Koehler Group expands start-up funding and enters into strategic partnership with Unternehmertum
Koehler Group has entered into a partnership for funding innovations from the paper and renewable energy segments with non-profit UnternehmerTUM GmbH in Munich, which is responsible for 50 high-growth tech start-ups each year. As a family business, Koehler will form part of the FamilienunternehmerTUM initiative.
The Koehler Group has been working closely with start-ups for many years now. These activities were recently brought together under Koehler Invest GmbH. Philipp Prechtl took over as CEO on November 1, and is now managing director for developing venture and start-up partnerships for Koehler. In line with this, the company has begun a strategic partnership with UnternehmerTUM, Europe's leading center for business creation and innovation, founded by Susanne Klatten in 2002. The center focuses on joint projects and developments with start-ups in the sense of collaborations. Koehler intends to fund innovations in its core business segments of paper and renewable energy as part of this. Kai Furler, CEO of the Koehler Group, on the new partnership: “With this partnership with UnternehmerTUM, we are investing in the Koehler Group’s innovative capacity.” The family business can look back on a 200-year history, in which the continual development of innovations always secured the success of future generations. “Providing support for start-ups also contributes to the ongoing development of entrepreneurship in Germany,” adds Furler.
As well as collaboration with start-ups, attractive investments in future technologies, both direct and indirect, are examined and sought after – chiefly in the fields of sustainability and the circular economy, which are particularly relevant to Koehler.