Since 1998, the Center for Digital Technology & Management (CDTM) trains the founders of tomorrow. The founders of well-known unicorns such as Personio, Trade Republic, and Egym hail from the ranks of the more than 1,100 CDTM alumni. Now, 316 of them have joined forces with the CDTM Venture Fund to provide €8.2 million for new ventures. The capital will flow into around 60 early-stage startups over the next four years. To receive funding, at least one member of the founding team must have studied at the CDTM.
The operational management of the Funds Franz Waltenberger, a long-standing member of the CDTM management team, will take over. The Investment Committee consists of the following alumni:
- Sophie Ahrens-Gruber, Principal at Acton Capital, formerly Head of Corporate Development at Burda
- Christian Deger, Founder and CEO of Payworks (Exit to Visa)
- Leon Szeli, Founder and CEO at Presize (Exit to Meta)
The fund can provide initial capital quickly, flexibly, and unbureaucratically – under founder-friendly conditions. It serves as initial financing or as a co-investment together with established venture capital funds and business angels.
Fund manager Waltenberger explained:
"The CDTM selects 25 students every six months from up to 450 applications and has proven over 25 years that it is capable of identifying and training the outstanding entrepreneurs of tomorrow. We build on this foundation and provide these founders with early capital as well as the combined power of the CDTM network."
The fund's 316 alumni include unicorn founders, over 100 other founders, and executives from various corporates. They support the portfolio companies through mentoring and leverage their networks to help with recruiting, sales, and fundraising.
Andreas Franz, Board of the CDTM Support Association, commented:
"As a support association, it's important to us to support the CDTM not only financially. Through the special structure of our fund, in the form of an investment club, we enable every member to invest even with small tickets – this includes both alumni of previous years and current students. After years of planning and thanks to the work of many long-standing stakeholders, we are now a pioneer in the German university landscape."
