The Federal Government's Future Fund is launched

Start-ups rarely find venture capital in Germany. The Federal Government's Future Fund aims to counteract this. The first module will be launched in April.

The German government announced the Future Fund back in August 2020. Ten billion euros are to be made available for this purpose by 2030, with private investors contributing a further 20 billion euros. In April, the German government plans to launch the program with the "DeepTech Future Fund" (DTFF), which will be worth one billion euros and only involve partners from the private sector.

Technologies that deep tech start-ups focus on often require long development and research phases before a final product is created. This is where the fund comes in. "We are ensuring that Germany is at the forefront of innovation and investment. That's right, because investing in start-ups strengthens the future viability of our country. I therefore see it as a crucial task to provide powerful support to German start-ups from the foundation to the viable business model," said Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD).

In addition, further modules of the Future Fund are to be driven forward in 2021. These include the expansion of KfW Capital and the European Investment Fund (EIF) in its "Growth Facility". KfW Capital's growth fund, which is to be endowed with one billion euros, is to be launched in the third quarter. The investments there will also be backed by the state. The aim is to encourage more institutional investors to invest in start-ups.

For years, there has been repeated criticism that too little venture capital is allocated in Germany, meaning that start-ups also have to turn to foreign investors. The Future Fund is intended to counteract this.