Founder Falk Strascheg

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(c) Stefan Hobmaier

Prof. Dr. h.c. Falk F. Strascheg is one of the most experienced and successful venture capitalists in Germany and Europe and founding partner of the venture capital company "EXTOREL Private Equity Advisers".

In 1971, Falk F. Strascheg launched Laser-Optronic in Munich and, after developing the company into the leading European manufacturer of lasers and laser systems within ten years, he successfully sold his company to the world market leader Coherent Inc. of Palo Alto, California.

He then founded TECHNOLOGIEHOLDING in 1987 and within a few years made it the leading venture capital company in Germany and the German-speaking countries.

Numerous innovative high-tech companies were financed by TECHNOLOGIEHOLDING as lead investor. At the end of December 2000, he sold the holding company to 3i Group plc. By then, of the 156 early-stage investments made, 13 young companies had been listed on international growth exchanges and 31 companies had been sold.

Falk Strascheg is a versatile serial entrepreneur, successful venture capitalist, charitable benefactor and patron.

Falk F. Strascheg holds numerous supervisory and advisory board mandates in various international technology companies. In 1998, he was President of the European Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (EVCA), the European industry umbrella organization.

Through his foundations, he has established various institutes for the promotion of entrepreneurship at HM - Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences, at EBS European Business School and at Polytechnic University in St. Petersburg since May 2002.

Extorel is the family office of the Strascheg family.

Strascheg Award

 

The Strascheg Award is the ideas competition of the Munich University of Applied Sciences and is endowed and financed by the Renate & Falk Strascheg Foundation. The award is endowed with an annual prize money of 30,000€. The award was first announced in 2014 and has been presented annually in the fall since then. The best business ideas from a course, during the study period, and from science and practice are awarded in three categories. In each of the three categories, the first- to third-place ideas receive €5,000; €3,000; and €2,000 respectively.

Ideas, projects and scientific work that are driven by entrepreneurial motivation are eligible to apply. The decisive criteria for awarding the prize are the problem presentation, the solution approach, the degree of innovation, the market potential and the implementation planning of the idea. The submitted ideas are reviewed in a multi-stage process by entrepreneurship experts from SCE and HM and evaluated by an external expert jury and Prof. Dr. h. c. Falk F. Strascheg personally.

Strascheg Award

Foundations

In addition to his supervisory and advisory board mandates, Falk Strascheg has been active for over 2 decades with his"Falk F. Strascheg Foundation". Together with his wife, he is also active in the"Renate and Falk Strascheg Foundation", which finances a wide range of scientific and cultural projects and is active in the fields of youth and elderly welfare as well as the preservation of historical monuments.

A major concern and primary foundation goal of Falk F. Strascheg is to establish the field of "entrepreneurship" in German universities. Thus, he founded the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) at Munich University of Applied Sciences as early as 2002. In 2007, he established the "Strascheg Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship" (SITE) at EBS University, which changed its name to the "Strascheg Center for Impact in Innovation and Entrepreneurship" (SCIIE) in 2021. For more information, visit the SCIIE website. Another focus and foundation objective of the Renate and Falk Strascheg Foundation is, on the one hand, the promotion of youth and elderly aid, health care and charitable purposes, and in doing so aims to promote youth and support elderly fellow human beings. The aim is to bring people together - regardless of nationality, social standing or ethnic affiliation.

The third goal of the foundation is the support of cultural purposes, the promotion of art and cultural values as well as the preservation of historical monuments. Renate Strascheg wants to ensure that historical substances are preserved, cultural monuments are restored and made accessible to the public. In addition, art objects are acquired and exhibited for museums.

Renate and Falk Strascheg Foundation

SCE Freiraum Ventures

As one of the most experienced and successful venture capitalists in Germany and Europe, Prof. Dr. Falk F. Strascheg is also behind the SCE Freiraum Ventures Fund. SCE Freiraum Ventures invests in early-stage teams that have successfully taken their first steps and convince with a solid idea, a strong team and their high commitment.

The (early-stage) fund has the highest expertise in advancing and accelerating early-stage startups of all sectors that have a scalable business model. In addition to funding, the teams benefit from the knowledge, coaching, network and SCE infrastructure.

SCE Freiraum Ventures

Extorel

Extorel is the family office of the Strascheg family and a leading German venture capital company. With the aim of diversification, Extorel's managed portfolio is broadly diversified and encompasses almost all asset classes, with the provision of equity capital, particularly in the form of venture and growth capital, forming the investment focus. In addition to managing numerous corporate investments, Extorel manages liquid value investments and maintains the above-mentioned foundations and promotes their activities. The foundations serve the targeted promotion of the start-up culture in Germany and pursue social and cultural purposes.

Extorel