We work to make the industries of the future possible. We are committed both to fostering the creation of new jobs in Heilbronn, and to building partnerships with companies headquartered far away. We are not your typical venture-capital investment fund.

As a family-office venture capital fund with a total investment volume of over € 200 million, we have the independence and flexibility to support you long beyond a typical seven-year VC cycle. We see an initial investment as the beginning of a long-term partnership. We know from experience that infusing cash into a young company is just the first step on the path of sustainable growth. Besides cash, founders need a range of expertise to move from one stage of development to the next, meet unexpected challenges, and turn their ideas into sought-after products. We can give young companies access to seasoned experts at ZFHN and to the extensive networks they participate in, spanning every industry in the Heilbronn region. Through a “buy and build” approach, we can bring young companies together in a merger that adds value and provides new avenues for growth. Our support changes as start-ups grow, but our commitment remains constant.

ZFHN has spent more than a decade working with young companies from the idea stage onward, enabling them to increase capacity at the right moment, and making it possible for them to become technological and market leaders. A number of our start-ups have joined the ranks of German medium-sized companies – the “Mittelstand” – and others have combined forces with larger companies that can provide them with a worldwide distribution network.

Take Xenios AG, a medical-technology company. We first invested in 2008 in a predecessor company to Xenios, called Novalung, which manufactured artificial lungs. A few years later, we realized that a manufacturer of artificial blood-pumping systems, Medos Medizintechnik, would offer a good fit with Novalung’s product range. We invested in Medos in 2013, and that same year, supported a merger of the two companies to form Xenios. When we sold our shares in the company to Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co.KgaA in 2016, Xenios was able to expand its international reach. Today, as a unit of Fresenius, Xenios is an international technological leader in the field of pulmonary and cardiac support and therapy.

For a glance at some of our other success stories, please see our start-up profile page. Besides medical technology, we invest in a range of innovative industries, from new materials to cleantech to artificial intelligence. Our seed fund, BORN2GROW, makes initial investments of up to EUR 500,000, and can provide a second round of financing of an additional EUR 1 million. BORN2GROW works together with other venture capital funds and business angels to support young companies poised to launch their products, and given the right conditions, can facilitate a partnership with the ZFHN parent fund. The investment in October, 2017, in the Israeli AI start-up TinyInspektor represents a milestone for BORN2GROW on the path towards increased international cooperation.

Here in Heilbronn, ZFHN is working to make visions of the future into reality. We both contribute to and benefit from the synergies emerging among the growing number of academic institutions and start-ups and the Wohlgelegen “Future Park,” whose state-of-the-art facilities meet the needs of young companies, from office space to clean-rooms and conference facilities. We have the financial muscle, the expertise, and the connections to enable innovators to meet and surpass their goals. We invite you to join us in changing the world – we will go the distance with you!