Brilliant technology shouldn't die between the lab and the market.
Universities and research institutes produce extraordinary deep tech — quantum hardware, advanced materials, MEMS sensing, AI for cybersecurity, medical devices, industrial biotech. The science works. The patents are filed. The prototypes run in the lab. And then, in most cases, nothing happens.
mantro builds investable deep tech ventures from world-class research — through our international Technology Transfer network spanning Europe, Asia, and North America.
The Problem
World-class research. Broken commercialization.
Europe alone produces 20% of the world's scientific publications — but only 8% of the world's deep tech unicorns are born here. Over the last five years, US deep tech raised nearly four times the venture funding of European deep tech. The science isn't weaker. The commercialization machinery between the lab and the cap table is missing.
The structural gap nobody fills.
It's not a lack of capital, talent, or technology. It's the absence of the professional venture-building work that turns a promising technology into an investable company. Universities don't have budgets for it. TTOs don't have the operating muscle. VCs don't get involved until a company exists. Breakthrough research quietly sits in the lab until the patent expires. That gap is what we close.
The Problem
World-class research. Broken commercialization.
Europe alone produces 20% of the world's scientific publications — but only 8% of the world's deep tech unicorns are born here. Over the last five years, US deep tech raised nearly four times the venture funding of European deep tech. The science isn't weaker. The commercialization machinery between the lab and the cap table is missing.
The structural gap nobody fills.
It's not a lack of capital, talent, or technology. It's the absence of the professional venture-building work that turns a promising technology into an investable company. Universities don't have budgets for it. TTOs don't have the operating muscle. VCs don't get involved until a company exists. Breakthrough research quietly sits in the lab until the patent expires. That gap is what we close.
What mantro does
We turn research IP into operating companies.
Twenty years of venture building. 35 ventures founded. More than €1B in aggregate enterprise value. We evaluate the technology, shape the venture, build the founding team, structure the company — and through our venture fund Talos Capital we write the first check ourselves when the venture fits our thesis.
The research institution pays nothing.
The work is fully funded by mantro and the locally anchored Regional Innovation Trust — a circle of family offices, regional corporates, alumni networks, and HNWIs. No university budget. No grant application. No bureaucratic loop.
Aligned through equity, not fees.
The institution, the founders, the Trust, and mantro all earn through the success of the venture. Founders keep majority control through Series A by design. Everyone wins when the venture wins.
What mantro does
We turn research IP into operating companies.
Twenty years of venture building. 35 ventures founded. More than €1B in aggregate enterprise value. We evaluate the technology, shape the venture, build the founding team, structure the company — and through our venture fund Talos Capital we write the first check ourselves when the venture fits our thesis.
The research institution pays nothing.
The work is fully funded by mantro and the locally anchored Regional Innovation Trust — a circle of family offices, regional corporates, alumni networks, and HNWIs. No university budget. No grant application. No bureaucratic loop.
Aligned through equity, not fees.
The institution, the founders, the Trust, and mantro all earn through the success of the venture. Founders keep majority control through Series A by design. Everyone wins when the venture wins.
An international Technology Transfer network — and it keeps growing
Locally embedded. Internationally connected.
mantro doesn't work with one university. We've built — and we're actively expanding — a Technology Transfer network across Europe, Asia, and North America. Each partner keeps its own IP, faculty culture, and commercialization priorities. The network around it provides reach a single TTO and a single VC could never replicate: a sensor invention in Singapore meeting a German Mittelstand corporate; an AI-cyber spinout from Chicago finding its first European pilot.
A network that compounds.
Every new partner, every new venture, every new investor in the Trust increases the gravity of the network for everyone already in it. Research institutions get more co-investor pull. Co-investors get more deal flow. Founders get more pilot and customer access. The model is designed to grow.
An international Technology Transfer network — and it keeps growing
Locally embedded. Internationally connected.
mantro doesn't work with one university. We've built — and we're actively expanding — a Technology Transfer network across Europe, Asia, and North America. Each partner keeps its own IP, faculty culture, and commercialization priorities. The network around it provides reach a single TTO and a single VC could never replicate: a sensor invention in Singapore meeting a German Mittelstand corporate; an AI-cyber spinout from Chicago finding its first European pilot.
A network that compounds.
Every new partner, every new venture, every new investor in the Trust increases the gravity of the network for everyone already in it. Research institutions get more co-investor pull. Co-investors get more deal flow. Founders get more pilot and customer access. The model is designed to grow.
Three audiences. Three clear value propositions.
For Research Institutions
- A fully funded commercialization pathway for your IP — at zero cost to the institution
- A structured process delivered by 80+ venture-building operators — from technology evaluation through founding team to company formation
- Minority equity in every venture built from your IP, plus a separate IP licensing agreement
- Impact metrics that matter: jobs created, follow-on capital, alumni founders, regional economic contribution
- A repeatable partnership — not a one-off project
For Co-Investors in the Regional Innovation Trust
- Equity in every venture funded through the Trust — taken at the earliest stage, before the company exists
- Pro-rata investment rights at pre-agreed terms — double down on winners before external VCs see the deal
- Proprietary deep tech deal flow from our international Technology Transfer network
- Market intelligence — every engagement's work product, shared with Trust members
- Independent governance — mantro pre-selects; the Trust's Investment Committee decides
For Founders and Inventors
- Majority founder ownership at incorporation, retained through Series A by design
- A real building team, not a coach — 80+ operators covering legal, commercial, recruiting, and fundraising prep
- First check from Talos Capital when the venture fits the thesis — the fundraise doesn't start cold
- International network: Mittelstand corporates in Germany, OEM partners in Asia, US enterprise pilots
- The right co-founder — operating CEO, commercial leader, or missing technical hire
Three audiences. Three clear value propositions.
For Research Institutions
- A fully funded commercialization pathway for your IP — at zero cost to the institution
- A structured process delivered by 80+ venture-building operators — from technology evaluation through founding team to company formation
- Minority equity in every venture built from your IP, plus a separate IP licensing agreement
- Impact metrics that matter: jobs created, follow-on capital, alumni founders, regional economic contribution
- A repeatable partnership — not a one-off project
For Co-Investors in the Regional Innovation Trust
- Equity in every venture funded through the Trust — taken at the earliest stage, before the company exists
- Pro-rata investment rights at pre-agreed terms — double down on winners before external VCs see the deal
- Proprietary deep tech deal flow from our international Technology Transfer network
- Market intelligence — every engagement's work product, shared with Trust members
- Independent governance — mantro pre-selects; the Trust's Investment Committee decides
For Founders and Inventors
- Majority founder ownership at incorporation, retained through Series A by design
- A real building team, not a coach — 80+ operators covering legal, commercial, recruiting, and fundraising prep
- First check from Talos Capital when the venture fits the thesis — the fundraise doesn't start cold
- International network: Mittelstand corporates in Germany, OEM partners in Asia, US enterprise pilots
- The right co-founder — operating CEO, commercial leader, or missing technical hire
Join the Technology Transfer network
Whether you lead a research institution, evaluate the Regional Innovation Trust as a co-investor, or carry a technology that deserves to become a company — the first conversation is short, honest, and free of decks. Let's talk.
Get in touch
If you want to stress-test an idea, unblock an initiative, or simply see whether we're the right partner, let's talk. You can book a straight-to-the-point session with our CEO Manni, or leave us a message.
30-minute call. No strings attached.
