Why Germany needs a new Growth Capital architecture
DeepTech is advancing globally at a remarkable speed. Innovations in fusion, robotics, quantum technologies, and aerospace are shaping new industries. Leading consulting firms such as McKinsey, BCG, and EY consistently point to DeepTech as one of the most decisive drivers of future economic competitiveness. Yet one message is equally clear: Europe’s ability to scale these technologies remains far behind its capacity to invent them.
This challenge is the core motivation behind the new Growth Capital Study (“Wachstumskapital für DeepTech Scaleups”) published by UnternehmerTUM and the Joachim Herz Stiftung. It provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of why DeepTech companies in Germany struggle to reach industrial scale – and what structural changes are required to close this gap.
As Prof. Dr. Ing. Dr. Sabine Kunst, Chairwoman of the Joachim Herz Stiftung, emphasizes:
“We have excellent DeepTech startups in Germany with highly promising solutions. What these companies lack is growth capital to turn their ideas into large-scale reality. Policymakers must now create the right framework conditions and incentives for more growth capital, businesses must invest with a future-oriented mindset, and institutional investors must allocate more capital. We know where to start – now we need the courage to jointly implement the necessary measures.”
What does the study show?
The study examines Germany’s DeepTech financing landscape across four major perspectives, and reveals a clear structural pattern: Germany is strong in research, strong in founding but weak in scaling.
Here, the study shows that many DeepTech innovations fail to reach the market because the leap from laboratory breakthroughs to industrial scale remains underfunded. While early-stage financing is well established, the real bottleneck lies in growth capital: the Series B+ segment continues to lack sufficient depth, particularly for hardware-intensive DeepTech ventures that require significant upfront investment. The case studies of Isar Aerospace, Sunfire and Proxima Fusion illustrate this clearly – despite being among Germany’s most promising scaleups, they rely heavily on international investors, as public support alone cannot replace a robust private growth capital ecosystem. To address these challenges, the study outlines a set of concrete recommendations, including larger European growth funds with lead capacity, greater involvement of institutional investors, hybrid financing models for first-of-a-kind projects, a stronger role for the public sector as anchor customer, and improved exit and liquidity pathways.
A analytical contribution of UVC Partners
Within this framework, UVC Partners provides an analytical contribution that quantifies how Germany’s venture capital needs could evolve toward 2030. Instead of repeating the detailed data, it is important to highlight what this contribution demonstrates: it offers a structured, model-based projection showing how increasing early-stage activity in Germany will inevitably lead to much higher growth capital requirements in the coming years. This provides the quantitative foundation on which the study’s broader conclusions and recommendations are built.
Johannes von Borries, Managing Partner at UVC Partners, points to the urgency behind these developments:
“The early-stage startups we see today will require around eight billion euros of growth financing per year. If this gap is not closed, a large share of past investments – and the innovations themselves – will be lost. These companies will struggle to reach market maturity.”
Why the Growht Capital Study matters now
The message of the Wachstumskapitalstudie is clear:
Germany and Europe do not lack technologies, founders, or research excellence. They lack scaling structures.
DeepTech companies require significant capital, long timelines and strong industrial partnerships. Without growth capital, breakthrough technologies risk either stagnation or moving abroad. The study provides a blueprint for how Germany can build a competitive growth financing environment – from the expansion of institutional investment to new financing architectures tailored to DeepTech.
Download the full study here:
The complete study “Wachstumskapital für Deep-Tech Scaleups: Wege zur Finanzierung von Innovationen in Deutschland und Europa” is available here:
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