• Participation in a US fund (Osage University Partners), which focuses on specialized in university spin-offs
• Investment from Eppendorf provides access to over 100 start-ups Universities in the USA
• Another important step in building an international network

Hamburg – The Eppendorf Innovation Company (EpIC) – a division of Eppendorf SE – is further expanding its international network. Through the targeted investment in Osage University Partners (OUP), EpIC receives investment opportunities in some of the most innovative start-ups in the USA.

The core task of the Eppendorf Innovation Company (EpIC) is to identify new business opportunities for the Eppendorf Group in order to specifically strengthen innovation lead. By investing in OUP, Eppendorf now has a new opportunity to identify disruptive and highly innovative research tools and diagnostics companies for potential investments and collaborations. Based in Philadelphia, USA, OUP works with more than 100 universities to connect with researchers at an early stage of their startup development and ultimately invest in their most compelling startups.

“Asa partner of OUP, we have the opportunity to get to know start-ups in our specific areas of interest at an early stage and possibly invest in them,” explains Dr. Rudolf Walczak, Vice President Eppendorf Innovation Company. “The number of companies supported by OUP grows every year “As more and more startups are created within the partner ecosystem. Through this new relationship with OUP, Eppendorf is well positioned to learn about cutting-edge innovations at the earliest stages and secure its competitive advantage in the long term.”

Innovative venture capital model in the USA

OUP works closely with universities to invest in some of the most promising start-ups in areas such as life science research tools, therapeutics, photonics, computer science and artificial intelligence. Since 2009, OUP has been dedicated to supporting the university entrepreneurship ecosystem by forging exclusive relationships with institutions. This enables OUP to exercise the university’s investment rights in its start-ups, support their growth with capital and share in their success.

“After nearly 15 years of investing and monitoring university spin-offs, we have observed many consistent trends and challenges across our network. We know that the start-ups in our portfolio represent the absolute pinnacle of science and technology,” explains Dr. Manny Stockman, Partner at OUP. “However, since the start-ups are mostly technology companies in their origins, they often take years to develop to reach market maturity and the real problems they face identify the industry. Our fund is pleased to work with Eppendorf so that our university partners and start-ups can benefit from the deep expertise in research tools, laboratory equipment and diagnostics that Eppendorf brings.”

Expansion of the international network

The OUP investment fits seamlessly into Eppendorf’sstrategy of international network expansion. In line with this, investments were already made in the High-Tech Gründerfonds in Germany at the beginning of 2023. “With these two collaborations, we are very closely linked in the German and US start-up scene,” says Walczak.

In this extremely dynamic market you can only operate successfully with functioning networks and an information advantage and we have now created this basis. This is an important step for EpIC and therefore also for the whole of Eppendorf.”

About the Eppendorf Group

Eppendorf is a leading international company in the life sciences industry and develops, produces and sells devices, consumables and services for use in laboratories around the world.

Divided into the business areas of Liquid Handling, Consumables, Separation & Instrumentation and Bioprocess, the product portfolio includes, for example, pipettes, pipette tips, centrifuges, mixers, ultra-low freezers and bioreactors for cell and genetic research. In addition, Eppendorf offers a wide range of high-quality consumables. In the 2022 financial year, the Eppendorf Group generated sales of 1.23 billion euros and invested 76 million euros in research and development (R&D).

Eppendorf’s products are used in academic and industrial research laboratories, for example in companies in the pharmaceutical and biotech as well as chemical and food industries. But Eppendorf products are also used in clinical or environmental analysis laboratories, in forensics and in industrial laboratories for process analysis, production and quality assurance.

Eppendorf was founded in 1945, is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, operates production and R&D sites in Europe, Asia and North America and has subsidiaries in 33 countries. Today the group employs more than 5,000 people worldwide. They all act in accordance with the mission of the company founders: to improve people’s living conditions.