Vienna Insurance Group invests a single-digit million euro amount in tech start-ups

11 February 2021 —
Vienna Insurance Group (Wiener Versicherung Gruppe) has acquired an indirect stake in venture capital fund IST cube (EuVECA) GmbH & Co KG (IST CUBE) for start-ups which develop scientific, engineering and technological innovations on the basis of academic research.

IST CUBE is headquartered in Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria and funds projects initiated by start-ups in the fields of science and technology, with a focus on Austria.

Together with European Investment Fund (EIF) as the anchor investor, and Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws), the Austrian federal government's business development bank, VIG is the new investor in the Austrian venture capital fund. IST CUBE collaborates with the internationally respected Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), making use of its facilities and capitalising on its links to universities such as TU Wien, TU Graz, MedUni Vienna, Johannes Kepler University in Linz, as well as the Vienna BioCenter.

The lifespan of the venture capital fund is ten years. To date, it has invested in six projects in the fields of medicine, IT and biochemistry. IST CUBE aims to support around 40 projects during its life cycle, with each receiving EUR 1-2 million. Vienna Insurance Group's investment of a single-digit million euro amount is made through the VIG investment company VIVECA Beteiligungen GmbH

Elisabeth Stadler, General Manager of VIG commented: "In addition to the commercial success aimed for by moving into venture capital funding at an early stage, in the future the VIG Group will benefit through an information advantage in new innovations in areas relevant to insurance. This enables us to make direct co-investments and form strategic partnerships. In conjunction with IST Austria - one of the world's top scientific institutes for cutting-edge research in physics, mathematics, computer science and life sciences - we also see this investment as a competitive advantage and as a lasting contribution to raising Austria's profile as an attractive location for the rapidly expanding deep tech scene."

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