Evonik Venture Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Evonik Venture Capital (EVC) is the corporate venture unit of Evonik Industries, the German specialty chemicals group. It plays a strategic role in Evonik's goal of becoming a best-in-class specialty chemicals company. It invests in start-ups in markets with above-average growth, with a focus on technologies that sit close to Evonik's value chains: advanced materials, healthcare technologies, sustainable technologies and digital transformation. Managing Director Bernhard Mohr set the unit up in 2012. According to a July 2026 Global Venturing profile, it moved from scouting distant technologies to nearer-term business impact and now aims to act as a value chain integrator for its parent and for founders.
Stage Focus
EVC invests from early stage to growth stage. Its own materials describe typical investments in Series A and Series B rounds. Third-party profiles also describe it as primarily a Series A investor, with some later-stage rounds. It does not typically write pre-seed checks.
Check Size
The firm's how-we-invest summary says total investment is up to EUR 15 million over the lifecycle of an investment. Third-party data sources report rounds it joins of roughly $3M to $15M at Series A and larger at Series B. These figures are unverified and the range is wide, so treat the maximum as a ceiling for the whole position, not for a single check.
Lead Tendency
EVC both leads and follows. It co-led the Series A of In Ovo with Singapore-based VisVires New Protein, and it also takes minority positions alongside financial investors. Lead tendency is recorded as both.
Fund Size and Recent Activity
The vehicle is described as a EUR 400 million program. Evonik launched its second venture fund of EUR 150 million in 2019, which brought the amount under management to EUR 250 million at the time. EVC has made about 55 investments since 2012, both direct and through funds. Vivasure, a portfolio company that developed a bioabsorbable closure device for the femoral artery, was acquired by Haemonetics in January 2026. Earlier exits include Synoste (acquired by Globus Medical in 2020), Structured Polymers (acquired by Evonik in 2019), Algal Scientific, Biosynthetic Technologies, and others.
Portfolio Highlights
Active direct investments listed on the firm's portfolio page include:
- Abolis (industrial microbial solutions)
- Allay Therapeutics (post-surgical pain management)
- Biograil (oral delivery of injectable drugs)
- Castor (3D printing decision software)
- Circumfix Solutions (sternal closure device)
- Citrine Informatics (AI for materials and chemicals)
- HPNow (on-site hydrogen peroxide generation)
- Interface Polymers (polymer compatibility)
- JLand Biotech (recombinant collagen)
- Laxxon Medical (screen-printed drug delivery)
- Modern Meadow (biofabricated materials)
- Numaferm (peptide production)
- Revivo BioSystems (4D skin model)
- Smart AHC (AI and IoT for farms)
- Strohm (offshore pipelines)
- Super C (graphene for batteries)
- Union Tech (3D printing in Asia)
- Velox (digital decoration for containers)
The page also lists exits (Algal Scientific, Biosynthetic Technologies, CodeCheck, FRX Polymers, InOvo, JenaCell, Nanocomp, Nanotech Industrial Solutions, Structured Polymers, Synoste, Vivasure) and a set of fund investments, which are limited partner stakes in other venture funds (Azolla Ventures, Capnamic, Emerald Technology Ventures, Global Brain, GRC Sinogreen Fund, Gruenderfonds Ruhr, High-Tech Gruenderfonds, Hosen Capital, Pangaea Ventures, Richland Capital, Tech Council Ventures II, Union Labs, Yttrium). Those funds are not counted as portfolio companies here.
Team
- Bernhard Mohr, Managing Director. Chemist by training, previously at BASF's venture arm, joined Evonik in 2012.
- Jens Busse, Investment Director North Europe.
- Lars Boehnisch, Investment Manager Europe.
- Lutz Stoeber, Head of Venture Capital and Investments North America.
- Other team members appear on the team page (Mark Redshaw and others), but titles were not readable from the sources used.
Decision Process
Decisions sit with an autonomous investment committee, which replaced board-level approval earlier in the unit's life. EVC is a separate legal entity from Evonik Industries, which Mohr pushed for in the early years.
Founder Preferences
Technology founders whose products can plug into Evonik's businesses or markets, such as materials, biotech, healthcare technology and sustainability. Strategic fit with Evonik's business lines matters, and the firm positions itself as a long-term partner that can open industrial customer access.
Geographic Focus
Europe and North America are the core, with an unusually active stance in China, including investments in Chinese funds such as GRC Sinogreen and Richland Capital. It also has Asian exposure through Union Tech.
Gaps
The firm's own team, focus and how-we-invest pages could not be read directly. Team titles, check size and lead tendency come from search snippets and third-party profiles and should be verified. No portfolio company domains were taken from the page, so all are left null.