FTTF
FTTF (Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fund) is a Munich-based venture capital fund that backs early-stage deep-tech startups built on Fraunhofer research. Backed by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the European Investment Fund, it is a generalist investor; its one water-linked holding is constellr, whose satellites track crop water stress. As of 2026 that is 1 water company across 2 deals.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
FTTF, the Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fund, exists to do one specific thing: turn the research pouring out of Germany's Fraunhofer institutes into companies. Launched in 2018 as the country's first dedicated Fraunhofer tech-transfer fund, and backed by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft alongside the European Investment Fund, it writes the very first cheques for scientists trying to spin a lab result into a startup.
FTTF lands in my Leviathan database through a single company, constellr. The Freiburg startup is itself a Fraunhofer spin-off, and it flies thermal-infrared microsatellites that read the temperature of the land from orbit, a surprisingly sharp proxy for crop water stress and irrigation need. That is FTTF's whole water story, water measured from space rather than moved through a pipe, and a neat reminder that some of the most useful water data now comes from companies that would never call themselves water companies.
FTTF is a generalist deep-tech investor, not a water fund. It backs pre-seed and seed science startups across industrial tech, space, agritech, energy and B2B software, the kind of hard-science bets most generalist funds find too early or too technical. constellr sits in the space-and-agritech corner of that book, which is exactly where water keeps surfacing for FTTF: not as a thesis, but as a by-product of funding good sensing technology.
As of 2026, the original roughly €60 million FTTF has been succeeded by a larger fund, TT49, carrying a volume above €70 million and the same Fraunhofer-spinout remit. For the water world that is worth watching: if TT49 keeps backing Earth-observation and agritech founders the way FTTF backed constellr, more of how the planet measures, and rations, its water will quietly trace back to a German tech-transfer fund.
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 FTTF (Fraunhofer Technology Transfer Fund) invest in?
- FTTF invests in early-stage deep-tech startups that commercialise research from Germany's Fraunhofer institutes, across industrial tech, space, agritech, energy and B2B software. It typically enters at pre-seed and seed. Within water, its single holding is constellr, a satellite company measuring crop water stress from orbit.
- Is FTTF a water investor?
- FTTF is a generalist deep-tech fund, not a dedicated water investor. Its one water-linked holding is constellr, whose thermal satellites track land-surface temperature and crop water stress. (don't) Waste Water rates FTTF's water commitment Occasional, with 1 water company across 2 deals.
- Who runs FTTF?
- FTTF is run by its general partners, Johann C. Siemes, Tobias Schwind, Matthias Keckl and Jörg Wamser, a team that spent years inside Fraunhofer, DLR and Max-Planck managing tech transfer before launching the fund in 2018. Siemes co-founded FTTF and connects to its constellr investment.
- Where is FTTF based?
- FTTF is based in Munich, Germany, on Kaufingerstraße, with additional offices in Bonn and Freiburg. Founded in 2018, it is Germany's first venture fund dedicated to spinning companies out of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's network of research institutes.
- What is TT49, and how is it related to FTTF?
- TT49 is the successor fund to FTTF, run by the same Munich team on the same Fraunhofer-spinout remit. As of 2026 it carries a volume above €70 million, up from FTTF's roughly €60 million. New deep-tech investments now flow through TT49 rather than FTTF.