TD Shepherd has participated as a partner at the HTVD 2022 annual event. This year the event took place from October 10th through October 11th in Dresden, Germany. 40 DeepTech Startups have participated in HTVD22 and presenting their pitches. Participants represented various fields of engineering and mechanical engineering, micro- and nanotechnology, information and communication technology, environmental and energy technology, materials science, life sciences, and others.
1. A new credit instrument for growth companies with a minimum ticket size of EURO 5M (the minimum pool size), allowing for flexible “on-demand” dipping;
2. An increased interest by Corporates to provide investment as well as loans to startups operating in their eco-system and important to the innovation cycle in their part of the industry; most of this through informal off-balance sheet funding mechanisms;
3. A continued drive of innovation in the OLED sector; a new badge of startups focusing on next-generation OLED materials and stacks;
4. Two of the teams supported by TD Shepherd were also present at the HTVD; Phonemics presented its Voice Activity Detection (VAD) and cryptographic IP lines in combination with supporting design services for customization; Heteromerge discussed their multi-material solutions for 3D micro-printing with various investors and successfully networked with the community.
For most deep-tech entrepreneurs, a familiar fact: a deep-tech startup takes longer to commercialize than regular software-based and/or SaaS-based startups. The gap between proof of concept and actual revenue takes longer. The following graph provides some insight into why things take longer.
The TD Shepherd team is happy to congratulate the Qualinx B.V. team on successfully raising €20 million from Dutch investors. TD Shepherd has provided strategic support to Qualinx over the years (starting in 2018), witnessing each step of their journey; their growth and success, makes us truly proud of their outstanding achievements.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about surviving the Valley of Death in deep tech, it’s this: don’t go it alone. This stage is all about leveraging relationships, and corporate partnerships can be your most valuable lifeline. The key is to think beyond customers.