from Hacker News

Ask HN: Research Heavy Startups in Germany?

by orange_tee on 3/7/21, 12:02 AM with 2 comments

I am living in Germany and have noticed a weird kind of startup niche that I have not witnessed elsewhere.

Usually found in some notable student city, this startup has 3 to 4 technical co-founders, all with Ph.ds and none with industry experience. Their product/service is some highly technical idea still in research phase. Their only output is publications. Some have a small number of employees, usually developers writing helper code. Often hiring Ph.ds.

I am wondering if any German residents could tell me more about these enterprises. First of all what is the main goal of such setups? Is there a real belief that these enterprises will make money, or is it just a hedge, in case they could be profitable? Do these kind of enterprises get funding? And if they get funding is it from industry or some government grant? Have you worked for such an enterprise as a founder or employee? Do you recommend it?

  • by mtmail on 3/7/21, 12:57 AM

    Several government-run programs, you might say VCs, e.g. the largest is probably https://www.htgf.de/en/ , finance these ideas more easily than the private sector would. Some are backed by large players in the pharma, chemistry or such industries hoping to get early access to the outcome of research. The universities offer free offices (limited to one year afaik), access to laboratories, help with patent filing. A typical such startup, as you said, has an unproven idea for a product, the product might be an improvement to some industry process or a formula, and needs 6-18months for a prototype. Some use 6 months of the free office just to write their business plan. Source: I went to a HTGF road show presentation at a nearby university. I have only worked with IT/internet startups so far.

    Check if they're incorporated as UG or GmbH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneurial_company_(Germa... The UG is the simplied version. If they chose GmbH and thus put 25.000 Euro down (can be used for laptops, but not salary) they're either well financed or very confident of success.

  • by detaro on 3/7/21, 12:21 AM

    university spinoffs?