Matthias Keckl

Matthias Keckl worked at the tech transfer office of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft as an investment/start-up manager from 2004 to 2012. During this time, he supported numerous spin-offs in setting up their companies and in the implementation of financing rounds and was also involved as a juror in business plan competitions and start-up networks. In 2013 he took over responsibility for the Fraunhofer Venture Lab, which was developed as part of the BMBF-funded project 'Fraunhofer promotes Intrapreneurship - FFI': The goal was to identify entrepreneurial teams from the Fraunhofer institutes in very early phases and to develop first business models. A core element of the Venture Lab was the Fraunhofer accelerator program 'FDays®', which was developed together with renowned national and international start-up centers. In December 2018 Matthias took over the management of Fraunhofer Technologie-Transfer Fonds GmbH (FTTF), which is an independent VC unit with a volume of € 60 million and exclusively finances Fraunhofer spin-offs. The FTTF is funded by the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. In addition, he was involved as an expert on various innovation initiatives, such as the innovation fund of the Helmholtz centers. Since 2016 Matthias has been a guest lecturer for entrepreneurship in the Executive MBA at the University of St. Gallen. After completing his banker apprenticeship, Matthias studied economics and set up a business idea in the field of sensor technology. He successfully completed an MBA at the University of St. Gallen and RWTH Aachen University in 2010/12.