Deep Tech Funding – Wrap Up 2023
In 2023, an amount of 25 Mio € was invested in 82 deep tech companies and projects in Austria.
For Deep Technologies, 27 preseed projects and companies were funded with 4,7 Mio € and in seedfinancing 27 deep tech companies were funded with 19,2 Mio €.
During the last preseed and seed deep tech jury 11 seed projects were granted with a funding amount of 5,8 Mio € and 7 preseed projects with a volume of 1,2 Mio €. Amongst them, were 8 life science projects and 10 IT projects.
Regarding Innovative Solutions, 15 preseed projects got funded with a budget of 1,3 Mio € and 13 seed projects got financial support of 4,6 Mio €.
In the last jury for innovative solutions in preseed and seed stage, the amount of 1,2 Mio €
was split between 7 projects. 5 projects addressed environmental topics and 2 projects referred to the health sector.
An example for a physical science preseed project that was funded in the past (2022):
silana – automated fashion production is developing a fully digitised production process for the garment industry which will completely redefine the value chain from cutting to the finished garment.
Over the past decade, the fashion industry has undergone massive change. Ever shorter fashion cycles and fast fashion have accelerated fashion trends. But there is one thing that has not changed: excessively long ordering times. The industry’s lead time is nine to twelve months on average, which means that trend forecasting has become a key issue for textile companies in recent years. Many have failed to cope with the pressure, with the result that half of the German fashion retailers have gone out of business since 2002. Those who missed the trend see their goods left on the shelves.
This is where silana comes in. In-house research, and the support of technology experts with decades of experience, has led to the development of a fully automated cutting and sewing robot. Previously required expensive manual labour is reduced to mere checking and monitoring. Fashion production is returned to the point of sale, thanks to the silana technology, which is bringing the value of production back to the European markets. It is no longer necessary to ship goods more than 20,000 kilometres, which often takes months. Ordering trendy fashion becomes more flexible and faster. Trend and quantity forecasts are cut down to a minimum, greatly reducing the attendant risk. Retailers benefit from more flexible planning, improved liquidity and more sustainable production.
Comeback of the European garment industry Founders Michael Mayr, Anton Wohlgemuth and Michael Hofmannrichter have Austria’s largest fashion store, Fussl Modestraße, as their pilot customer, development partner and feedback source. With its highly automated production process, the technology generated by the Viennese startup has the potential to bring the garment industry back to Europe – and to restore Austria to its former strength as a major textile producer.
Ready for serial production in 2025
The founding team has been perfecting its business idea for more than five years. Through its funding for deep-tech companies, aws Preseed provides not only financial support but also key knowhow for prototype and enterprise development. The technology will be ready for serial production by the end of 2025. In addition to simple undershirts (current status), it should then be possible to produce T-shirts, knitwear, jeans and other garments, regionally and on automated production lines. At this point in time it is not possible to predict the impact this will have on the European garment industry and on Austria as a business location.