{"id":8116,"date":"2026-04-28T10:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/8116\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T10:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:55:10","slug":"germanys-most-active-early-stage-investor-thinks-europe-is-on-the-edge-of-its-next-economic-miracle-heres-the-plan-tfn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/8116\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany’s most active early-stage investor thinks Europe is on the edge of its next economic miracle. Here’s the plan \u2014 TFN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDifficult times are often the breeding ground for truly transformative ideas and great companies,\u201d says Dr. Tanja Emmerling<\/a>, who heads up HTGF\u2019s Berlin office, and she means it. While the global political climate is turbulent and European tech is under pressure, Germany\u2019s most active venture-capital investor is doubling down, not pulling back.<\/p>\n

Europe is in the midst of a deep tech boom, but the capital that scales its best companies keeps ending up in American hands, according to High-Tech Gr\u00fcnderfonds, or HTGF. \u201cThe big limited partners from the Nordics have portfolios in the US rather than in Europe. When big companies grow, US investors benefit. So why not invest in your own region?\u201d Emmerling tells TFN.<\/p>\n

This belief translates into HTGF Family Day 2026<\/a>, which is returning to STATION Berlin on May 11 and 12 with the theme \u2018New Wirtschaftswunder,\u2019 where TFN readers can get up to 10% off their tickets with the promo code \u201cTFN10\u201d on the website. The discount will appear after you choose your ticket \u2013 secure it already today, they\u2019re selling fast.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The original Wirtschaftswunder was postwar Germany\u2019s economic miracle. HTGF, one of Europe\u2019s most active early-stage investors, is deliberately invoking that spirit for its 2026 theme, and the ambition isn\u2019t subtle.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s on the table<\/p>\n

Family Day started as a small portfolio event for HTGF and has grown into one of Europe\u2019s biggest venture capital gatherings. This year, it will welcome 1,300 attendees, host over 4,000 meetings, and feature more than 40 speakers and panellists on two stages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The agenda highlights technologies that HTGF sees as key for Europe\u2019s competitiveness: energy infrastructure, quantum computing, space technology, AI industrial productivity, and biotechnology. HTGF-backed startups include Proxima Fusion<\/a> and ATMOS Space Cargo<\/a>, among about 350 active portfolio companies across Europe.<\/p>\n

The message from Berlin is unambiguous\u2013build the financing infrastructure now, or watch the next generation of European champions relocate to where the capital is.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image credits: HTGF<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s in the room<\/p>\n

The confirmed speaker lineup is designed to cover every layer of the ecosystem needed to actually move capital into deep tech at scale. The panels will focus on mobilising pension funds and institutional LPs into European deep tech,\u00a0 keeping the next generation of champions on home soil.<\/p>\n

Thomas Jarzombek<\/a>, state secretary at Germany\u2019s federal ministry for digital transformation, will discuss policy \u2013 a crucial topic as European tech sovereignty moves from talk to law. Meanwhile, Bj\u00f6rn Tremmerie<\/a>, head of venture capital and impact investing at the European Investment Fund, is set to speak about the role of institutional capital in VCl. Christian Miele, a general partner at Headline, which backed Mistral AI and Farfetch, will share his firm\u2019s playbook for growth investing.<\/p>\n

Founders will take the stage too, including Sara Jourdan<\/a>, co-founder and CEO of Genow<\/a>, an enterprise knowledge management system, and Jan Rabe<\/a>, founder and CEO of Rabot Energy, a dynamic energy provider, as well as innovation leaders from SAP Research and UnternehmerTUM, Europe\u2019s leading centre for innovation and business creation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On diversity, HTGF fast-tracks female-led teams to pitch meetings, embeds them in founder networks, and puts portfolio founders on stage as visible role models. Progress has been made, Emmerling admits, but \u201cthere is still a lot of work to do. That\u2019s the only honest answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

A pivotal moment for HTGF<\/p>\n

Since February, HTGF\u2019s management team has taken over responsibility for the Deep Tech and Climate Fonds (DTCF) \u2013 a government-backed growth vehicle \u2013 creating a powerful, integrated public-private VC platform that spans from pre-seed to scale-up. A fifth-generation seed fund is set to launch in 2027.<\/p>\n

Family Day isn\u2019t just a conference. It\u2019s HTGF making the case that Europe doesn\u2019t have to keep exporting its best companies to fund them.<\/p>\n

Family Day is invite-only. Qualified investors, companies, and ecosystem partners can apply at family-day-htgf.de. Tickets cover both days, all stages and workshops, the networking platform with pre-scheduled meetings, and full-day catering. TFN readers get an exclusive discount\u2013secure your spot before they sell out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDifficult times are often the breeding ground for truly transformative ideas and great companies,\u201d says Dr. Tanja Emmerling,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6409,8052,151,5,42,8053,8054],"class_list":{"0":"post-8116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-deeptech","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-germany","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-paid-partnership","14":"tag-startups"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}