STEP USA

Success Stories

STEP Alumnus INERATEC join forces with Sasol by combining INERATEC’s innovative reactor technology with SASOL’s highly efficient Fischer-Tropsch catalyst

With the innovative chemical reactor technology of INERATEC and the highly efficient Fischer-Tropsch catalysts from Sasol, INERATEC has managed to broaden the range of applicable areas for the Fischer-Tropsch process and extents the international Power-to-X and Gas-to-X market, making it more sustainable.

INERATEC’s manufacturing concept combines serial production and a numbering-up approach to deliver cost-efficient technology. Greenhouse gases can be recycled and a fast market ramp-up of renewable chemical products and fuels for a sustainable future is possible.

Tim Boeltken: “We are delighted to announce that we use Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch catalyst, which allows INERATEC to offer customers the latest Fischer-Tropsch solutions.”

INERATEC is an award-winning clean tech company that provides modular chemical plants for Power-to-X and Gas-to-Liquid solutions for the production of sustainable fuels and products. The modular chemical plants are equipped with sub-millimeter structured chemical reactors. Strongly endothermic and exothermic chemical processes are intensified, due to enhanced heat and mass transfer. Thus, highly active catalyst systems can be utilized. The chemical plants are highly load-flexible and especially suitable for converting renewable hydrogen, produced for instance from solar, wind, or hydropower into storable hydrocarbons with high energy density. Read more. 

STEP Alumnus Merula Cup awarded highest score in ÖKO-TEST

The “Merula Cup strawberry (pink)” menstrual cup from the Rhineland-Palatinate start-up Merula GmbH received the highest score of “very good” published in the trade journal “ÖKO-TEST” April issue.

A total of 15 different menstrual cups were tested. The products were tested for their ingredients, resilience and other defects. The “Merula Cup strawberry (pink)” received the highest score of “very good” in all categories and also in overall assessment. Click here to read more (available in German only).

STEP alumna PerAGraft in 12th place on Germany’s 2020 Top 50 Startup!

PerAGraft develops patient-specific implants for the treatment of complex aortic aneurysms.

This novel manufacturing process consists of a continuous digital process chain and an innovative textile manufacturing method. The automated production process enables the delivery of individualized implants in the shortest possible time. The PerAGraft platform technology will be successively extended to further fields of application. For example, the customized implants enable precise therapy that is specifically tailored to the patient.

Click here for the original article in German.

Stuttgart based Porsche Ventures & California based NeueCapital Partners invest in STEP alumnus “Nitrobox”

Hamburg software start-up concludes financing round in the single-digit million range

Hamburg, 4 February, 2020 | The software start-up Nitrobox GmbH has concluded a financing round in the single-digit million euro range: The “NeueCapital Partners” fund from Silicon Valley and Porsche Ventures, the venture capital unit of the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer, took a stake in the Hamburg-based company. Nitrobox has developed a cloud platform which can be used for automatic monetization and billing of digital business models. The company intends to use the funds from the financing round primarily to further expand its market position in Germany and to prepare for its entry to the US market.

Click here to read more.

AI-enabled tech startup “Scoutbee” raises 60 million euros to bring the total investment to 76 million euros

STEP Alumnus Scoutbee collects $60 million!

The company, which was founded in 2015 by Gregor Stühler, Lee Galbraith, Christian Heinrich and Fabian Heinrich, creates transparent supplier networks and facilitates the search for suppliers in strategic purchasing with its AI-based technology. Companies such as Audi, Airbus, Caterpillar and Bosch, as well as over 75 other companies, already use Scoutbee for
their procurement.

Click here to read the original article in German.

STEP Alumni “Just Spices” raises a total of 13 million euros in its Series B funding round

Strikingly colorful tins are the trademark of Just Spices. The start-up sells spices and powder mixtures for ready meals. In order to roll out its business to North America and get on more supermarket shelves, Just Spices has concluded a financing round for 13 million euros.

The French food VC Five Season Ventures, Bitburger Ventures and the New York early-stage investor Coefficient Capital have financed the Series B. Previous investors included Döhler Ventures and Trivago shareholder Howzat Partners.

Düsseldorf-based Florian Falk, Ole Strohschnieder and Bela Seebach founded the spice start-up in 2014. Just Spices was profitable for the first time in 2017 and currently has more than 70 employees.

Click here to read the original article in German.