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.
Design Services companies need to be able to deal with cyclical market conditions. One of the instruments pointed at were R&D grants. R&D grants are in fact a multiple edged sword. They provide a second revenue stream, obviously still tied to engineering resources, but driven by the R&D programs.
One of the challenges that comes with design services is the cyclical nature of the services business. When the economy tightens and corporates are watching their operational expenses, the first step will be to halt any external contracts/contractors which are not deemed absolutely essential.
Whereas the earlier (staircase) model is a good approach in scaling up revenue and creating new revenue streams, the foundation of the company is still based on the service model: headcount continues to be the main driver (typically up to 60-70% of revenue). In terms of (enterprise) valuation the additional revenue streams, however, will already make a significant difference.