Alex von Frankenberg

Co-Founder & Managing Director at High-Tech Gründerfonds · Joined 2005

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Biography

Alex von Frankenberg has led High-Tech Gründerfonds as Managing Director since co-founding it in 2005, running what remains one of the most structurally distinctive venture funds in Europe - a public-private partnership where his investment committee includes not just venture professionals but representatives from the German government, KfW Capital, and corporate limited partners like BASF and Bosch. That hybrid governance model gives HTGF a genuine developmental mandate alongside its commercial one: closing the equity gap for early-stage German technology companies that might otherwise struggle to find seed capital. Under his two-decade leadership, the fund has financed more than 800 startups, achieved nearly 200 exits, and backed CureVac through its 2020 Nasdaq IPO, one of the clearest proof points that patient, mission-driven seed capital can still produce genuinely global outcomes.

Notable Investments

CureVac CVAC

Career Timeline

2005
Co-founds High-Tech Gründerfonds in Bonn, becoming Managing Director.
2020
Portfolio company CureVac goes public on the Nasdaq during his tenure.
2026
Continues leading HTGF more than two decades after its founding, with fund volume surpassing €3 billion.

Sources & References

Altss - HTGF Profile ↗High-Tech Gründerfonds ↗