Tech Guru Turned Venture Capitalist Sets Sights on German Firms
July 17, 2006
Plattner still sits at the head of the table when the SAP supervisory board meets, but it's been ages since he was involved in the company's day-to-day business. Instead he has been focusing his energy on being a private patron for German research.
Germany is suffering from a lack of business ingenuity, a situation Plattner said he wants to try to rectify.
"We do not want to be successful in this country," he said. "We do everything we possibly can to hinder ourselves so that the most we have to do is sit in front of the television and eat pretzels. That is how bad it is."
To help get more people off the couch, Plattner founded the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam where his private contributions make up 80 percent of a 50 million euro ($63 million) venture capital fund intended for new German high-tech companies.
"There is not a lack of talent," Plattner said. "What we need in Germany is the foundation and growth of many, many companies. Some of them will not survive, but others will make it."
Funding provided for first two companies
The first two companies to benefit from Plattner's fund are Inchron and Facton, which were both selected from some 300 applications. Venture capital is often the only way some companies can get off the ground, as banks shy away from lending to such high-risk technology businesses.
"It is not the first time we have worked with venture capital," said Peter Heuell, head of Inchron. "But now we needed a partner with whom we could market our products worldwide."
Before founding the company, Heuell and Inchron's head of technology Ralf Münzenberger took part in a research project at the University of Nürnberg-Erlangen that established the importance of the electronic quality control products their company would later manufacture.
"They can be in a mobile telephone, a washing machine or a car, these small electronic helpers with processors in them all have one thing in common: they have to function fast enough," Münzenberger said. "We offer our customers software so they can test and increase the stability of their systems."
High-tech park stimulates new businesses
The companies Plattner supports are also given the opportunity to become members in the Potsdam High-Tech Park, which Plattner said is intended to help business owners support each other.
"It is about creating an environment where they can be intellectually stimulated and be in touch with other companies and receive help with certain questions from our service company," the 62-year-old Plattner said.
Both the high-tech park and the venture capital fund are intended to help companies grow and move away from a subsidy-based mindset, said Plattner, who, unlike many funding providers, often gets personally involved in mentoring the companies he helps finance to help them expand and at the same time increase the return on his investment.
"We have always had a culture of subsidies in Germany, and that's the worst thing that could happen," he added. "Half of the motivation is gone when someone is subsidized. Giving money through venture capital is not subsidizing, but makes it possible for a company to grow."