Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds
Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds (FTTF) is a Munich-based deep-tech venture capital fund that backs very early-stage spinouts built on Fraunhofer research, not a water specialist. As of January 2026 it operates through a successor fund, TT49, which reached a 72 million euro first close. (don't) Waste Water tracks one water company, Variolytics, across two deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds was Germany's first technology-transfer fund backed by the European Investment Fund, built to turn research from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe's largest applied-science organisation, into companies. It is a deep-tech generalist, not a water fund: its job is to write the first cheque for a Fraunhofer spinout, whatever lab it walks out of, from sensors to semiconductors.
As of January 2026 Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds operates through a successor fund, TT49, which announced a first close of 72 million euros toward a 90 million euro target, again anchored by the European Investment Fund and now the German Aerospace Center (DLR). TT49 widens the net beyond Fraunhofer to spinouts from the DLR, Helmholtz, Leibniz and Max Planck institutes and their partner universities, with cheques of up to 7 million euros per company.
Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds reads less like a finance shop than a band of operators. Its founding partners spent years inside Fraunhofer before raising the fund: Tobias Schwind co-founded and ran the Fraunhofer spinout Industrial Solar to a Nasdaq First North listing, and Matthias Keckl built the Fraunhofer Venture Lab incubators that fed the deal pipeline. Between them the partners have co-founded seven deep-tech startups, the kind of scar tissue a pre-seed science founder actually wants in the room.
Water reaches Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds the way most things do, through a Fraunhofer lab. Its one water-tracked company is Variolytics, a Stuttgart spinout whose mass-spectrometry sensors measure and help cut nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that wastewater plants emit in surprising volumes. (don't) Waste Water counts two FTTF deals into that single company. The open question is whether TT49's wider remit and bigger cheques pull more water spinouts off the bench.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 1 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds invest in?
- Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds backs very early-stage deep-tech spinouts that commercialise research from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, across fields from sensors to semiconductors. It is a generalist science-transfer investor, not a water specialist; the only water company (don't) Waste Water tracks in its portfolio is the wastewater-emissions startup Variolytics.
- What is TT49, the successor to FTTF?
- TT49 is the successor fund to the Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds. As of January 2026 it announced a first close of 72 million euros toward a 90 million euro target, backed by the European Investment Fund and the German Aerospace Center, and widened its remit to spinouts from the DLR, Helmholtz, Leibniz and Max Planck institutes.
- Who runs Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds?
- Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds is run by a founding team of managing partners, including Tobias Schwind, Matthias Keckl, Johann C. Siemes and Joerg Wamser. Each spent years inside Fraunhofer as spinout managers or founders before raising the fund; together they have co-founded seven deep-tech startups.
- Is Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds a water investor?
- Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds is not a water fund. It invests across deep-tech, and water appears only through one portfolio company, Variolytics, a Stuttgart spinout cutting nitrous-oxide emissions at wastewater plants. (don't) Waste Water tracks a single FTTF water company across two deals, placing it in the Occasional water-investor tier.
- Where is Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds based?
- Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fonds is headquartered in Munich, Germany, in the heart of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's network of applied-research institutes. It invests primarily in German research spinouts, and through its successor fund TT49 can now back science-based startups across Europe while keeping its focus on Germany.