Covestro is a startup investor: With its Covestro Venture Capital (COVeC) approach, the company seeks to combine the needs of startups in areas such as financing, expertise and network with its own strategic goals with the goal of ensuring long-term sustainable development.

“We are committed to sustainability-driven innovations. By working with young companies and their novel solutions, such as technologies, we are able to take the decisive step forward. This enables us to open up new business areas and provide innovative solutions that give our customers a competitive edge,” explains Sucheta Govil, CCO of Covestro.

The most recent example is the investment in the French technical startup company Crime Science Technology (CST). With this investment, Covestro strengthens its business with special films for ID documents and secures exclusive access to the Optical Variable Material (OVM) technology for polycarbonate and polyurethane materials. This innovative technology developed by CST enables new security features and makes identification documents even more forgery-proof than before.

Covestro's research and development processes are always based on UN sustainability goals, which is why these goals also play an essential role in the selection of planned startup investments. Consequently, five focus areas have been defined for COVeC to invest in bio-based raw materials and biotechnology, additive manufacturing such as 3D printing, circular economy, digital technologies, and new markets and technologies for existing core businesses.

“Our clear focus is set on scaling up businesses that are still young, but not entirely new. However, we are not ruling out any cooperation with startups at an earlier stage; for this we use our proven Open Innovation approach,” explains Dietrich Firnhaber, Head of Strategy and Portfolio Development at Covestro. Covestro intends to invest up to five million euros in initial financing rounds per project and, in individual cases, will participate in subsequent follow-up financing.

Covestro made its first venture capital investment last year and took a stake in the German start-up Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies GmbH as part of a Series B financing round. Together with the young venture, Covestro plans to actively promote the development of an international infrastructure for hydrogen as an alternative source of energy.