CFH Management

About CFH Management

CFH Management GmbH is a Saxony-anchored equity investor headquartered at Hainstraße 4 in Leipzig, Germany. The legal entity, formerly part of the LBBW Group, was spun out at year-end 2017 into independent ownership. The original investment franchise dates back to 1995. Since the 2017 spin-out, CFH shareholders are MBG Sachsen (Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Sachsen), SIB Dresden, SC-Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaft Chemnitz and S-Beteiligungen Leipzig (collectively the regional savings-bank investment vehicles plus the Saxon SME guarantee bank). Aggregate committed capital across active and legacy programmes exceeds €400 million, with the third generation of TGFS alone offering €241.2 million of equity firepower for Saxon technology start-ups. The platform operates two fund families: the TGFS Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen franchise (TGFS I 2008 €60M, TGFS II 2016 €87.5M and TGFS III 2023 €93.5M) and the WMS Wachstumsfonds Mittelstand Sachsen franchise (WMS I 2005 €35M, WMS II 2012 €40.1M and WMS III 2019 €85M). Six active fund vehicles in total. Since 1995, the platform has accompanied 100-plus Saxon start-ups via TGFS and 70-plus mid-market companies via WMS. CFH Management is a BVK member.

Investment thesis

CFH Management operates two complementary strategies under one roof. TGFS provides seed and early-stage equity for knowledge-based technology-oriented start-ups, writing tickets of €0.2 to €5 million as a combination of equity and mezzanine with reserves for follow-on financing through Series A and B. WMS provides growth equity and mezzanine for established Saxon mid-market companies in succession, expansion and buy-and-build situations with exits typically targeted after five to eight years. Both vehicles invest exclusively in companies headquartered or with significant operations in the Free State of Saxony. TGFS sectors span ICT (software, Industry 4.0, IoT, big data analytics), semiconductor and microsystems technology, medical technology and health sciences, electronics, sensor technology, advanced materials, cleantech and new media. WMS is more sector-agnostic addressing manufacturing, industrial automation, business services and technology-enabled SMEs. The limited partner base is dominated by public-sector Saxon shareholders: the Free State of Saxony, the SAB development bank, MBG Sachsen and the three Saxon Sparkassen via their investment subsidiaries. Value creation centres on regional anchoring, board representation, syndication with regional banks and access to Saxony deep technology research network around TU Dresden, Fraunhofer institutes and the Leipzig and Chemnitz university clusters. CFH typically co-invests alongside KfW-backed national funds, German angels and federal seed programmes.