In order to separate these commercial spin-off activities from publicly funded research and education, the institutes have set up their own subsidiary holding companies. These holding companies participate in spin-offs. In most cases, the holding will receive an equity position in a spin-off in return for access to intellectual property that is owned by the institute. Typically, the institute will make the researchers available to the spin-off for several hours a week, forming a scientific founding team.

AAV offers varying levels of support to different spin-offs, ranging from a venture building model to a more passive shareholder role depending on the company’s needs and the size of our equity position. Generally, we will help incorporate the company and our investment managers advise the founding team on topics such as business strategy, governance and fundraising.

AAV can make pre-seed and seed investments in the most promising spin-offs. Ticket size of these investments may vary between €50k and €500k but investment mandates vary between holdings, so make sure to read more details on our different funds or reach out to our investment managers for more information.