VENTURE SPRIND 2026 Booklet

A SPRUNGINNOVATION IS AN INNOVATION, THAT CHANGES OUR LIVES FOR THE BETTER IN THE LONG TERM.

SPRIND PROVIDES CUSTOM MADE FUNDING

SPRIND FUNDING INSTRUMENTS

START-UP FUNDING

Through start-up funding, we support young companies that are not yet able to acquire sufficient funding from private sources. We use the start-up funding to build up the company, develop the technology and, if necessary, take the first steps towards commercialization. Funding is provided up to EUR 1 million.

INVESTMENTS AND CONVERTIBLE LOANS

If the private venture capital market does not offer sufficient financing, we can invest directly in start-ups. New private investors must provide at least 30% of the financing round and, as lead investor, negotiate the terms on which SPRIND will then invest on an equal footing. We can use equity investments, convertible loans and any other instruments similar to equity investments.

FUNDING FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

We support disruptive innovations during capital-intensive research and development stages and fund part of the development costs. The remaining costs are covered by private investments. Our funding is typically in the single-digit million euro range, although it can reach up to EUR 35 million in individual cases. SPRIND funding only has to be repaid in the event of success, in other words, if the start-up goes public, is sold or begins to distribute profits.

SPRIND CHALLENGES

In the SPRIND challenges, teams with disruptive innovation potential currently receive between EUR 500,000 and three million per competition stage. Funding is provided as a pre-commercial contract for research and development.

SPRIND FUNKEN

Every SPRIND Funke can be a small step towards great transformations. Like the challenges, the sparks are innovation competitions for pioneers with world-changing ideas – but even faster. Currently, teams receive up to EUR 350,000 per competition stage. As with the SPRIND challenges, funding is provided via pre-commercial contracts.

VENTURE SPRIND

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial intelligence transforming everything from daily tasks to life sciences and robotics. This transformation must be safe, secure, and resource-efficient.

Physical intelligence, Composite Learning, Deepfake Detection, Agent-Economy, Efficient AI

MATERIA

NEXT-GEN MATERIALS

ALGORA COMPUTA STELLA

Materials and chemical processes that actively remove waste and enable sustainable, circular industry at scale.

Circular Materials, Advanced Materials, Sustainable Chemistry

COMPUTE INFRASTRUCTURE

Semiconductors, chips and highperformance computing architectures powering next-generation digital and AI capabilities.

Semiconductors, Chips, High-Performance Computing, Compute Infrastructure, Digital Sovereignty

AEROSPACE & RESILIENCE

Space and aerospace technologies to protect Europe‘s sovereignty, resilience, and strategic autonomy.

Space Systems, Satellites, Defense Tech, Security

FUTURE ENERGY

Next-generation energy systems powering a climate-neutral, resilient, and competitive Europe.

Renewables, Hydrogen, Storage, Smart Grids

ENERGIA FACTURA

INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION

Industrial innovation that decarbonizes production while strengthening Europe‘s competitiveness.

Clean Manufacturing, Decarbonization, Robotics, Agriculture Technologies

VITALA

ADVANCED MEDICINE

Breakthrough therapies transforming how serious and currently untreatable diseases are addressed.

Advanced Therapies, Biotech, Gene & Cell Therapy

COMPUTA

STELLA

AETOSPHERE &0%

AVIENTUS RADNAV &10

CDDS &1&

GETWING &14

HYPERSONICA &16

NEUROSPACE &1%

NEWORBIT SPACE &&0

NOUMA AUTONOMY &&&

POLARIS &&4

UBASWARM &&6

ZETATOR &&%

Please bear with us and note that all content in this booklet has been provided by the teams themselves. It does not claim to be complete or perfect, but is intended as a helpful overview.

If you come across a typo or a number that seems unusual, feel free to reach out to the respective team — it’s a great way to start a conversation.

As this booklet was produced with limited resources — and as you may know, even one of the earliest “Sprunginnovationen,” the printing press, still depends on strict deadlines — not all teams currently present at VENTURE SPRIND may be featured.

BLACK SEMICONDUCTOR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

For AI to go where we all hope for, we need dramatically cheaper cost per token, not possible with todays technology. The solution is a new category of computer chip: an electric-optical chip - which operates electrical but speaks optical. This allows a thousand times better performance and reduces cost per token.

Humans communicating via letters is slow and inefficient, imagine our brains were directly connected – how much faster we could move forward. That’s what we do with computer chips, connecting chips with each other using integrated graphene photonics. We developed this chip technology and build a fab for volume production.

STATUS

Black Semiconductor received almost EUR 280 Mio. to turn 20 years of research into Europe’s next chip champion. We now raise a EUR 125 Mio. Series B used to commercialize AI connectivity, scale IP, and ramp 300 mm integrated graphene photonics to volume production.

TEAM

Daniel Schall

Sebastian Schall

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We envision to build a new „Layer of Permanence“: the new infrastructure for data that must endure forever. Data written with light, held in glass. Beyond heat, energy consumption, time, or attack.

A data storage layer build for continuance.

We offer data writing, storing and reading as a service in our future glass data centers.

STATUS

The MVP to write, store, and read data blocks of up to 500 TB is being assembled . We will be able to write first customer pilots starting September 2026. Three patents are in the process of filing.

Two founders and a newly hired Head of Business Development build a pipeline of beachhead customers and develop a re-sale partner network.

TEAM

Ina Dorothee von Haeften Steffen Klewitz Phil Wittwer

GIXEL

COMPUTE INFRASTRUCTURE

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Germany

FUNDING DETAILS

PRIVATE FUNDING - EU 1, &&5,000 EUR FUNDING STAGE SERIES A

6&0,000 EUR

FUNDING -&0,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

AI glasses are taking off. ~10M units are expected in 2025 — already 2! higher than the best forecasts. But displays remain the bottleneck. Current AR displays are bulky and inefficient, preventing true glasses form factors. Gixel builds the display technology that enables bright, efficient AR in normal glasses.

The pupil moves. Today’s AR displays send light to many possible eye positions — wasting more than 99% of the light. Gixel tracks the pupil and sends light only to the eye.

Result: dramatically higher efficiency and bright AR in glasses.

STATUS

Working functional display prototype demonstrated. Strong technical engagement with leading consumer tech companies. Next: deliver evaluation kits to Tier-1 OEMs developing next-generation AI glasses.

TEAM

Miro Taphanel

Felix Nienstaedt

Ding Luo

INCIRT

CONVERTERS

COMPUTE INFRASTRUCTURE

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Aachen, Germany TRL TRL 7

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE SEED

FUNDING NEEDED %,000,000 EUR

PRIVATE FUNDING - EU 5,500,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Today, data converters are a bottleneck in chipsets for high performance wireless communications such as telecom, satellites, and radar. Our technology removes this bottleneck, enabling faster communications, higher resolution radar, and more capable systems.

We invented a new way to represent signals inside the data converter. This enables complementary parallelization of data conversion across both analog and digital domains, something never done before. We patented the approach and use it to deliver higher performance with lower power.

STATUS

We developed four prototypes reaching TRL 6, all outperforming the state of the art by up to 6x in instantaneous bandwidth while using a fraction of the power. We are running PoCs with key customers such as Nokia and are part of relevant industry initiatives.

TEAM

Oner Hanay Erkan Bayram Mohamed Saeed Elsayed

QUANTUM COMPUTING MADE FOR GERMANY.

FUNDING DETAILS COMPUTE

COMPANY DETAILS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Quantum computing will define security and industrial leadership—from cryptography to pharma and logistics. Control over this technology is inherently national. We build a sovereign, full-stack EU quantum company, mastering nearly the entire supply chain to ensure secure, independent capability.

We build and operate a universal ion-trap quantum computer with an almost fully EU-based supply chain and complete infrastructure in Germany. Designed for scalability, our platform will expand to compete globally and secure long-term technological leadership.

STATUS

Since 2017, we have operated a universal ion-trap quantum computer. Customers such as Bundesdruckerei already use our quantum computing capacity, and under contract with the Cyberagentur we are building a mobile quantum computer to be delivered by 2027.

TEAM

Christian Zimmermann Björn Lekitsch

NEUROMORPHIC FIBER NETWORKS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We explore physical reservoirs (PRs) based on polymer dendrites for highly efficient computing and connect them to living neurons for synthetic intelligence. Our technology has groundbreaking applications for brain repair & cognitive enhancement.

We build on successful research on neuromorphic computing, using the reservoir computing approach. Based on biocompatible systems, we address the interface to biological systems.

STATUS

Basic functionality demonstrated, Company foundation in preparation.

TEAM

Karl Leo Hans Kleemann

Andreas Hofacker

Richard Kantelberg

OPEN RADIO SYSTEMS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

At Open Radio Systems, we transform mobile network infrastructure into software. With our technology, mobile network operators can replace their proprietary 5G/6G base stations by hyperscale datacenters, replacing vendor lock-in with homogeneous hardware, extreme cost efficiency, flexibility, speed, security, and technological sovereignty.

Our Radio Processing Units (RPUs) enable software base stations to reach carrier-grade performance. They also solve the front-haul bus bottleneck using sub-nanosecond synchronization technology from particle accelerators. This allows conventional computers to outperform proprietary base stations (full of ASICs) from European and Chinese vendors.

STATUS

We released our minimum viable product (MVP), the ORS-XC7, in January 2026. It will be demonstrated in a customer installation in March of this year. We have received several requests for field tests from system integrators and are negotiating at the executive level with tier-one mobile network operators in Germany and the US.

TEAM

Stefan Valentin Christian Freund Martin Kumm Stefano Tomasin

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Quantum computing, 6G, radar and satellite systems require ultra-stable, low-noise frequency references. Existing electronic oscillators limit performance. Our solution enables higher precision, lower error rates and improved system reliability.

We develop photonic RF and microwave oscillators that use optical references to generate ultra-low-noise electrical signals. By combining photonics with high-frequency electronics, we achieve record-low phase noise and jitter beyond classical electronics.

STATUS

Built and validated a photonic microwave oscillator with –154 dBc/Hz phase noise at 10 GHz and femtosecond-level jitter. Awarded Innovation Prize Berlin Brandenburg 2025. Strategic partnership with Fraunhofer HHI and first pilot customer engagements.

TEAM

Peter Hertenstein Saeed Fard

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The dependence on DRAM and SRAM limits AI inference hardware to its current performance and cost. While the industry is constrained to incremental progress, SEMRON takes a leap forward by bringing compute capabilities directly into high-density, low-cost 3D NAND flash, enabled by its patented CapRAM™ technology.

While the density and cost benefits of 3D NAND flash are well known, its use for compute has so far been limited by noise and non-linearity challenges. SEMRON’s approach overcomes these issues through a high-precision mem-capacitive architecture, building on many generations of memory scaling.

STATUS

SEMRON is gaining strong momentum as leading memory manufacturers recognize that it has solved challenges they have been unable to address for over a decade. This traction is built on multiple generations of semiconductor prototypes and is secured by a robust and defensible IP portfolio.

TEAM

Aron Kirschen Tilmann Bartsch

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Inflammatory diseases of the airways, such as COPD, bronchiectasis or asthma, affect hundreds of millions of patients worldwide. Current treatment options are limited, and for many patients their disease cannot be adequately controlled. While progress has recently been made by others, the need for broadly effective and safe drugs remains high.

AATec develops therapeutics for lung diseases using a new multimodal approach. Our products are based on a novel version of AAT, a protein that broadly inhibits key mediators of airway inflammation and infections, overcoming the limitations of current treatments. Products are delivered by inhalation for optimal effects in the airways.

STATUS

AATec has successfully established the technological basis for the industrial production of the active ingredient and the inhalation device. Extensive data on preclinical efficacy and preclinical safety have been generated. Clinical studies in patients with non-CF bronchiectasis are planned to start in Quarter 3, 2026.

TEAM

Rüdiger Jankowsky

Michael Strassmair

Manfred Stangl

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Our mission is to use biology to solve the rare earth challenge by recovering valuable elements from waste and turning them into a circular, domestic source of critical raw materials.

BIOPELEACH is building a biohybrid platform that uses fermentation-derived bioacids from industrial side streams to release rare earths from waste, then highly selective peptides to capture individual elements. This enables cleaner, more circular recovery with far lower chemical use than conventional hydrometallurgy.

STATUS

BIOPELEACH has shown bio-based leaching of rare earths and selective peptide-based capture, validating targeted recovery from complex waste. Current work improves selectivity, robustness, and process integration. With BIOWEG and TU Berlin, the technology is advancing toward pilot-scale use with real industrial waste streams.

TEAM

Prateek

Mahalwar Adam Belsom Ana Pérez-López

BIOTX.AI

MAPPING HOW GENES CAUSALLY SHAPE BIOLOGY.

ADVANCED MEDICINE

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Potsdam, Germany

TRL TRL 8

FUNDING DETAILS

PRIVATE FUNDING - EU

REVENUE %45,000 EUR

1,000,000 EUR FUNDING STAGE SERIES A PUBLIC FUNDING 1,000,000 EUR

www.biotx.ai

PRIVATE FUNDING 1,000,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Our vision is to disrupt the high-risk biotech business model through a more predictable, data-driven approach. Through causal mapping of the genome, we elucidate disease biology and enable robust prediction of clinical trial success — paving the way for a new era in therapeutics.

By testing every gene across all human tissues using large-scale Mendelian randomization across thousands of diseases and biomarkers, we generate billions of causal data points linking genes to biological outcomes. Our causally annotated data — and the AI models trained on it — create a holistic map that deepens our understanding of human biology.

STATUS

Since launching our technology in late 2022, biotx.ai has been developing its own drug candidates while also partnering with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to optimize clinical development - receiving upfront payments, milestone-based compensation, and royalty agreements in return.

TEAM

Marco Schmidt Charles Ravarani

Roman Fudim

BRAINQR THERAPEUTICS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

brainQr addresses the lack of disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s, affecting over 40 million people worldwide. By stabilizing Tau, the key driver of cognitive decline, brainQr aims to preserve cognition and transform Alzheimer treatment.

brainQr develops oral small-molecule drugs that stabilize Tau, the key driver of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s. Using its proprietary AI-IDP platform brainQr targets previously undruggable disordered proteins to enable disease-modifying therapies.

STATUS

brainQr achieved robust preclinical proof-of-concept for its development candidate BQ-141, showing ~47% reduction of Tau propagation and translational biomarker effects. IND-enabling studies will start in Q2 2026.

TEAM

Markus Zweckstetter Lisa Marie Ramirez

CELLBRICKS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Millions of patients suffer from tissue loss or organ failure, with limited treatment options and donor shortages. Restoring functional human tissue addresses urgent medical needs today and builds the foundation for scalable organ replacement.

A light-based 3D-bioprinting platform combining patient-derived cells with dedicated biomaterials to biofabricate vascularizable human tissue implants. The approach enables controlled architecture, scalability, and integration, supporting functional tissue restoration and organ replacement based on stem cells.

STATUS

Biofabricated soft tissue implants have shown strong biocompatibility and integration in preclinical studies. Ongoing work focuses on large-animal validation, process scale-up, and translational development, supported by recent funding and growing partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies. Next steps will be Series A for clinical validation.

TEAM

Alexander Leutner

Simon MacKenzie

Tobias

Lam

CINGULUSBIO

MOTIVATION APPROACH

By providing fast, inexpensive, and scalable binding reagents for any protein, the company is building a foundational layer of the protein analysis ecosystem. This positions the business for broad adoption, recurring revenue, and strong strategic value as protein measurement becomes as routine and scalable as DNA sequencing.

Binding proteins are assembled in silico from pre-validated modular building blocks, reducing timelines from months to days while lowering costs and eliminating experimental failure risk. In contrast to full de novo design, precise knowledge on the 3D structure of the target is not required. No target protein is needed, only its sequence.

STATUS

After 7 mio € public funding, reagents have been created and extensively characterized for a number of typical applications, with very convincing results. Various antibody companies have shown great interest in collaborations. The technology has been extensively patented. Several VCs have shown concrete interest to be part of a syndicate.

TEAM

Andreas Plückthun

Birte Höcker

Anna Hine

Erich Michel

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Already today, patients face delayed start of cancer treatment due to staff shortages. The rising number of cancer cases further endanger access to care. The workflow has not changed in decades: Nurses manually checking medications in 4-eyes principle, calculate dose-rates and operating clamps to switch multiple sequential infusion steps.

Connected Consumables digitally traces medication IDs with integrated chips and the proprietary „Ethernet of Medical Tubing“. The first-in-class multi-input pump automates sequential infusions according to the digital treatment plan. This automation returns valuable time to nurses for patient interaction and clinical decision-making.

STATUS

• CE-certified oncology planning software launched

• Automated workflow validated with over 50 U.S. nurses, incl. staff from Mayo Clinic

• Feasibility of ID-check through inductive coupling of connected consumables

• FDA presubmission confirming 510(k) pathway with no clinical trial required

TEAM

Nora Herzog Marika Geißler

Jochen Hampe Jesse Ambrosia

COMPANY DETAILS

FUNDING

MOTIVATION APPROACH

CPTx develops a new generation of genetic medicines that can be delivered directly to patients without complex manufacturing. By simplifying how cell therapies are produced and delivered, we seek to make powerful genetic treatments more scalable and accessible across oncology, autoimmune diseases, and beyond.

CPTx combines proprietary immune-quiet single-stranded DNA with targeted lipid nanoparticle (tLNP) delivery to enable in vivo genetic programming of immune cells. This platform supports precise gene expression, improved tolerability, and the potential for repeat dosing, while avoiding the complexity of viral vectors and ex vivo cell manufacturing.

STATUS

CPTx is advancing preclinical development of its ssDNA-tLNP platform and lead in vivo CAR-T programs. Current work focuses on vector and delivery optimization, lead candidate selection, and IND-enabling studies. The first program targets relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (R/R DLBCL) with a dual CD19/CD20 in vivo CAR-T therapy.

TEAM

Hendrik Dietz Christian Sigl

DENAZYME

DENAZYME THERAPEUTICS REVOLUTIONIZES CANCER THERAPY WITH DNA-POWERED PRECISION.

ADVANCED MEDICINE

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Duesseldorf, Germany

TRL

TRL 3

FUNDING DETAILS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Our vision is to fundamentally transform drug discovery through modular, sustainable and affordable high-precision DNA enzymes.

Our technology is based on the extraordinary advantages of high-precision DNA enzymes. Our key advancement is the development of a new mechanistic understanding that allows us to design a modular platform to overcome current obstacles. Proof-of-principle and further development pipeline have been established.

STATUS

We have developed a next generation DNAzyme platform that shows strong therapeutic effects in vitro, in cello and in vivo. We filed multiple patent applications covering different aspects of our platform. Considerable public funding and a strong (non-academic) network allow the current development of lead candidate and targeted delivery.

TEAM

Manuel Etzkorn

Hannah Rosenbach

Philipp Lang

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Brain cancer remains one of the deadliest and least curable forms of cancer, yet it continues to suffer from a scarcity of investment and innovation. To lower the barriers to investing in this high-need field, we developed a versatile platform technology designed to target brain tumors and to hold curative potential for other neurological diseases.

InCephalo’s proprietary Compartment Lock technology enables the local administration of tailor-made biological drugs directly into the brain or cerebrospinal fluid, retaining them behind the blood-brain barrier in CNS tissue while ensuring rapid systemic degradation if leakage occurs. This dual mechanism creates a wide therapeutic window.

STATUS

The first preclinical asset, InC01 (C-Locked IL-12) , and proof of concept has achieved significant de-risking and is 18 months away from the clinic. We demonstrated superior efficacy in animal models of glioblastoma and ex vivo human brain tumor tissue, with robust immune activation and tumor regression while maintaining a wide therapeutic window.

TEAM

Carlo Bertozzi Johannes vom Berg

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Active Immunomodulation is of the most promising approaches in modern precision medicine. To bring this to the next level, we at ingineeon develop

first-in-class cytokine-based immunotherapeutics. Our therapeutics have breakthrough potential to address todays bi est unmet medical needs in infectious diseases, immuno-oncology and autoimmunity.

STATUS

Impaired immunity is a major disease driver in systemic inflammations like sepsis but also cancer. We have developed the worldwide first human interleukin-27alpha-based immunotherapeutic (INGp-010X). INGp-010X is a first-in-class biopharmaceutical with a novel Mechanism of Action for precise restoration of immune competence.

Building on in vivo animal and ex vivo human Proof of Concept studies in patients in several indications, INGp-010X is only few milestones away from entry into the clinics. The regulatory authority provided positive opinion on the therapeutic breakthrough potential as well as accelerated market access for the INGp-010X program.

TEAM

Julia Behnke

Matthias Feige

Daniel Horn-Ghetko

Isabel Aschenbrenner

KANO THERAPEUTICS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We envision a future where medicines act at the most fundamental level of disease. By improving the DNA instructions inside cells, new therapies can address root causes instead of symptoms, opening the door to cures for severe genetic disorders, cancer, and other conditions where patients today have few or no options.

Lack of DNA payload innovation is a fundamental industry bottleneck that limits which therapies can reach patients. Kano is committed to perfecting the genetic payload itself. Our circular single-stranded DNA (cssDNA) functions as a versatile building block, working across delivery modalities and therapeutic approaches.

STATUS

Kano‘s DNA platform is being evaluated in six drug development programs with goal to reach first patients by 2028. We have shipped KanoDNA to clients tackling various cancers, auto-immune diseases, and severe genetic disorders.

TEAM

Floris

Engelhardt

MOTIVATION APPROACH

LIMAA is building the category-leading automated physical infrastructure for sample handling and volumetric tissue imaging in clinical pathology. The platform generates standardized tissue datasets while preserving samples for genomics, helping labs manage rising case volumes and enabling AI-driven diagnostics.

LIMAA integrates light sheet imaging, nanobody labeling, lab automation and software into a unified platform for tissue scale data generation. The system connects directly to laboratory instruments and pathology LIMS, enabling automated preparation and analysis of entire tissue samples to accelerate diagnostics and improve clinical decision making.

STATUS

Team of 16 experts; automated volumetric H&E staining sample handling (category-defining); >50 biomarker pipeline; strong in-house development & regulatory expertise; pilot customer + 3 additional pilot LOIs; LIMAApath software in development; TSO500 Illumina integrated; fits standard histology workflows; ISO 13485 planned for end-2026.

TEAM

Fabian Mohr Mélanie Guenter

METAIMMUNE THERAPEUTICS

METAIMMUNE IS DEVELOPING NOVEL MEDICINES THAT PRECISELY MODULA

ADVANCED MEDICINE

COMPANY DETAILS

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Based on groundbreaking discoveries of our renowned co-founders we develop breakthrough small molecules through metabolic reprogramming of immune function to treat inflammatory disease. Inflammatory diseases affect over 230M people worldwide. Developing more efficacious / safer treatments will greatly benefit patients worldwide.

One program targets interferonopathies. Our founder discovered a novel metabolite with broader efficacy than current treatments.

Our second program focuses on the anti-inflammatory MoA of glucocorticoids. Our founders discovered a new and dru able pathway that allows for powerful ant-inflammatory agents without the side effects of GCs.

STATUS

MetaImmune is seeking a seed round of € 6M to advance the two programs to the lead optimization and hit-to-lead stage. Starting operations at CLIC co-lab in Berlin with initial funding from Sprind. Founding management comprised of successful drug hunters and entrepreneurs with extensive company building expertise and proven track record.

TEAM

Maja Kraas Eicke Latz

Gerhard Krönke

A NOVEL FUSOGENIC NANOPARTICLE

Heidelberg, Germany

MOTIVATION APPROACH

There are more than 230 CRISPR gene therapy trials currently ongoing but a dearth of delivery modalities (AAV, LNP) most of which have specific problems (e.g immunogenicity, endosome trapping, poor tissue tropism, liver accumulation). There is an urgent need to develop delivery vehicles that address these limitations. nanoVAST fullfils that need.

Naturally produced extracellular vesicles from Trypanosome parasites are membrane fusogenic (delivering cargo directly to the cytoplasm), yet lack immunogenicity. Panosome harnessed this property to create nanoVAST, a semi-synthetic delivery particle, and used a sortase-assisted method of attaching cell-specific targeting elements to the particle.

STATUS

We have developed a robust GMP-like production process. The particles efficiently deliver cargo to a multitude of cell types and are uniquely ideal for transporting RNA editing guide RNAs. The aim is to validate the technology in vivo and then spin it out into a NewCo focused on one specific therapeutic indication – neoepitope formation in cancer.

Nina Papavasiliou Joey Verdi TEAM

PRINNOVATION

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Successful outcome of Phase II clinical trial. Continuous clinical development in a phase III clinical trial to archive market approval. Making PRI-002 available for patients.

Conduct of a Phase II clinical trial to demonstrate safety and efficacy of our drug candidate PRI-002 against the Alzheimer Disease. Compliance with regulatory pathway for clinical development. EMA-approval for the conduct of the PRImus-AD phase II clinical trial was received in November 2023.

STATUS

The PRImus-AD clinical phase II trial will be closed and analysed this year.

TEAM

Kathrin

Zeiger Alexander Brener Dieter Willbold Philipp Bürling

SNIPR BIOME

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The antimicrobial resistance (AMR) pandemic is affecting millions of people globally, including countries in EU with human suffering and high monetary costs as a consequence. Despite the growing need, new antimicrobial therapies are becoming rare. SNIPR is developing novel classes of CRISPR based anti-AMR precision medicines.

SNIPR is developing CRISPR-based precision medicines that we program to target any AMR bacterium of our choice. Our CRISPR technology is loaded onto bacterial viruses (phages) or good bacteria to deliver the CRISPR payload. In the target cell, CRISPR precisely cuts the DNA and kills the cell, leaving the healthy bacteria in the microbiome intact.

STATUS

SNIPR currently has 4 programs targeting major bacterial pathogens. Our most advanced asset, SNIPR001, is designed to kill AMR E. coli in the gut to prevent blood stream infections in vulnerable cancer patients. We seek funding to extend our ongoing phase 2 clinical trial with SNIPR001 and to further apply our technology to emerging AMR treats.

TEAM

Christian Groendahl

Jakob Haaber

Eric van der Helm

SURFACTOBIOTECH

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We revolutionize lab testing by replacing costly, slow methods with precision droplet experimentation. Our SURFACES platform, validated in protein crystallography, now pivots to clinical labs to deliver faster, cheaper, and higher confidence breast cancer ctDNA and HPV tests. European patients and health systems gain diagnostic sovereignty today.

Our modular SURFACES platform is designed with swappable layers: excitation (lasers), detection (optical), processing (cartridges), analysis (AI algorithms) that delivers 10+ assays on one instrument. We monetize via instruments (€160K-€1M), consumables (>70% margin), and software subscriptions to drive our recurring revenue and capital efficiency.

STATUS

€970k raised (grants + equity); HALRIC pilot active; 1 patent cleared international evaluation and 1 patent in the pipeline; instrument modularity documented; LOI‘s and MoU‘s signed by >5 partners; SLUSH100 finalist as well as pitch awards and invited keynotes; collaboration contract with Thermo Fisher Scientific

TEAM

Jacqueline De Lora

SYMBIOTICA THERAPEUTICS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Many treatments for chronic diseases require repeated doses or invasive systems, increasing risk, cost, and poor patient compliance. We aim to transform chronic diseases therapies using a safer, cheaper, sustained and more effective platform we developed

We use engineered micro-algae injected cutaneously that remain at injection site while continuously secreting proteins into bloodstream. SPRIND supports current non-GLP in vivo efficacy rodent studies, we then plan GLP-toxicology and PK studies for IND.

STATUS

National patent for symbiotic platform filed in 2025, PCT coming in 2026. We showed early in-vivo proof-of-concept and safety. IND-oriented non-GLP rodent efficacy study ongoing and currently funded by SPRIND. Other national public grants secured 2025

TEAM

Gabriele Morabito

Francesco Morabito

Barbora Porubová

TQ THERAPEUTICS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

TQ Therapeutics develops a hybrid in vivo CAR-T platform enabling ultrafast 6-hour cell therapy processing at the patients‘ point-of-care.

TQx‘s proprietary EXiVO approach is a hybrid concept combining the control benefits of ex vivo cell processing with the scalability of in vivo therapy. This enables the CELLfinity platform for modular generation of infinite CGT clinical programs for accessible autologous mRNA T-cell therapeutics across indications.

STATUS

• Fresenius as MedTech partner for cell selection development

• BMS as investor/sponsor target

• Through acquiring of Juno GmbH, TQ secured robust in vivo process & cell-selection IP

• PEI regulatory support for the ultra-short in vivo approach

• Promising mouse proof-of-concept data showing transfection of unactivated cells

TEAM

Christian Eckert Sabine Radisch

Christian Stemberger Christin Zündorf

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Transmutex aims to revolutionize nuclear medicine by producing radioisotopes for cancer medication (theranostics) at a previously unknown scale and costs.

Transmutex develops a high-performance proton accelerator to produce radioisotopes such as Actinium-225, Lead-212 and the Terbium sisters that are currently the most promising candidates in clinical trials for targeted alpha therapy.

STATUS

All major players (research institutes, pharma companies, suppliers, operators) have confirmed that they either want to collaborate with us or recognize the superiority of our approach.

TEAM

Franklin Servan-Schreiber

Guido Houben

Craig Kelly Donovan Maire

ULTRABRIGHT BIOTECH

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Most diseases are detected too late because current tests lack sensitivity. Ultrabright enables orders-of-magnitude earlier detection—before symptoms appear. Our Ultra-Beacon technology unlocks a new generation of ultra-sensitive diagnostics for clinical labs, point-of-care, and research, transforming how disease is found and managed.

We make weak signals bright. Our technology turns a single detection event into a super-strong signal—like switching from a candle to a floodlight. It works with today’s tests and machines, making them far more sensitive without changing how labs already operate.

STATUS

Ultrabright operates an active revenue-generating business that we are now scaling. Our customers include leading global diagnostics and pharmaceutical companies. We have validated strong market demand, established partnerships, and a growing pipeline, positioning us for rapid commercial expansion.

TEAM

Klaus Wagenbauer

Jonas Funke

Benjamin

Kick

MOTIVATION APPROACH

UNOMR AG, a techBio startup from ETH Zurich, is developing next-generation protein sensors to solve one of the bi est blind spots in modern biology and medicine: our inability to fully read and understand proteins. Envisioning single-molecule protein sequencing through their innovative interface nanopore sensor, we currently focus on PTM analysis.

UNOMR uses interface nanopore (iNP) sensors to analyze single protein molecules in solution. By repeatedly re-reading a single protein, complexity decomposition extracts residue-level signals letter by letter. Each pass capturing partial information that, a regated across many reads, reconstructs the full sequence and modification landscape.

STATUS

Founded on ETH Zurich doctoral research, UNOMR has filed a PCT patent, secured non-dilutive funding (BRIDGE, Innosuisse, InnoBooster), completed proof-of-concept at TRL 5, closed pre-seed financing, and is now developing an Early Access Device with pilot projects underway at industry partners and worldleading academic labs.

TEAM

Til Schlotter

Julia Wagner

Julian Hengsteler

VIFERAXS

Tübingen, Germany

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Cancer patients lack effective, well-tolerated therapies that prevent progression or relapse at early stage. Current treatments are often toxic and non-curative. ViferaXS develops targeted immunotherapies to induce durable anti-tumor immunity and improve outcomes.

ViferaXS uses an immunopeptidomedriven platform to identify tumor-specific antigens and develop off-the shelf peptide T cell activators combined with the XS15 adjuvant. This approach activates targeted T-cell responses to eliminate cancer cells and prevent disease progression.

STATUS

First patent secured, with lead programs in AML, FLC, and prostate cancer currently in Phase I. A Phase II-ready CLL program is in place, supported by strong academic collaborations (e.g. Tübingen). Backed by a secured KMUi Biomedizin grant, the company has generated strong pharma interest in CLL and is now seeking funding to initiate Phase II.

TEAM

Sezai Taskin

Juliane Walz

Hans-Georg Rammensee

AEVOLOOP

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We address a core problem of the plastics industry: today’s materials are high-performing but rarely truly circular. Packaging and other high-volume plastic applications are affected. This matters because the market needs materials that combine performance, circularity, and biodegradability.

We develop polyolefin-like plastics based on long-chain dicarboxylic acids. Their molecular design combines strong material performance with built-in breaking points for chemical recycling, enabling recovery of highquality building blocks under mild conditions for repeated reuse.

STATUS

Since its founding in 2024, aevoloop has shown early market traction and strong technical progress: about €11.4m secured, TRL 5/6 reached, 20 kg batches validated, drop-in processing on standard equipment demonstrated, and first pilot and scale-up data generated.

TEAM

Philipp Keßler Manuel Häußler

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Hidden toxic chemistries are standard across the textile industry. PFAS ‚forever chemicals‘ dominate performance waterproofing; conventional dyeing consumes vast water and harmful dyes. Both cause lasting damage to ecosystems and human health. AMPHICO exists to remove these chemistries without sacrificing performance or colour.

AMPHICO has developed two proprietary technologies leveraging AI powered manufacturing processes. AMPHITEX is a PFAS-free waterproof breathable membrane engineered for circularity. AMPHICOLOR delivers waterless colour through weaving, with 3,000+ validated colours and consistent results at full mass manufacturing scale.

STATUS

Multiple Innovate UK grants and SPRIND funding secured with technology now at TRL8, with product deployment planned in Q3-2026 to our clients. Active pilots and LOIs signed including with one of the largest textile distribution company in Japan, the Luxury brands group Kering and multiple outdoor brands and manufacturers.

TEAM

Jun

Kamei Louise Anderson

AMPHISTAR (SURFACYCLE

MOTIVATION APPROACH

MAKING BIOSURFACTANTS MAINSTREAM!

AmphiStar will revolutionize the surfactant industry by making truly sustainable, performant & affordable novel biosurfactants. Produced from WASTE!

Versatile and robust platform technology able to produce over 80 biosurfactants with varying properties. Developing fully integrated continuous production processes to reduce costs and increase market access. Integrated approach combining synbio, pretreatment, fermentation and downstream processing. Beachhead markets Home & Personal Care.

STATUS

First two commercial products on the market, pushing at least two new molecules to market in 2026. Three contracts in place with distributors for Home & Personal Care in EU and US: Caldic, Kensing and Stepan.

REACH 1-10ton dossier filed. Currently producing in industrial scale fermenters and reducing cost by moving to fully continuous processes.

TEAM

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Facing resource scarcity and fragile supply chains, Europe needs a new production model: regional, decentralized biotechnological manufacturing for a resilient and resource-efficient chemical industry - we are satisfying this demand.

Technological resilience at all levels: robust strains deliver consistent product quality despite variable inputs, while robust bioprocesses reduce labor requirements and convert locally available organic feedstocks into valuable surfactant and polymers.

STATUS

First product entering the market by the end of this year, while two additional products are proceeding in development and application research; in parallel, we secured a JDA for additional markets. With our process established across multiple industrial by-product streams, we are now scaling up production to significantly increase capacity.

TEAM

Lars Regestein Till Tiso Frederick Haala

BIOTREASURE

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Today’s chemical industry depends on carbon-intensive and increasingly fragile petrochemical supply chains. BioTreasure aims to enable a new generation of decentralized, sustainable manufacturing systems that locally produce high-performance chemicals from renewable resources, strengthening supply resilience while reducing environmental impact.

BioTreasure combines continuous fermentation with proprietary downstream chemistry to convert abundant local agricultural and forestry side streams into a broad variety of highperformance bio-based chemicals. The integrated platform enables efficient, scalable, decentralized production for markets incl. materials, personal care, and agrochemicals.

STATUS

BioTreasure successfully reached all three stages of SPRIND’s Circular Biomanufacturing Challenge, leading to its incorporation as a venture. The team demonstrated key technical milestones and prototype systems and is now advancing toward industrial-scale implementation and early commercial partnerships.

TEAM

Ruchita Chawla Johannes Sonnenschein

BIOXTRACT

BIOXTRACT TRANSFORMS COMPLEX

WASTE INTO HIGH-VALUE METAL RESOURCES THROUGH PRECISION BIOGEOCHEMISTRY.

NEXT-GEN MATERIALS

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Nijmegen, Netherlands

TRL TRL 3

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE PRE-SEED

PUBLIC FUNDING 10,000,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

BioXtract envisions a future where the metals powering modern technologies no longer come from mining, but are recovered from the vast resources already present in waste. Our goal is to turn environmental liabilities into sustainable metal supplies, strengthening resource security and enabling a truly circular economy.

BioXtract targets the recovery of critical metals and rare earth elements (heavy and light) from various waste streams through controlled microbial redox reactions, exploiting natureinspired metal capture mechanisms using minerals and biosorbents, and biogeochemical tri ers for selective release of metals from mineral and organic complexes.

STATUS

BioXtract is an emerging venture that recently secured its first pre-seed funding through the SPRIND Challenge. Our interdisciplinary team of leading experts in biogeochemistry, geomicrobiology, mineralogy, geology, and modelling is validating the technology and preparing the transition from academic research to industrial application.

TEAM

Martyna Glodowska

James Byrne

Elizabeth Tomaszewski

Anna Potysz

BLUU CREATES NEXT-GEN BIOACTIVES

FISH CELLS USING SCA

BIOMANU

NEXT-GEN MATERIALS

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Germany

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE SERIES A

PRIVATE FUNDING - EU &5,000,000 EUR FUNDING NEEDED 17,000,000 EUR

FUNDING &,460,000 EUR

www.bluu.bio PRIVATE FUNDING &,000,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

BLUU was founded with the vision of protecting marine life and preserving marine ecosystems. We invented a proprietary marine biomanufacturing technology delivering complex nextgeneration regenerative bioactives at industrial scale. Created through world-class science - for personal care, health and food. Real fish cells - zero trade offs.

GMO-free cultivation methods are used to develop an immortalised suspension cell line from adult fish stem cells. BLUU‘s production cell lines grow in cell a regates with controlled size distribution and tailor-made culture media. Depending on the desired product, various downstream processes can be used for food and personal care.

STATUS

In Hamburg, the first proprietary research and development pilot plant with 50L bioreactors was built at BLUU‘s headquarters in 2023 to optimise the production parameters of the platform technology. Production has already been successfully demonstrated in a 500L and 1000L pilot bioreactor with various partners.

TEAM

Sebastian Rakers

Stefanie Gromer

Andre Schiefner

Paul Réthy

C3 BIOTECHNOLOGIES

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Achieve demonstrator manufacturing with economics that meet petrochemical cost of goods or better. Samples manufactured for offtake. Business expansion for market penetration through JV, licensing or technology sale based on Demonstrator performance and early market penetration.

Demonstrator unit based on SPRIND funded pilot plant studies with game changing technology for non-sterile fermentation. Consistency of robust manufacturing established using wide ranging feedstocks. Achieve minimally 30 tonnes pa production with CoGs equivalent at least to petrochemical prices for commodity chemicals.

STATUS

Pilot plant operations at cost of goods already close to petrochemical parity. Routes for early market penetration identified and partnerships that introduce C3 materials into everyday goods.

TEAM

Nigel Scrutton

Daniele Parisi

CELLX BIOSOLUTIONS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

CellX leverages the power of natural bacteria to clean up persistent pollution from water and soils. Our long term vision is to develop a library of bacterial solutions able to degrade all persistent pollutants. As entry market we focus on the „forever chemicals“ PFAS.

We use a patent-pending sampling technology to capture rare PFASdegrading bacteria from polluted environments. These strains are optimized and combined into robust consortia, then deployed in contained bioreactors to break down PFAS in industrial wastewater, replacing incineration with a scalable biological destruction process.

STATUS

We isolated 40+ PFAS-degrading bacterial strains and demonstrated PFAS destruction in lab conditions. Four paid pilots are ongoing with industrial partners. We secured a € 1.6M preseed funding and € 3M+ grants and reached TRL 4–5, now advancing toward lab-scale bioreactor validation on real industrial effluents.

TEAM

Estelle Clerc

Geoffrey Besnier

Fabienne Kurt

CMETRE

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Recovering critical metals/raw materials from post-consumer waste, especially materials that would have otherwise been incinerated or landfilled.

Using physical methods to concentrate metal fractions for downstream specialised recycling. Key is to drive efficient separation of waste upfront so targeted processes downstream can recover the materials.

STATUS

Operating a physical separation plant for car recycling waste to recover copper, aluminium and steel. Also separating glass for cement making, and plastics for industrial gas production using our patented Photolysis technology.

TEAM

Rajiv Singhal

Marc Ocskay

Marco Ziegler

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Fermenting Renewable Carbon For Generational Life Quality.

Fossil oil must be phased out. There is not enough land to grow enough vegetable oil to fill the fossil gap. We need a third process of producing oils without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere or causing deforestation.

We ferment renewable carbon (CO2 directly, or indirectly via intermediaries like organic acids or alcohols) with microbes. These microbes are a platform, now producing oils. We applied bioreactor and bioprocess design to enable the fermentation of an explosive gas mixture (H2, O2, CO2). We genetically engineered CO2 consuming bacteria.

STATUS

• Several hundred thousand EURO revenue per year

• Major deal with L‘Oreal

• Off-take agreement with one large German cosmetics manufacturer

• Developed low CAPEX bioprocess, running on plastic IBC containers

• Developed genetic tools to access a non-standard bacteria

• Measured world‘s fastest CO2 fixation with our system (highest specific growth rate)

TEAM

Maximilian Webers Jonas Heuer

Philipp Arbter

Tyll Utesch

DESCYCLE

THE DESCYCLE TEAM DEVELOPS A CIRCULAR METALLURGY PLATFORM THAT ENABLES HIGH

NEXT-GEN MATERIALS

COMPANY DETAILS

FUNDING DETAILS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

DEScycle is building the next generation of metals processing infrastructure, replacing centralised smelting with distributed, modular recovery of critical metals from electronic waste. It matters because Europe’s supply chains are carbon-intensive and exposed to concentrated processing capacity abroad.

DEScycle uses proprietary ionometallurgy to recover critical metals from electronic waste at low temperature, replacing centralised smelting. The technology enables distributed, modular processing deployed at material sources, shortening value chains and producing traceable, lower-carbon metal supply at scale.

STATUS

Demonstrated >99% target metal recovery in TRL 6 pilot operation and installing a £7m industrial TRL 7 facility. Secured €30m in funding including €10m grants. Backed by Cisco and Mitsubishi, with a UK JV formed and Japan deployment partnership signed. Active pilot discussions with leading European recyclers and OEMs.

TEAM

Rob Harris

Leonidas Howden

Dhivya Puri

Fred White

Riga, Latvia

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Municipalities face rising costs for sludge logistics and disposal, compounded by microplastic and PFAS contamination. Our vision is a decentralized approach, transforming waste into an on-site resource. We aim to set a new standard for sustainable bio-waste processing, protecting soil health and fostering a circular economy.

Our technology utilizes 2-step energy-positive process, integrating patented vortex dryer and a rotating bed furnace. This compact, containerized system operates autonomously without external fuel and fits seamlessly into existing infrastructure. It reduces utilization costs by up to 50% while enabling phosphorus recovery from ash.

STATUS

Currently at TRL 7, we operate an industrial pilot in Latvia. Supported by international patents, EIT InnoEnergy, and Norway Grants, we have finalized the design for our first commercial unit. We are now seeking investment to implement first commercial plant in the sewage sludge market, with plans to scale into broader biowaste sectors.

TEAM

Alexander Belskis

E-MURGY

E

-MURGY IS DEVELOPING SCALABLE AND ELECTRIFIED METALLURGICAL PATHWAYS TO SELECTIVELY RECOVER CRITICAL METALS FROM VARIOUS ENDOF-LIFE WASTE STREAMS. BY REGENERATING REAGENTS ELECTROCHEMICALLY WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY.

NEXT-GEN MATERIALS

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Brussels, Belgium

TRL

TRL 4

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE PRE-SEED

FUNDING NEEDED &,500,000 EUR

FUNDING 1, &65,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Over the years, improved performance metrics of clean tech devices have come at the cost of using multiple low-volume yet high-value critical metals that are vulnerable to supply restrictions. E-Murgy tackles this complex challenge through the development of disruptive, electrified closed-loop processes that improve selectivity and reduce emissions.

E-Murgy is developing scalable and electrified metallurgical pathways to selectively recover critical metals from various end-of-life waste streams. Our modular electrochemical reactors generate multiple redox reagents that are fed into established unit operations, enabling them to create their disruptive approach to ‘decoupled electrometallurgy‘.

STATUS

Currently we have developed a platform electrochemical tech that can selectively recover Lithium from end of life black mass and REEs from NdFeB magnet waste using just electricity and water at TRL4. We are testing our process to improve its flexibility and are actively trying to scale it up.

TEAM

Wing Ching

Kwok

Héritier

Tshipeshi

Prakash

Venkatesan

EVERYCARBON

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The built environment relies on insulation materials that force a choice between performance, cost, and sustainability. EveryCarbon enables the next generation of insulation materials for moist and structurally demanding environments. by turning low-cost organic carbon into highperformance polymers.

EveryCarbon transforms low-cost organic carbon into high-performance insulation foams using synthetic biology and polymer chemistry. The propriatary technology employs a contiunous fermentation that result in foam that delivers thermal stability and structural durability at competitive cost, with up to 85% lower GHG emissions.

STATUS

EveryCarbon is currently in ramping up it‘s pilot operation on-site of a waste-water treatment plant and is validating beachhead applications of it‘s foam material for basement and roofing systems. The company is raising a seed round to advance a scaled CMO production and first commercial partnerships.

TEAM

Sebastian Beblawy

Apolonio Huerta

THE FOOM TECHNOLOGY EXTRACTS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Europe still burns or landfills 75% of its organic waste, wasting nutrients and creating significant CO₂ emissions. At the same time, cities must feed growing populations and manage resources sustainably. Unlocking organic waste as a local resource is key to building circular food systems and climate-resilient cities.

foom converts organic waste into high-quality fertilizer onsite within two days — fully automated and with up to 80% lower CO₂ emissions. The container-based system combines bioengineering, advanced mechanical processing, and IoT-based automation to transform organic waste locally into a resource and enable circular systems for resilient cities.

STATUS

foom’s technology has been validated through more than two years of prototyping and is now moving into first commercial deployments. The first container system will launch with SV Werder Bremen in summer 2026. Waste operator ALBA/Bral and Hamburg’s 105Viertel are further pilot partners with significant rollout potential.

TEAM

Kathrin Weiß Anike von Gagern

HYDRODESAL

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Mainz, Germany

TRL

TRL 5

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE PRE-SEED

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We develop an approach for people in small settlements in dry regions with access to the sea but no access to large desalination plants to selfsupply with desalinated water. Our process is driven simply by Earth’s day-and-night temperature oscillation; naturally and free of charge, for a human right: access to clean water.

We use thermally switchable hydrogels that take up, desalinate, and release water, simply driven by Earth’s day-and-night temperature oscillation. These may be used in simple devices for water-supply at an individual household-scale.

STATUS

In a previous project stage funded by the German federal ministry BMBF, we have developed a laboratory-scale demonstrator setup. Now, we use that to evaluate our gel materials and the water product quality in a one-year test with daily runs, like anticipated in actual use. Along with that, we develop a device prototype for subsequent field testing.

TEAM

Sebastian Seiffert

ING3D

THE MINERAL-BASED 3D PRINTING SOLUTION OF THE FUTURE.

NEXT-GEN MATERIALS

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Fürth, Germany

TRL

TRL 2 ESTABLISHED NO PATENTS GRANTED 1 WEBSITE www.ing3d.de EMPLOYEES 5

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE SEED

PRIVATE FUNDING - EU &,000,000 EUR

FUNDING NEEDED 10,000,000 EUR

REVENUE 3&0,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Problem: Traditional materials are either too heavy or lack the fire resistance and insulation needed for sustainable, safe infrastructure.

Solution: Our technology uses mineral 3D printing to create ultra-lightweight, non-flammable, and 100% recyclable structures.

Vision: We empower industries to build greener and safer.

STATUS

ING3D disrupts construction with a unique lasersintering process for 3D printing mineral materials. Unlike heavy concrete, our approach creates ultra-lightweight, porous structures that are non-flammable (A1) and fully recyclable. By automating complex geometries, we minimize material use while maximizing thermal and acoustic insulation.

ING3D has successfully transitioned from a PoC prototype to industrial application. Key milestones include receiving a groundbreaking patent for binderfree mineral 3D printing in 2025 and proving scalability through industrial pilot projects in furnace insulation and facade greening. Our technology is now ready for serial production.

TEAM

David Manjura

LANTHACYCLE

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We at LanthaGen, aim to help countries on-shore critical mineral supply chains by re-mining from urban mines, driven by biology, nature‘s original miners.

We have engineered a suite of „Biomagnets“, or engineered proteins and peptides that can selectively bind REEs and other critical metals from electronic waste recycling feedstocks. These will be supported within traditional chemical engineering technologies, that sit within current process flows; harvesting REEs directly from the leachate.

STATUS

As a start up, conceptualised in our free time during our PhDs, LanthaGen has gained significant traction in 6 months. We have actively engaged with policy makers and worked closely with the Department of Business and Trade to forge collaborations, and scope markets globally.

TEAM

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Chemical companies lack the technologies to produce chemicals from biobased feedstocks profitably and at scale. Our nanozymes offer the precision of enzymes with increased robustness, creating the ultimate catalyst for industrial biobased chemistry.

We re-imagine enzymes from first principles. Our nanozymes are bio-inorganic catalysts that mimic the active site of an enzyme, but with greater robustness to harsh conditions. This unlocks highly efficient, mild, lowcost chemical processes.

STATUS

We have two nanozymes in the pipeline. The first one produces low-cost aromatic bio-polyols for the PU industry. The latter is focused on solving one of the “holy grails” of enzyme catalysis to produce the world’s first perfect drop-in bio-diesel solution

Emily Sheridan TEAM

Seadna Quigley

LIGNILABS

BIO

COMPANY DETAILS

FUNDING DETAILS LOCATION Mainz, Germany

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Climate change, toxic chemicals and unsustainable agriculture threaten health and ecosystems, while the EU Green Deal bans many solutions. Our biobased technology enables controlled release of active substances, replacing synthetic encapsulation. It enables sustainable crop protection and halogen-free flame retardants and is scalable.

LigniLabs GmbH has developed a groundbreaking platform technology for bio-based micro capsules based on lignin. The aim is to pave the way for targeted plant medicine by producing plant vaccines and to fundamentally change numerous other sectors, such as the construction industry, with bio-based flame-retardant formulations.

STATUS

In summer 2025 we have received a €1mn grant from SPRIND. Apart from that we have acquired a regional grant of €100k and we have closed a Business Angel round of €450k through a convertible loan agreement. Since then we have approached ca. 70 potential customers. A couple of them are currently testing our inital flame retardant product.

TEAM

Justin Grabow

Alexander Throm

Frederik Wurm

Yannick Fröder

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Mimotype enables drug developers to transform organoids into standardized, reproducible assets via proteinbased sensing platforms.

Advanced 3D tissue scaffolds create structural shapes but immediately limit biological insight. Once printed, researchers cannot monitor scaffold degradation, ECM deposition, remodeling, or transitions in stiffness without destructive or invasive techniques. This lack of internal visibility slows development and reduces reproducibility.

STATUS

Mimotype’s Protein Integrated Sensing Matrix (PRISM) integrates fluorescentprotein based biosensors into a diverse set of organoid-compatible hydrogels (collagen, silk fibroin, synthetic polymers, bacterial nanocellulose). The PRISM pipeline has been developed by Mimotype over two years of internal R&D.

TEAM

Danilo Flores Claudio Flores

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Oliment - the cement of the future - a Co2 neutral building material.

Oliment is a completely new type of cement based on magnesium silicate. The binder can be produced in a fully carbon neutral manufacturing process while offering competitive costs, performance, characteristics and scalability.

STATUS

Oliment is characterized by the high availability of its raw material (serpentinite) without CO₂ emissions, lower energy consumption and compliance with all industry-standard requirements. An application for general building approval has been submitted. The goal is to transition from the pilot plant to industrial-scale production.

TEAM

Alexander Butt Frank Bellmann

GREEN STEEL FOR CONSTRUCTION.

COMPANY DETAILS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The construction sector generates major CO₂ emissions, mainly from steel and concrete. TURBOO develops a high-performance material that can replace or reduce steel in many structural applications. We transform bamboo the fastest growing plant on Earth, reaching up to 1 m per day in Brazil—into strong, lightweight, low-carbon structures.

Our next step is establishing a pilot production for high-performance TURBOO beams. In existing woodprocessing factories these elements are further developed into hybrid beams and slabs for pilot buildings. Scaling will follow through TURBOO OS, a digital platform enabling standardized production and global licensing.

STATUS

TURBOO is currently in the pilot development phase (TRL 6). Material concepts and product designs have been validated by accredited laboratories and SPRIND through small-series production and lab testing. A pavilion at the Futurium marks the first built structure. The next step is establishing pilot production in Brazil to realize pilot buildings.

TEAM

Harry Knoll

NEXT-GEN MATERIALS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Electronic waste is the fastest-growing waste stream, yet its critical metals remain largely lost. WEEEfficient is unlocking this untapped resource through scalable, low-impact technologies. Our vision is to turn e-waste into a strategic supply and strengthen Europe’s resource independence.

WEEEfficient combines mechanical pre-processing, flotation, and novel carrier magnetic separation to recover critical metals from e-waste. The process is scalable, low-impact, and enables recovery of materials currently lost in conventional recycling.

STATUS

WEEEfficient is currently in early-stage development under SPRIN-D funding, with initial validation of key process steps completed. The project is now advancing towards pilot-scale demonstration, with a planned spin-out in 2026.

TEAM

Ali Hassan Zahra Nourizenouz Himanshu Kachroo

WESORT.AI

COMPANY DETAILS

Würzburg, Germany

FUNDING DETAILS LOCATION

MOTIVATION APPROACH

WeSort.AI is an innovative technology company specializing in systems for the precise analysis and sorting of waste materials using artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art deep sensor technology to prevent fires & recover EUs critical raw materials.

With its AI-powered sorting technology, WeSort.AI enables the efficient separation of materials such as batteries and electronic waste, allowing valuable critical raw materials to be recovered. This contributes significantly to reducing strategic dependence on critical raw materials. A disruptive approach sorts CRMs on dust level.

STATUS

WeSort.AI has already been awarded the German Founders Award and is successfully deploying its first sorting systems with partners such as PreZero. The company is convinced that a true circular economy can only be achieved through proper waste sorting and is passionately committed to this goal.

TEAM

Nathanael Laier

Johannes Laier

Simon Thiemann

Robin Wolf

MOTIVATION APPROACH

AURYAL‘s vision is to bridge the gap between high-fidelity neurotechnology and the industrial scaling of physical intelligence. The company defines a new category: from pure neurotech to physical AI training infrastructure. The ultimate objective is to provide the Human Alignment Layer as an infrastructure across the global AI stack.

We unlock neuro data collection at scale in real-world scenarios to observe and learn from the human cognition to provide human judgement as Reinforcement Learning policy for training Generative AI models such as VLA and LLM.

STATUS

In 12 months, we have developed various PoCs, published groundbreaking research papers and are now moving towards validation partnerships with the world‘s leading AI frontier labs.

TEAM

Thorsten Zander

Simon Vogt

Milan Padilla

EXALSIUS

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

COMPANY DETAILS

FUNDING DETAILS LOCATION Berlin, Germany

FUNDING

MOTIVATION APPROACH

European organizations face a highly fragmented GPU infrastructure market, which is stalling AI progress. Exalsius pools distributed, heterogeneous compute resources into a unified cloud, enabling to scale AI on existing hardware. As a decoupling layer we prevent vendor lock-in, secure strategic autonomy, and technological sovereignty.

Our vendor-agnostic control plane abstracts fragmented, geo-distributed GPU servers into a unified compute pool. Using advanced orchestration, operation, and auto-recovery, we enable AI scaling across distributed data centers. Our strategy scales via strategic subcontracting, providing a sovereign, EU multi-vendor alternative to US hyperscalers.

STATUS

Secured €1.6M in federal funding (SPRIN-D) and active revenue traction. Key milestones include multi-cloud AI deployments for global research labs and delivering secure, sovereign environments for the public sector. We are currently advancing through several regional and national tenders for critical AI infrastructure.

TEAM

Alexander Acker

Odej Kao

Sören Becker

IT‘S REAL.MEDIA

MOTIVATION APPROACH

AI-generated media floods the internet, making it impossible to tell what‘s real. Insurers lose money to fake claims, platforms lose user trust, and society loses shared reality. Our crusade: to create genuinely real spaces in a slope and fake dominated world, where authentic media can be proven, not just assumed.

We analyze the entire image through three fused layers: 150+ technical signal features (wavelets, noise, spectral anomalies), semantic pattern analysis using visual language models trained on audiovisual expert knowledge, and metadata & provenance checks, all combined in a stacked ensemble meta-model.

STATUS

Winner of the SPRIND Funke Deepfake Detection & Prevention Challenge. Production-ready API deployed. Benchmarked under real-world conditions: compressed, cropped, screenshot and social-media-processed images against 25+ generators and 20,000 ta ed images. Now entering pilot phase with first B2B customers.

TEAM

Christoph Behl

Agustin Russo Agustín Tajani

METABUILD

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The real estate sector suffers from siloed data that blocks efficient operation and renovation, raises costs and slows climate action. Owners, operators, planners and cities are in need of a solution that unlocks open, interoperable building data for smarter, faster and more sustainable decisions.

We build on an open, interoperable platform that structures building data over the full lifecycle, connects simulations, cost and external tools. A seamless integration with a browserbased 3D modelling tool allows for efficient model interaction and data visualization.

STATUS

Key achievements to date include the core Metabuild platform, integrated simulation and calculation workflows, and PoCs for data model expandibility, IFC export and DIN 18599 connection. We have also defined validation paths for USD, CityGML and data-quality scorings.

TEAM

Tariq Kaddoura Julius Jacob

MULTI-AGENT SYSTEMS LACK A

CRITICAL

LAYER0 OPTIMAL AGENT

SELECTION. MIMIR DEVELOPS A DYNAMIC ROUTING SYSTEM BASED ON PERFORMANCE, COST, AND EU COMPLIANCE.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Tübingen, Germany

TRL TRL 3

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE PRE-SEED

FUNDING NEEDED 1,000,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Choosing the right AI agent is critical, yet today it‘s done ad hoc. Even major players use unsophisticated routing, and legal compliance is rarely verified. As EU regulation tightens, this becomes existential. MIMIR democratizes this choice with an intelligent routing layer based on rigorous evaluation data, with EU compliance built in.

We evaluate AI agents across annotated datasets, supplemented by our own benchmarks for performance, cost, and compliance. On this data, we train a retrieval-based classifier that predicts per-query, per-agent quality scores. Unlike binary routers, we provide quantitative, aspect-level predictions enabling transparent, auditable agent selection.

STATUS

Working predictor prototype, live evaluation pipeline on real data, benchmarking environment built. First pilot customer engaged with tailored benchmarking solution. Team of 4 co-founders and 2 employees. In SPRIND-funded validation phase, seeking Pre-Seed funding to scale the team and go to market.

TEAM

Julian Bitterwolf

Maximilian Bitterwolf

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Karlsruhe, Germany

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE SEED

PRIVATE FUNDING - EU 6,000,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The AEC industry relies on fragmented tools for feasibility, design, documentation, and analysis. Data is constantly recreated and workflows are disconnected, slowing projects and limiting AI use. An end-to-end platform with a shared building representation can fundamentally accelerate how buildings are planned.

NeoBIM is an end-to-end browser platform for the entire building lifecycle, from early feasibility to design and documentation. At its core is a Unified Description Model of a Building—a structured representation editable by humans and AI—enabling automated workflows, consistent data, and seamless collaboration.

STATUS

We are developing NeoBIM through several focused AEC tools, two of them are already gaining early user traction. These tools share the same underlying architecture and are being integrated behind the scenes into a unified platform. Another tool launches in April, with the full platform planned later this year.

TEAM

Moritz Luck Florian Marthaler

NEOCLEAR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

NeoClear believes in servicing clients first, and that innovation must be bold and have no bounds. With a small team of people, we have made immense progress by driving forward our vision to build new market infrastructure from the ground up. Ultimately, NeoClear will deliver essential services to the market at a fraction of the legacy cost.

NeoClear puts clients first, and is building a new Clearing House based on their requirements. We have built an ecosystem and working groups that include the largest banks, buyside organizations, solution providers, politicians and market experts, allowing us to deliver rapid progress at a fraction of the cost of other market infrastructures.

STATUS

NeoClear has spent 2 years creating the blueprint for building and launching a licensed Clearing House in Europe, including full risk, infrastructure and operating models, draft regulatory license application, creating working groups of future members, and obtaining full European regulatory and political support.

TEAM

Paul Whitehead

Helena Frumson

Michael Wellenbeck

Olivier Raevel

PANOCULAR.AI

SYMPHONYLEARN ENABLES EFFI-

CIENT, DECENTRALIZED AI TRAINING WITH DATA-DRIVEN OPTIMIZATION AND DIFFERENTIAL PRIVACY - FAST, SCALABLE AND PRIVACY-FRIENDLY.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Darmstadt, Germany

TRL TRL 5 ESTABLISHED YES EMPLOYEES 11

WEBSITE www.panocular.ai

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE PRE-SEED

FUNDING NEEDED 100,000 EUR

REVENUE 5&0,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

PanocularAI is a European frontier AI lab focused on building decentralized, efficient, custom multimodal models for edge deployment in autonomous systems—helping SMEs adopt AI faster through automated optimization, lower costs, and built-in compliance.

PanoVLM is a purpose-built, ultra-efficient vision-language model that runs on small-scale processors without sacrificing performance. Using our novel decentralized training approach, we significantly reduced the cost and compute needed to build advanced custom AI models for different robotic use cases.

STATUS

PanocularIA is an award-winning startup (Hessischer Gründerpreis and WLOUNGE Rising Star). We built PanoVLM from scratch are testing it with two pilot customers, and have open-sourced our decentralized training platform so clients can train the model securely on their in-house data (supported by SPRIND Composite learning challenge).

TEAM

Arya Mazaheri

Sören

Heß

PLANETARY COMPUTE PROTOCOL

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Researchers face a complex landscape in tasks like drug discovery, hindered by siloed tools and data, manual workflows, and limited hardware scalability for AI models. This affects scientists, companies, and patients. Developing EVE & PCP is crucial to accelerate innovation, reduce costs, and enable breakthroughs.

EVE is a multi-agent AI system that orchestrates workflows for literature search, molecule/protein engineering, BioML models, bioinformatics tools, bio database search, and lab integration. PCP, a distributed protocol, deploys EVE on heterogeneous hardware for efficient ML training/ inference, using shared knowledge graphs and RL topologies.

STATUS

Key achievements: Fully production-ready EVE platform for advanced biotech workflows. PCP advanced to stage 2 of SPRIND Composite Learning Challenge. PoC with French pharma Servier to validate real-world application in drug research. Supported by BPIfrance.

TEAM

RULEMAPPING

MOTIVATION APPROACH

A state that can act: sovereign, efficient, accountable. Our vision is a public sector where legal logic is instantly executable and explainable, powering fast, fair decisions, resilient services, and democratic control— without surrendering sovereignty to black-box code.

Rulemapping makes law instantly executable: we translate statutes into visual, machine-readable decision logic. A hybrid Rule AI (legal reasoning + AI) enables transparent, compliant automation and pushes updates to live systems within minutes.

STATUS

Law as Code anchored in the federal Modernisation Agenda; Rulemapping named as the implementation path. €12m funding with SPRIND. AI pilot for faster building permits in Thuringia. Further state pilots and first justice applications.

TEAM

Ina Remmers Till Behnke Stephan Breidenbach

WEIGHT SPACE LABS

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

COMPANY DETAILS

St. Gallen, Switzerland

FUNDING DETAILS LOCATION

FUNDING STAGE PRE-SEED

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Instead of training from data, we propose to train neural networks from models itself and therefore potentially a regate the knowledge encoded in over 2 million models on platforms as Hu ing Face into one single foundation model of neural networks.

To accomplish this we use the weights of populations of neural networks (=model zoos) as input for representation learning. This is done similarly to language models or image models but instead of words, we process weights, instead of sentences, we process neural network layers and instead of books, we process neural network models.

STATUS

We have developed Weight Space Learning and have published multiple works on that topic with the most recent work showing an speed up of training by 3040x for Remote Sensing Foundation Models.

TEAM

Damian Borth Boris Knyazev

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Battery manufacturing still forces trade-offs between cost, energy density, charging and scalability. 8inks enables a new production standard that unlocks better battery architectures and makes next-generation batteries cheaper, higher-performing and manufacturable at scale.

8inks turns multilayer electrode designs into industrially relevant battery products. Our solution enables multiple functional layers in one production step, improving battery performance while reducing manufacturing cost, footprint and energy use, with retrofit potential for existing lines.

STATUS

8inks has validated multilayer electrodes across LFP, graphite, silicon and solid-state systems, built and tested pouch cells, demonstrated industrial-scale feasibility, secured paid PoCs with leading OEMs and cell manufacturers, and is now advancing toward market entry with a retrofit production solution for battery manufacturers.

TEAM

Leon Baade

Paul Baade

Karl-Philipp Schlichting

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Every battery can be better. Batene develops the electrode platform that makes it possible — all-chemistry, scalable, built from European deeptech. The mission: to set the new standard for electrodes, globally.

Starting from molten metal: ultra-fine metal fibers are formed into BateneFleece — a 3D current collector that replaces conventional foil. The fleece eliminates the transport bottleneck behind the power-energy trade-off. BateneDry, a fluorine-free binder, enables solvent-free dry processing for any electrode. Drop-in compatible, all-chemistry.

STATUS

Lab production line operational. Pouch cell demonstrators validated. Industrial validation launched 2026 with a leading automotive OEM. Development agreements with battery manufacturers underway. €17.7M raised to date including €5M Seed Extension (2026). 22 patent families (granted and pending).

TEAM

Joachim Spatz Martin Möller

Thanh Nguyen Thi Dieu Christian Boehm

CARBON.ONE

FUTURE ENERGY

COMPANY DETAILS

Germany

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE SERIES A

PUBLIC FUNDING %,000,000 EUR

FUNDING NEEDED 10,000,000 EUR

PRIVATE FUNDING - EU &%,400,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The Iran war highlights the world’s reliance on fossil fuels. We can reduce this dependency by establishing a circular carbon economy based on green methanol. This is held back by methanol‘s 100-year-old production technology, optimized for centralized mega-sites. C1 solves this with costefficient, small-scale, decentralized methanol production.

C1 uses computer simulation to invent novel catalysts based on nonprecious metals. Our homogeneous methanol catalysis works at lower temperature (120C) and pressure (20bar), is highly selective and load-flexible. It produces no water and reduces green hydrogen cost in e-Methanol production by 33%.

STATUS

Continuous and fully automated production was proven in the Leuna100 pilot plant, producing hundred liters of methanol per day. C1 is currently planning a first-of-a-kind, 20 tons-per-day commercial demonstration plant which fully derisks the technology and enables the go-to-market via technology licencing. FID for the FOAK is scheduled for Q1 2027

TEAM

Christian Vollmann

Mathias

Mostertz

Haik

Mehmke

ELEMENTARHY

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Scaling hydrogen for a resiient netzero society as well as space exploring society.

Scale proprietary plasma coating and MEA production process to MW stack production via pilot line upgrade, process optimization, and industrial transfer. Validate performance and durability in stack prototypes with pilot customers, reducing iridium usage by 95% while maintaining efficiency and increasing lifetime.

STATUS

Validated small-scale performance up to 100 cm2. Pilot-scale MEA capability established. Early customer engagement secured; moving toward MW-scale stack prototypes and industrial process scale-up.

TEAM

Gustav Sievers

Gunter Erfurt

Bernd Hetterscheidt

Martin Rohloff

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Defossilisation in hard-to-abate sectors like aviation and shipping is essential, but these sectors cannot easily electrify. They need scalable, resilient e-fuel pathways – yet e-fuels remain too expensive, depend on scarce biogenic CO₂, and stru le with renewable intermittency.

Greenlyte decouples CO₂ capture from energy-intensive release: CO₂ is captured continuously and stored as bicarbonate, then converted with hydrogen when renewable power is abundant. Combined with off-grid renewables and co-location at existing plants, this cuts cost, boosts resilience, and enables rapid scale-up.

STATUS

Greenlyte has lo ed 15,000+ operating hours across demonstrator and pilot facilities, built 10+ patent families (3 granted), secured over €1bn in offtake agreements, and is now advancing its FOAK plant in the Chempark Marl toward bankable industrial deployment.

TEAM

Florian Hildebrand

Niklas Friederichsen

Martin Schmickler

Peter Behr

MACROCARBON

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

COMPANY DETAILS FUNDING DETAILS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Aviation faces a critical shortage of sustainable feedstocks to meet EU ReFUEL mandates. MacroCarbon solves this by cultivating seaweed to produce carbon-negative fuel and materials. This is vital for de-fossilizing aviation.

MacroCarbon uses a proprietary offshore cultivation system to grow seaweed. The biomass is harvested and converted via modular thermochemical processing—integrating vacuum and methane pyrolysis with a Fischer-Tropsch reactor. This strategy creates SAF.

STATUS

In just 18 months, we have deployed our first aquafarm prototype and won the All4Zero SAF Challenge, leading to a Proof of Concept with industry giants Iberia, Repsol, and Airbus.

TEAM

Mar Fernández-Méndez Jason Cole

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Europe’s chemical industry is losing competitiveness due to high energy costs and dependence on fossil raw materials, threatening critical supply chains. We aim to rebuild a strong European chemical base by turning waste into low-cost chemical feedstocks and enabling a circular, resilient industrial model.

Radical Dot converts mixed plastic waste into essential basic chemicals used across industry. By using waste as a low-cost carbon source, we reduce dependence on fossil feedstocks while staying cost-competitive at scale. Our focus is on scalable processes that can integrate into existing chemical infrastructure.

STATUS

We have successfully validated our core technology in lab and pilot systems, producing key chemical products from mixed plastic waste. A completed SPRIND validation project confirmed feasibility and scale-up potential. We are now working with industrial partners toward a demonstration plant as the next step.

TEAM

Alexandre Kremer Andreas Wagner

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We believe the future of sludge is not disposal, but energy — and Shit2Power is building the system that makes this transition scalable.

Shit2Power uses a proprietary, MLoptimized gasification system to process wet sludge directly on-site. Our standardized containerized plants reduce sludge volume by up to 90% and generate electricity and heat locally, combining waste treatment and energy production in one deployable system.

STATUS

TRL 6 validated technology, first paid pilot contract signed in December 2025. Delivery is scheduled for June, operations start in August. In parallel, industrial customers are preparing PoCs with clear multi-site rollout potential, while our qualified pipeline across Germany and core EU continues to grow.

TEAM

Nina Heine Fabian Habicht Cornelia Schwertner

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Energy sovereignty and secure energy supply are becoming Europe’s top priorities. Yet geothermal energy, always-on, emissions-free, and widely available, remains unscaled due to complexity and cost. Unlocking this vast resource is critical for energy independence, resilience to geopolitical shocks, and industrial competitiveness.

Built on over two decades of research, Telura’s electric impulse drilling uses high-voltage pulses to break rock from within, enabling faster, more cost-efficient access to geothermal resources independent of geology. We collaborate with leading research institutions (KIT, TU Dresden, ETH Zurich) and industrial partners to accelerate deployment.

STATUS

Telura is focused on engineering systems that operate reliably at scale. The technology is being validated with four drilling systems in controlled environments, with first industrial partners and customers secured. Initial field pilots are planned for late 2026, marking the path to commercialization.

TEAM

Philipp Engelkamp Andrew Welling

VIRIDIS RECYCLING

FUTURE ENERGY LOCATION Hanau, Germany

COMPANY DETAILS

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE SERIES A

PRIVATE FUNDING - EU 100,000 EUR FUNDING NEEDED 5,000,000 EUR

3,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We want to establish our recycling process as state of the art for battery recycling. We want to close the recycling loop in Germany with our partners which are cell producers and pCam producers. We produce the raw materials Germany and Europe needs for further economical and ecological development.

STATUS

We use a high-voltage based recycling process without chemical- or thermal treatment, which is compared to hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes more effective.

We have lower opex, lower capex, lower impurities in blackmass and lower Carbon footprint.

We received an exclusive licence by Fraunhofer IWKS for the industrialization of our HydroPulse Battery Recycling process. We are in contact with battery cell factories and with pcam producers who want to buy our blackmass. Pilotline 200 kg/h in use. Blackmass is cleaner than competitor‘s Industrial expansion with 1t/h per line ready to be buil

TEAM

Jens Huber

Timotheus Jahnke

Dirk Brieke

Benny Balke-Grünewald

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The energy transition requires storing large amounts of energy and distributing them on demand. This makes a more efficient energy system based on a carrier indispensable: hydrogen. Hydrogen must be safe and easy for consumers, supported by dual-use technology enabling efficient storage in products and an efficient distribution infrastructure.

The H2 Battery is a groundbreaking solution for hydrogen storage: safe, modular, and cost-efficient. It achieves high energy densities and enables a drastic simplification of infrastructure; a foundation for scalable, sustainable energy economy.

STATUS

Currently, we are in development phase, with main concepts defined and first prototype running. Further focus on product & performance optimization, production scalability, next to planning a pilot project, business development effort and collaboration with industrial partners.

TEAM

ABSORA

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Air pollution & noise are the 2 most important health risks for humans:

(1) Air pollution concerns mainly the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere

(2) Noise-induced sicknesses cause up to 1.6m (!) sick years per annum in Western Europe alone Moreover, Germany‘s metal industry is currently suffering. We will contribute to changing that!

STATUS

Patents & design have been filed. Successful practical applications:

Our material „HSA3“ addresses both, combining lightweight design and noise/vibration absorption w/o rock wool or foam. Its production process is cost-effectively using existing machinery, lowers market entry barriers & strengthens sustainable value chains across industry & SMEs.

• An HVAC sound absorber was tested with 21% more attenuation and 40% less pressure loss than rock wool

• Noise barrier w/ 3-5 times higher low-frequency absorption than rock wool

• -5 dB (-68%) in a gas heater

• Air intake of gas-fired power plant: -8 dB (-84%)

TEAM

Johannes Kotte

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Labor shortages threaten the industry. Solutions are often too complex or expensive for dexterous tasks. Human-like hands are the crucial interface for versatile environmental interaction. With AI-DROID we offer an affordable humanoid robot system, ensuring competitiveness and technological sovereignty through intuitive, scalable automation.

The HandEffector features sensorless sub-newton force measurement, providing human-like dexterity for complex tasks. Combined with our robust AeonDrive technology, it utilizes a patented AI-based teaching method. This synergy allows for the precise automation of manual processes while eliminating traditional programming barriers.

STATUS

The HandEffector 2 is available as industry-ready version, generating revenue as a standalone component. While scaling to a full humanoid system, we have secured patents and are successfully collaborating with pilot customers. Our focus remains on achieving human-like dexterity for industrial applications.

TEAM

Lars Heim

Sören

Michalik

Sönke

Michalik

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Geothermal heat is the most efficient way we can heat and cool buildings, yet it is barely used due to drilling. Drilling is too space and cost intensive. We make geothermal drilling more accessible and cost efficient, removing a major hurdle to sustainable, cheap heating and cooling.

Contrary to conventional drills (which require 50m2 to drill, require personnel to operate, cost 1.5M and run on diesel) we are developing a fully autonomous drilling robot that sits entirely inside of the borehole that its creating. The drill does not require any drill pipes, diesel compressor or personnel to operate and costs a fraction.

STATUS

We are currently in the prototyping stage, testing different modules of the drill in the field as well as the lab. We have drilled down to a depth of 30 meters. The next milestones are to reach 50 meters of depth as well as test our borehole structural support module in the field inside the full MVP.

TEAM

Hans-Jörg Denning Moritz Pill Philipp Ganz

CONTINUUM INNOVATION

JOIN THE ROBOT REVOLUTION.

INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION

COMPANY

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The vision is a universal, scalable automation platform that enables safe and accessible automation of manual work in all areas of life and work.

Continuum Innovation is developing a scalable soft cobot platform with continuous mechanics that fundamentally changes the areas of application for robotic arms and interaction with them. The robotic arm, which moves like an elephant‘s trunk, can operate in confined spaces and is much more flexible than conventional robots, thereby increasing efficient.

STATUS

MVP Status is reached, pilot tests have started. One SME in Berlin with cobot focus. One with Siemens Energy with inspection focus.

TEAM

Kilian Reiß

ENADYNE

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Industrial chemistry runs on centuryold thermal processes - fossil-fired, inefficient, inflexible. They cannot electrify, use renewables, or decouple from fossil feedstocks. enaDyne replaces them with a fully electric, modular platform - from semiconductor abatement to industrial-scale chemical synthesis, built on one core technology.

enaDyne‘s Non-Thermal Plasma Catalysis platform activates molecules electrically - no combustion, no fossil fuel, no waste. Pulsed fields drive reactions at near-ambient temperature on proprietary ceramic electrodes with integrated catalysts. Same hardware for abatement, splitting, and synthesis. Scales modularly from single unit to container fleet

STATUS

EUR 1.7M revenue from joint development, prototypes & test infrastructure. EUR 20M Take-or-Pay in final negotiation with leading semicon abatement OEM. LOI with Fortune 500 chemical company, MOU with global catalysis leader. EUR 7M seed closed. ~EUR 4.5M grants. Team of ~40. SPRIND Carbon-to-Value winner, Hello Tomorrow & Sächsischer Gründerpreis.

TEAM

Philipp Hahn Christian Koch

FLUIDECT

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Our vision is to digitize bioprocesses end-to-end. With our FRS sensor platform, we bring lab-grade bioanalytics directly into industrial production in real time. This enables safer food, higher yields, less waste, and true Industry 4.0 control of biological systems.

Our solution uses microscopic biosensors that freely float in the process liquid and selectively bind target proteins or microorganisms. Their Fluorescent Resonator Signature (FRS) is read out optically, enabling rapid, label-free and multiplex quantification. Automated sampling allows seamless at-line and fully online deployment.

STATUS

We developed and validated the patented FRS biosensor platform, delivered the first SpheroScan Explorer systems to paying pilot customers, and generated €1m+ revenue with €1m in orders. Our impact is recognized by major awards including the SPIE Prism Award and the German Food Startup Award.

TEAM

Tobias Schröter Michael Himmelhaus

INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Teltow, Germany

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE SEED

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Essential topsoil is lost at rates far greater than it can be replaced naturally. To restore soil and its ability to capture and store carbon, organic matter (humus) must be replaced from an external source. Humify’s HTH-process provides the unique opportunity to replenish the amount of humus required for healthy soil -much faster than the natural.

The continuous hydrothermal humification process developed by Humify is patented and can convert a variety of biomass into artificial humic substances. At the same time carbon and key nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen are preserved. Through the microbial activation of humus, we achieve an amplification effect on carbon sequestration in soil.

STATUS

patent filed (process and product); additional claims being prepared; product: TRL 6; batch process HTH: TRL 7

continuous process HTH: TRL 4 pot & field tests with various crops in multiple climates; independent plant tests by HU Berlin; Horizon Europe project; SPRIND validation project; funding round with Business Angels (2025); preparing next

TEAM

Svitlana Filonenko

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We are pionieers in LED-based industrial heat decarbonizing industrial heat and accelerating heating processes >10x.

We build the world strongest LEDs.

STATUS

Seed stage working on product-market fit with several paid proof-of-concept projects completed.

TEAM

Lukas Porz

Milto Vlachos

Michael Scherer

INFRASONIK

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF INDUSTRY WITH

INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Spanga, Sweden

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE PRE-SEED

FUNDING NEEDED 1,000,000 EUR

REVENUE %60,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Industry lacks efficient and controllable methods for cooling and drying in metal processing and industrial production. This leads to high energy use, uneven quality, and complex processes, affecting energy-intensive sectors such as steel and bio-based industries.

Infrasonik develop technologies based on high-intensity infrasound to actively enhance heat and mass transfer. By generating strong oscillatory flows, we increase transport rates and enable faster, more uniform cooling and drying within existing industrial processes and equipment.

STATUS

InfraCooler: validated in lab environments with partners including SSAB and Industeel, and in industrial environment with Gestamp. Ongoing work focuses on FOAK.

InfraDryer: existing full scale pilot, now focus on first sales and scaling

TEAM

Helen Mattsson Winston Olsson

MAGNOTHERM

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Europe pioneered refrigeration with Carl von Linde. Now a critical part of modern infrastructure, legacy systems have become an efficiency and climate burden. Magnetic cooling offers a paradigm shift: higher efficiency, no harmful refrigerants, and a path to renewed technology sovereignty with climate-positive profitability.

Experts in magnetocaloric materials, magnets, and system engineering, we lead the shift to refrigerant-free cooling. Deeply embedded across the value chain, we build core IP and know-how, partnering with OEMs to drive adoption and set future standards for cooling across retail, data centres, HVAC, manufacturing, and beyond.

STATUS

Magnetic cooling is de-risked, with devices sold and deployed globally for testing, showcasing, and food and beverage retail. Key commercial partners include Coca-Cola, AB InBev, and REWE Group, with a supermarket pilot planned for 2026. Scaling is underway with an established supply chain, ready for widespread adoption.

TEAM

Maximilian Fries Timur Sirman

MICROBUBBLES

COMPANY

Leipzig,

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Since 1950, over 10.9 billion tons of plastics have been produced worldwide, of which around 21 millions tons end up in our oceans every year. Our goal: to detect microplastics and pollutants at an early stage, remove them effectively, and thus ensure the long-term protection of our waters.

We develop and scale in-situ microflotation to remove microplastics and micropollutants from contaminated water. Our microflotation system is already being used to sustainably reduce filterable substances (TSS and TSS63), microplastics and micropollutants from surface-water and wastewater.

STATUS

We have a number of reference projects that are being scientifically monitored and have already resulted in publications validating the performance and capabilities of our in-situ microflotation system.

TEAM

Roland Damann Christian Henning

MUNIQO PERFORMANTE

COMPANY DETAILS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Our vision is to become the leading player in vibration compensation and establish ourselves as a category-defining technology company in this field. While patient transport is our initial focus, the underlying technology has clear applications far beyond healthcare, including microscopy, quantum technology and advanced industrial precision systems.

Our anti-vibration technology is designed as a scalable platform. Beyond the initial medical transport application, we expand with a vibration measurement box and passive shock absorbers, enabling rapid scaling into adult patient transport and other industries requiring advanced vibration protection.

STATUS

We have fully validated patient transport as our initial use case, and we are currently in the final stage of testing the technology in real world. With the support of SPRIND, we are testing the system under extreme conditions to determine its technological limits and transfer potential. In next few weeks we apply for public funding (KMU, IEC)

TEAM

Sebastian Wann Luca Fabiano

COMPANY DETAILS

FUNDING DETAILS LOCATION

Germany

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Monocultures are efficient but unsustainable: degrading biodiversity, losing harvests to climate extremes. The alternatives are diverse, resilient polycultures, but in order to be economical they need automation as dexterous as humans. Our goal: future proofing humanities food production.

We start with a market that needs this solution today: high-value crops in greenhouses, where labor costs are high and labor is hard to find. Our robots learn picking end-to-end from humans, a radically data-driven approach that adapts fast to new tasks and new crops in the greenhouse and beyond. From there toward resilient, diversified farming.

STATUS

We started the lab development in January 2025, autonomously picked our first tomato in a greenhouse in May, and harvested full rows reliably in December. We work closely with growers and are on course to run a completely integrated operational pilot in summer 2026 and the first system deliveries in early 2027.

TEAM

Martin Kiefel

Maike Kaufmann

Claudio Michaelis

Elias Atahi

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Critical industries such as nuclear waste, security, and defense lack reliable methods to inspect complex or shielded materials. This leads to uncertainty, safety risks, and high false positives. A new inspection capability is needed to enable direct material understanding and reduce operational and regulatory constraints.

SourceLight develops compact, laser-driven radiation sources generating synchronized MeV X-rays and neutrons, based on Focused Energy’s inertial fusion approach. This enables high-resolution imaging and direct material identification in a modular system, combining advanced physics with AI-driven analysis for real-time inspection.

STATUS

SourceLight is in an advanced development phase, with core technology validated at TRL 4–5 and system architecture defined. The prototype facility (PLANET) is under construction in Biblis. Current focus is on system integration, performance optimization, and preparation of first pilot applications with industrial partners.

TEAM

Sebastian Wojczik Patrik Karwat

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Food production is constrained by climate change, limited land, and rising costs. SymBiotic’s Gravity Farming technology industrializes crop production through automation, AI, and higher plant density—enabling scalable, reliable, and resource-efficient food production anywhere.

SymBiotic Green Technologies is redefining vertical farming with Gravity Farming, a novel cultivation system that actively leverages plant gravitropism to stimulate growth. Combined with an automated conveyor-based cultivation and central harvesting system, it drastically reduces labor costs and enables true industrialscale operations.

STATUS

SymBiotic has developed its Gravity Farming technology and system architecture and is advancing an AI-driven plant monitoring platform. The company is preparing pilot deployments and engaging with strategic partners and investors to bring the first Gravity Farm systems to market.

TEAM

Alexander Zillinger

Andreas Zillinger

Fabio La Manna

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Industrial welding of thick metal still relies on multi-pass, 90-year-old processes. Heavy industries such as wind, shipbuilding, infrastructure or chemical industry suffer from high costs, long lead times, labor shortages and logistical limits. Solving this bottleneck is critical for industrial competitiveness, scalability and resilience.

Controlled magnetic fields actively manipulate molten weld pools on the fly. This stabilises the melt against gravity, enabling single-pass welding of thick metals. The modular hardware retrofits existing systems and is being expanded into a platform technology for metallic material processing. We scale via industrial pilots and partnerships.

STATUS

Currently active in paid PoC and qualification and certification projects with customers from various industries. Reached TRL6 in core technology, supported by 10+ years of applied research. Alpha and beta systems are operational, validated in industrial pilots with OEMs and SMEs and third-partys. Supported by five patent applications.

TEAM

AETOSPHERE

MOTIVATION APPROACH

In the Aetosphere project, we combine the safe soft-capture interceptor drones from Hybrid Aerospace with a scalable distributed radar sensor network from Xneural. Together, the solution addresses the protection needs against lower end aerial threats that thousands of critical installations throughout Europe are exposed to daily.

The interceptor UAV Greif uses our patented claw mechanism to capture uncooperative drones. It has a focus on mitigation of ground risk, destruction-free capture, low cost, and minimal logistic footprint. Xneural uses distributed imaging radar, advanced signal processing, cloud computing, and AI to provide a robust wide-area detection capability.

STATUS

We have successfully demonstrated the Greif interceptor to multiple military and police units. We received orders for several hundred thousand Euro for orders of Greif and other effectors, with the first units already delivered and paid. We use the SPRIND project as an opportunity to increase automation and integration into sensor networks.

TEAM

Michael Heinrich

AVIENTUS RADNAV

COMPANY DETAILS FUNDING DETAILS

MOTIVATION APPROACH

To provide soldiers at the front line with supplies, e.g. food, blood, ammunition, drones are already in use. The existing solutions suffer from inefficient concepts, leading to: a) low range (20 km), => supply posts are close to enemy fire, b) high noise and c) low speed (max. 80 kph), i.e. easy to shoot down. They also lack autonomy.

The ETH Spin Off Avientus uses a unique, patent pending concept to deliver up to 25kg directly to remote units, enabling fast, safe, and fully autonomous transport in contested environments. It uses fixed wing drones with only two motors and underslung payload, inceasing range and speed (100km, 120kph) while reducing complexity, costs and noise.

STATUS

Bi est achievement is the sale of one prototype to the Swiss army. LoIs and requests for testing exist from Ukraine (3 different units) and the Bundeswehr, as well as for pilot projects from two civilian companies. We are invited to a NATO exercise in autumn 26. Achieving stage 2 of SPRIND „fully autonomous flight 2.0“ proves technical traction.

TEAM

Pascal Schoppmann

Johannes Aicher

Alex

Hönger

MOTIVATION APPROACH

We stop hostile drones before they cause harm. Using autonomous kinetic interceptors, CDDS delivers scalable counter-drone defense with minimal collateral impact: Effective against highly maneuverable drone swarms.

The CDDS interceptor is an autonomous, kinetic counter drone designed to neutralize Group 1 and Group 2 Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) threats with speed and precision. Powered by onboard AI and real-time decision making, each interceptor detects, tracks, and neutralizes hostile threats independently.

STATUS

CDDS is showcasing its capabilities worldwide, positioning itself amng leading companies in fully autonomous, AI-driven drone piloting, making AI-pilots accessible for low-cost aircraft.

TEAM

Christoph Bertschi David Shapira

MOTIVATION APPROACH

GETWING aims to make aviation more efficient, comfortable and accessible. By reducing drag by over 30%, we unlock new routes and business models, enabling airlines to fly farther with less energy and bring direct, sustainable travel to more people worldwide.

GETWING develops blended wing aircraft where the entire body generates lift, cutting drag by over 30%. Using efficient engines and smart configurations, we enable one platform to serve both long-haul and short-haul missions with superior performance.

STATUS

We have a manned flying prototype demonstrating efficiency, stability and safety and are now entering our seed round raising capital to build and validate our next demonstrator.

TEAM

Bernhard Mattlener Filip Piskorzynski

Marko Stamenovic

MOTIVATION APPROACH

The Anglo-German company Hypersonica was founded by Dr. Philipp Kerth and Dr. Marc Ewenz to equip Europe with the sovereign, technological edge it needs to deter military a ression and uphold freedom & independence in a more dangerous world.

Hypersonica positions itself as an agile player at the interface of research, industrial development and strategic technology partnership. Its core competence of „manoeuvrable hypersonic flight“ will be used both in a military context for hypersonic missiles, and in the civil use of space in the form of manoeuvrable re-entry into the atmosphere.

STATUS

Hypersonica GmbH is a growing technology company focusing on the hypersonic sector. The company was founded on 23rd November 2023 and received VC investments by e.g., Plural Platform, General Catalyst and SPRIND. With currently 47 employees based in Germany and the UK, it rapidly scales its capabilities.

TEAM

Marc Ewenz

Philipp Kerth

Dustin Büttner

Felix Braun

NEUROSPACE

WORLD‘S FIRST MODULAR ROVER PLATFORM - MADE IN GERMANY.

COMPANY DETAILS

FUNDING DETAILS

,000 EUR PRIVATE FUNDING - EU 1,450,000 EUR

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Earth. Orbit. Moon. As technology expands from Earth to orbit and the Moon, the lack of standardized infrastructure slows innovation. HiveR - one platform solving three problems by providing a unified technology for rovers and small satellites, that saves time, reduces costs, and enables scalable space operations.

HiveR provides a unified hardware and software platform for rovers and small satellites operating across Earth, orbit, and the Moon. Using modular architecture, shared avionics, and standardized communication protocols, HiveR reduces development time, lowers mission costs, and enables scalable deployment of space systems.

STATUS

NEUROSPACE developed TACHELES, a deep-space satellite built under NASA requirements and selected for the Artemis II mission. We are building HiveR, a modular robotics and satellite platform for Earth, orbit, and lunar missions, with early industry customers and ongoing commercial discussions.

TEAM

Irene Selvanathan

Margarita Trubizin

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Engineering Earth‘s Lowest Orbiting Satellites.

We‘re about to launch our first satellite, carrying 3-4 payloads within Earth observation. The goal of the first mission is to validate the first commercially available European VLEO platform and demonstrate the performance advantages of VLEO.

STATUS

We‘re currently pursuing a validation contract with SPRIND to examine the breakthrough potential of VLEO.

TEAM

Anatolii Papulov Alexander Kiermeier Ruslan Rakhimov

NOUMA AUTONOMY

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Critical missions in search and rescue, disaster response, and defense require unmanned systems that operate where GPS, communications, and human oversight fail. Today‘s drones are remote-controlled tools that stop working when connectivity drops. Lives depend on closing this gap.

NOUMA develops Cortex, a visionlanguage model based software stack enabling unmanned systems to be briefed in natural language and make onboard decisions in real time. Runs entirely on edge hardware without GPS or cloud dependency, combining visual scene understanding and mission reasoning.

STATUS

Founded in February 2026 as a spin-off from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Already running the software stack on multiple embodiments across domains. Preparing for the live demonstration final of the SPRIND Funke „Fully Autonomous Flight 2.0“ in late summer 2026.

TEAM

Leon Seidel Christopher May Andreas Gründer

Sebastian Reitelshöfer

POLARIS

HORIZONTAL

AEROSPACE & RESILIENCE

COMPANY DETAILS

LOCATION

Bremen, Germany EMPLOYEES

90

FUNDING DETAILS

FUNDING STAGE SEED

MOTIVATION APPROACH

POLARIS aims on revolutionizing spaceflight by creating an aircraftlike access to space. Our reusable horizontal take-off spaceplanes will provide a unique combination of superior economic viability, flexibility, safety and sustainability. Our ultimate vision is to establish an airline to space for routine transport of passengers and cargo.

We follow a strongly iterative approach with designing, building and flying scaled spaceplane demonstrators with high pace. Each new vehicle becomes larger and more performant than the previous one. By this iterative approach, we gain strong practical experience within short time and de-risk technology already in early project phases.

STATUS

We have built and flown already seven scaled demonstrators with more than 250 flights, and are currently building the next four vehicles. In addition, we have developed a novel type of rocket engines, so-called linear aerospikes. A 1 kN engine was successfully flight-tested - a world premiere, while a 20 kN follow-on engine is in development.

TEAM

Alexander Kopp

UBASWARM

MOTIVATION APPROACH

UAV operations are crippled by reinventing the wheel syndrome. Developers waste months on basic telemetry and UI instead of missioncritical tasks, often relying on unstable, makeshift solutions. We provide the unified ecosystem for drone OEMs and operators to manage data streams and swarms, enabling them to focus on innovation, not infrastructure.

STATUS

We bridge the gap with vehicle-specific modules that translate various drone SDKs into a unified format. Via encrypted VPNs, we provide a browser-based, widget-driven UI for real-time swarm control and data introspection on any device, including VR. Integrated with ROS2 and open APIs, our ecosystem lets developers automate the „annoying part.“

As a TU Berlin spin-off, we are validating our ecosystem in the Fully Autonomous Flight Challenge, solving GNSS-denied navigation. Led by a swarm navigation PhD and aviation experts, we have initiated pilot-focused dialogues with industry peers to refine product-market fit and are currently formalizing our business model for market entry.

TEAM

Mats Martens

Anne-Sophie

Polz

Bastian

Göbel

Fabian

Frickenstein

MOTIVATION APPROACH

Cislunar space is rapidly becoming contested and congested, yet remains largely invisible. Without the ability to detect and understand activity beyond Earth orbit, governments, industry, and missions operate blind, thus creating risks to security, safety, and the future of space itself.

Zetator will design, build, and deploy a satellite to detect and track spacecraft beyond Earth orbit in cislunar space. Using advanced sensors, onboard AI analysis, and optical/ RF communications, we will deliver space domain awareness. We partner with other for spacecraft, ground systems, and operations to realize a scalable architecture.

STATUS

We have developed a prototype space domain awareness system using AI to detect anomalies in Earth orbiting objects. It extends to modeling objects in cislunar space, where no data yet exists. We are now conducting funded research to define validate the technical approach, with future system development as a separate step.

TEAM

Randall Correll

S. Peter Worden

IMPRESSUM

Booklet zum Event ‚VENTURE SPRIND 2026‘

Veröffentlicht am: 14. April 2026, Leipzig (Deutschland)

Verfasser:

SPRIND GmbH

Lagerhofstr. 4 04103 Leipzig info@sprind.org

Geschäftsführung:

Berit Dannenberg

Rafael Laguna de la Vera

Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats:

Dr.-Ing. E. h. Peter Leibinger

Handelsregister:

Amtsgericht Leipzig (HRB 36977)

Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer nach § 27a

Umsatzsteuergesetz DE328253854

INHALT DER TEAMSEITEN:

Die dargestellten Unternehmen tragen die alleinige Verantwortung für den Inhalt der Team-Seiten.

KONZEPT UND DESIGN: SPRIND GmbH

BILDNACHWEIS:

Die Personenbilder und Teamlogos in diesem Booklet wurden von den entsprechenden Unternehmen zur Nutzung im Rahmen des Events ‚VENTURE SPRIND 2026‘ am 14. April 2026 bereitgestellt. Alle anderen Abbildungen und Fotos sind Eigentum der SPRIND GmbH.