian Klaus, an aerospace engineer (M.Sc) and pilot (CPL) with over 10 years of leadership experience as a former officer in the German military. Sebastian has developed and submitted several patented technologies for entry and descent. His experienced team of co-founders has a remarkable track record in renowned space missions (details to be announced later).

The closure of the seed funding represents yet another success for the NewSpace startup. The company has been part of the ESA Business Incubation Centre since 2021. It won the best startup pitch at the ESA Investor Forum in Berlin in 2022 and has been in a partnership with the Institute of Space Systems Stuttgart, Germany’s premier academic institution for atmospheric re-entry, for several years.

The €4 million in seed funding now enables ATMOS to carry out its first demonstration flight at the end of 2024. During this milestone flight, it will return a microgravity experiment from low Earth orbit with its Phoenix return capsule.

- Sebastian Klaus, CEO and Co-Founder of ATMOS Space Cargo: “What excites me about life sciences in space is that everyone on Earth can – and will – benefit from it. Solving this challenge requires leadership and the best team. I am proud to do this with the best Co-Founders I could wish for, backed by experienced advisors and world-class investors. We are highly focused now on flying to orbit and returning safely back to Earth before the end of next year. This funding will take us there.”

- Christian Ziach, Principal at HTGF: “The ATMOS Space Cargo team has a proven track record of successfully executing the most challenging aerospace projects, which is why I am pleased to be leading this round of funding alongside The Amadeus APEX Technology Fund. The technology developed by Sebastian Klaus is not only highly innovative, it is extremely scalable and superior to conventional capsule designs in terms of mass and cost efficiency. The superiority of this technological approach is also confirmed by the syndicate of globally active and highly experienced space investors. As a result, ATMOS Space Cargo fulfills all the requirements to become a critical enabler for the growing in-orbit manufacturing industry.”

- Andreas Riegler, Founding Partner at APEX Ventures: “ATMOS Space Cargo aligns with our commitment to invest in cutting-edge technologies that can make space more sustainable. We believe the company has demonstrated a laser-focused vision that will advance space transportation capabilities. We are confident that this funding will propel it to becoming a major player in the global space industry.”

- Maureen Haverty, Vice President at Seraphim Space: “We’ve heard time and time again that the real bottleneck in space life sciences R&D is the time taken to launch and return from the ISS, which makes research far too slow. ATMOS free flyer and return will solve this, eventually scaling to frequent and flexible return from space.”

- Raphael Röttgen, Managing Partner E2MC: “Manufacturing in space, especially for life sciences, has significant economic and positive impact potential. The ATMOS team and its unique technology have everything to make regular, commercial in-space manufacturing and Earth return a reality. We are excited to help them make it happen.”

About ATMOS Space Cargo:
ATMOS Space Cargo GmbH specializes in the development and manufacturing of technology to return cargo of any size from space, from microgravity experiments, commercial products to entire rocket stages.

Munich, February 27, 2023 – planqc, a leading quantum computing company, welcomes Dr. Hermann Hauser, co-founder of ARM, as a new board member. Dr. Hauser represents the newly founded Amadeus APEX Technology Fund, planqc’s new investor.

Dr. Hermann Hauser is one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, with a long history of founding companies in various (deep) technology sectors. These include Acorn Computers, ARM, world-leading in micro-processing technology found today in 95 percent of mobile phones, or Solexa (now Illumina), revolutionizing synthetic biology. He is also a key member of the Cambridge science and technology community and a trusted innovation advisor of the UK government and the European Union.

“We are deeply honored that Dr. Hermann Hauser has placed his trust in us by becoming a member of our Board of Advisors. He is a highly valued partner and companion for us who – like no one else– knows how to turn world-class science into disruptive new products and company growth. We are certain that he will provide important guidance as planqc scales its quantum computing platform and creates new products and solutions,” says Alexander Glätzle, CEO and co-founder of planqc.

Dr. Hauser has been closely watching the development of quantum computing technologies ever since Amadeus Capital Partners made its first investment in the field. “I am delighted to be joining the board of this exciting company. With its unique technology, planqc has a huge competitive advantage in scaling its quantum computers to ten-thousands of qubits. At the same time, planqc achieves superior gate fidelity by leveraging technology in the world’s best atomic clocks. I greatly look forward to working with this world-class team,” says Hauser.

The founding team builds on decades of groundbreaking research and technology development at Munich’s Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ). The realization of the world’s first quantum simulator by the group of planqc advisor Immanuel Bloch laid the foundation for analog quantum computing more than 20 years ago. With the recently founded Munich Quantum Valley, the group is at the forefront of universal, digital quantum computing, realizing a neutral-atom-based quantum processor with up to 400 qubits encoded in strontium atoms. The consortium is led by MPQ and is funded by the German government and the state of Bavaria.

Using optical lattices, a technology pioneered in Munich, already today thousands of atoms can be trapped in a standing wave light pattern formed by a single laser beam. Quantum information is stored in electronic states of strontium atoms, the very same states that are used to build the world’s best atomic clocks due to their extraordinary long coherence times. This unique combination of quantum technologies has the potential to be one of the fastest ways to scale to thousands of qubits with superior gate fidelity, a prerequisite for industry-relevant quantum advantage.

planqc commercializes the neutral-atom quantum technologies developed within the Munich Quantum Valley. “Our ambitious goal is to realize a digital, fully programmable, and error-corrected quantum computer that can work outside of artificial laboratory environments,” says Sebastian Blatt, CTO and co-founder of planqc. Such a fully digital device will disrupt many industries, such as the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The quantum computer could help to design and upgrade catalysts, vital to all aspects of modern life: from making new medicines to developing new plastics. Another application example is the simulation of complex new materials required for developing batteries with higher performance, shorter charging times, and longer lifetimes.

Benjamin Erhart, General Partner at UVC Partners and one of planqc’s early investors, says: “planqc is a shining example that we not only have excellent scientists in Germany, but also that joined efforts of start-ups and initiatives such as the Munich Quantum Valley are already bearing fruit. The fact that a world-leading venture capitalist such as Dr. Hermann Hauser is joining our endeavor underlines this. We hope that such a great collaboration will serve as a role model not only on a national level but also internationally as well as in other research areas to create a world we all want to live in.”

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About planqc

planqc is building quantum computers that store information in individual atoms – nature’s best qubits. Quantum information is processed by arranging these qubits in highly scalable arrays and manipulating them with precisely controlled laser pulses. planqc’s unique combination of quantum technologies is the fastest way to scale to thousands of qubits, a prerequisite for industry-relevant quantum advantage. planqc was founded in April 2022 by Alexander Glätzle, Sebastian Blatt, Johannes Zeiher, Lukas Reichsöllner, together with Ann-Kristin Achleitner and Markus Wagner. planqc is based in Garching near Munich, Germany.

Learn more at www.planqc.eu