Hightech made in Germany
2025 – a successful year for Max Planck spin-offs
The startup planqc, which is working to develop a powerful and dependable quantum computer, was honoured with the German Founders’ Prize, while Proxima Fusion has already lined up €200 million for the development of a fusion power plant. Altogether, 14 new Max Planck startups got off the ground in 2025 –nearly twice as many as in the year before. The Max Planck Society portrays seven of them; including the MPI-NAT spin-off OvoLabs.
This news at the start of the year provides a welcome boost of optimism, especially as Germany’s broader startup ecosystem looks back on an exceptionally successful year, with more than 3,500 new startups, a new national record. The hope is that this momentum will help reinvigorate Germany’s economic growth. Startups are more than just new companies; they are decisive economic drivers, creating new products, markets, and jobs. They act as "trend scouts" and provide vital impulses for established companies, which find themselves constantly challenged by the arrival of these agile competitors. This dynamic is particularly evident in science-based startups. A look at the latest Max Planck spin-offs reveals a striking breadth of applications: using AI to transform large-scale data for drug discovery, bringing innovative laser technologies to market, increasing success rates in IVF treatments, and automating the harvesting of agricultural products.
On January 15, 2026, at the DLD Conference in Munich, Max Planck President Patrick Cramer and ifo President Clemens Fuest addressed the path forward. Both agreed that while Europe, and specifically Germany, holds a strong position in basic research, the commercialisation pipeline remains a challenge. "We develop ideas with a global impact. Yet all too often, it is others who further develop and finance these ideas, ultimately reaping the full economic rewards," Cramer observed. He characterised the current situation not as a story of decline, but rather as one of ‘unfinished work.’ "The ideas are there. The start-ups are there. What is missing is the determination and the capital to go the distance," said Cramer. Both Presidents called for intensified support for scientific excellence and the political resolve to finally complete the European Capital Markets Union.
Christoph Hüls, Managing Director at Max Planck Innovation, is calling for an even broader entrepreneurial landscape in Europe. "On a macroeconomic level, our society needs a much broader startup ecosystem to create more value from excellent science," Hüls argued.
He emphasised the urgency of the situation: "For transfer and scaling on a large scale, a European capital market is required that can keep up with the global heavyweights. While nearly 90 per cent of capital in early financing phases comes from Europe, in later rounds almost half of the funds come from outside, primarily from the United States. Since 2019, US companies and funds have acquired nearly 24 billion US dollars in value from European spin-offs. Only with better framework conditions can value creation and growth be retained in Europe." According to Hüls, this is where policymakers are called upon. In return, research institutions like the MPG are doing their part by investing heavily in programmes that qualify researchers for entrepreneurial roles at an early stage.
From the lab to success –supported by Max Planck Innovation
Max Planck Innovation GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Max Planck Society, is responsible for technology transfer. The team accompanies researchers in all matters relating to starting a company – from advising on patent and licensing law to providing start-up financing in the form of pre-seed funding, made possible in part by the support of the Max Planck Foundation. They are also breaking new ground in the validation of ideas intended to find a direct path to the market. "The validation of early scientific results according to industry standards is an important step towards bankable and sustainable company foundations," explains Co-Managing Director Bram Wijlands.
The European Spinout Report 2025 confirms this approach, showing that the Max Planck Society is a successful player in the major leagues of tech transfer from basic research. In terms of the number of "unicorns" and the capital value of its spin-offs, Max Planck even leads the field with four unicorns and a total valuation of over 67 billion US dollars. Christoph Hüls, who is also responsible for licenses and patents, has reason to be satisfied as well: a recent study by the European Patent Office confirms that the Max Planck Society is among the ten research institutions in Europe involved in the most patent applications.
A selection of Max Planck spin-offs
Aplusia – AI for life sciences and drug discovery
The startup Aplusia, a spin-off of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, supports biotech and pharmaceutical companies in setting up data infrastructures, developing evaluation algorithms, and training AI models. Large-scale data is transforming drug discovery: single-cell datasets in the hundreds of millions, advances in structure prediction and co-folding, and engineered proteins are shaping development all the way to the clinic. A key driver is mass spectrometry-based proteomics, which quantifies thousands of proteins with high sensitivity and high throughput. The founding team of Georg Wallmann and Christoph Wichmann combines expertise in machine learning and proteomics to make this data usable for structural models, drug screening, engineered proteins, PROTACs, and molecular glues.
For more information, visit: Aplusia
MechSyn – new materials with superior properties
The spin-off MechSyn, a startup of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, specializes in the development of high-performance materials through mechanochemistry. Mechanochemistry offers an alternative to the synthesis of solid-state materials. In this process, chemical reactions are driven exclusively by mechanical forces in a single-step process. This eliminates the need for high temperatures, high pressures, and solvents that are normally required in conventional material synthesis. The use of high-tech and advanced materials and the complete electrification of production and recycling processes are thus becoming a reality. The team focuses on the production of high-performance materials for catalysts, catalyst supports, and conductive materials for various critical applications. In addition, the team is working to establish mechanochemistry as a platform technology for modern material synthesis and to develop the necessary machinery and production platforms to industrialize these processes.
For more information, please visit: MechSyn
Oraclase – Autonomous laser material processing
Oraclase is a technology startup that emerged from the Max Planck Institute for Informatics. The company has set itself the goal of reshaping the landscape of laser technology with its world's first integrated AI solution. The company wants to use its unique AI capabilities to revolutionize laser-based material processing applications. As a first step, Oraclase has developed an innovative laser process that can be used to create detailed color images on metal surfaces by selectively heating the material – without the need for printers or pigments. Oraclase uses patented laser software for this sustainable production process, known as “color laser marking.” The algorithm uses AI to automatically determine the optimal process parameters. This increases production speed and quality, making this process suitable for large-scale industrial applications.
For more information, visit: Oraclase
Ovo Labs – Hope for childless couples
The founders of Ovo Labs, Agata Zielinska, Melina Schuh, and Oleksandr Yagensky, want to revolutionize reproductive medicine with their startup. From the age of 35, women's fertility declines while the risk of miscarriage increases – mainly due to eggs with altered chromosome numbers, which increase with age. This significantly reduces the chances of pregnancy. Ovo Labs is working on novel therapeutics designed to improve the quality of human eggs. These active ingredients aim to enable women to remain fertile for longer and increase the success rates of pregnancies and artificial insemination. The team's goal is to integrate the new therapies into existing artificial insemination treatment procedures after approval – without additional effort or stress for patients.
For more information, visit: Ovo Labs
Polybot – Revolutionizing agriculture with AI
Polybot is a four-legged robot that will one day be able to cultivate regenerative agroecosystems, such as permaculture. It detects weeds using state-of-the-art computer vision technology, weeds them, waters plants with the optimal amount of water, harvests tomatoes or cucumbers, and gently cuts back the plants at the end of the season. The robot, which resembles a dog, could one day be able to dramatically increase the cost-efficiency of sustainable farming methods and significantly boost their performance. It could also enable cultivation of terrain that is difficult to access.
For more information, visit: Polybot
QuantiLight – Drug monitoring from your living room
Blood tests play an important role for many people, especially those with chronic illnesses who have to take medication every day. Regular testing of drug levels is necessary in these cases. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) ensures that every patient receives the right dose at the right time. However, the current process is slow and centralized. Patients must go to the hospital to have their blood drawn, where it is analyzed in the laboratory. The results are often not available for days, which delays treatment decisions. QuantiLight wants to change that. The team has developed an in vitro diagnostic platform that brings TDM directly to the home. The test is based on bioluminescence sensor technology from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research and delivers actionable results within 15 minutes. This allows healthcare professionals to adjust medication doses quickly and accurately. The impact is clear: faster insights, lower costs, and the potential to reduce complications.
For more information, visit: QuantiLight
Soxogen Bio – Donor organs from stem cells
Soxogen Bio is a spin-off of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine. The company is based on a novel, genetically engineered “super reprogramming factor” that enables the production of stem cells with increased developmental potential. Soxogen Bio is developing an mRNA-based technology for the targeted “reset” of stem cells. The aim is to tap into cell types that have been difficult to access until now, significantly increase the differentiation yield, and improve the engraftment of cell therapies. Building on its mRNA platform, Soxogen is also pursuing innovative approaches to the direct rejuvenation of aged human tissue.
From the laboratory to success
The fourteen founding teams were and continue to be supported by the team at Max Planck Innovation GmbH. This wholly owned subsidiary is responsible for technology transfer within the Max Planck Society. Its colleagues assist researchers in all aspects of starting a business. This ranges from advising on patent and licensing law issues to start-up financing in the form of pre-seed financing, which is also made possible thanks to the support of the Max Planck Foundation.
The two managing directors, Christoph Hüls and Bram Wijlands, look back on 2025 with satisfaction: “The trend continues to point upward. With our fourteen spin-offs, we have achieved significantly more than in 2024. In the future, we want to focus even more strongly on validation and scouting. Validating early scientific results according to industry standards is an important step toward financing viable and sustainable start-ups,” says Wijlands. The new “European Spinout Report 2025” proves them right. It shows that the Max Planck Society is successfully playing in the upper echelons of tech transfer from basic research. In terms of the number of unicorns and the capital value of spin-offs, Max Planck even leads the field with four unicorns and a total valuation of over 67 billion US dollars. Christoph Hüls, who is responsible for licenses and patents as co-managing director, also has reason to be satisfied. A recent study by the European Patent Office confirms that the Max Planck Society is one of the ten research institutions in Europe that are involved in the most patent applications.
“Nevertheless, we need more start-ups in Europe,” says Hüls. “Our society needs a much broader start-up landscape at the macroeconomic level in order to create more value from excellent science.” Large-scale transfer and scaling requires a European capital market that can compete with the global leaders. While almost 90 percent of capital in the early financing phases comes from Europe, in later rounds almost half of the funds come from outside Europe, primarily from the US. Since 2019, US companies and funds have acquired nearly $24 billion in value from European spin-offs. Only with better framework conditions can value creation and growth be maintained in Europe. This is where politics comes in. In return, research institutions such as the Max Planck Society are investing more in programs that qualify researchers for entrepreneurial roles at an early stage. It is also breaking new ground in the validation of ideas that are intended to find their way directly onto the market.