Best Chemicals and Materials Tech Companies in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany
The 37 best Chemicals and Materials Tech companies in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Better Place.
Our analysis of 50 Chemicals and Materials Tech companies
$4.4b in tracked funding; 79% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2025.
Ranked: Best Chemicals and Materials Tech companies in North Rhine Westphalia
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Founder | Founded | Tech stack | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Better Place Provider of an AI-powered platform for creating and delivering educational content | $661M | 168 mo ago | Series C | Ralf Ochs Co-Founder | 2007 | Cart FunctionalityWooCommerceWordPress+24 | 2 patents Cooling and circulating cold water systems for drinking water supply. | — |
| 2 | Metals Hub Gmbh B2B marketplace to buy and sell metals and ferroalloys | $15M | 64 mo ago | Series A | — | 2016 | Node.jsRadix UITailwind CSS+23 | — | — |
| 3 | Temicon Manufacturer of Nano and Microstructure components | $4M | 77 mo ago | Public | — | 2005 | TYPO3 CMSApple iCloud MailMicrosoft 365+9 | 52 patents Advanced optical light‑guiding and structured surface components for illumination systems | — |
| 4 | Evonik Developer of green specialty chemicals | $2M | 219 mo ago | Public | — | 2007 | WordPress Block EditorWordPressApple iCloud Mail+19 | 1,983 patents Advanced chemical process engineering and functional nanomaterial production for specialty chemicals | 1 award |
| 5 | Raith Provider of nanofabrication systems and characterization solutions for industry and academia | $476K | 65 mo ago | Funding Raised | Masum Khan CEO | 1980 | BreakdanceWordPressApple iCloud Mail+16 | 13 patents Patents concentrated in electrical & electronics | 1 job opening · 1 expansion |
| 6 | BluCon Biotech Developer of bio-based and biodegradable thermoplastic | — | 42 mo ago | Seed | Albrecht Läufer Chief Executive Officer | 2017 | — | 27 patents Thermophilic microbes and thermostable enzymes for high‑temperature biomass conversion and DNA methylation | — |
| 7 | Carbon Minds Provider of life cycle assessment data, consulting, and training services | — | 45 mo ago | Funding Raised | Arne Katelhoo Managing Director | 2016 | WordPress Block EditorElementorWordPress+34 | — | 1 launch · 1 partnership |
| 8 | Simreka AI and ML based simulation software for the new materials discovery | — | 87 mo ago | Seed | Deboprio G Co-Founder | 2015 | WordPressMySQLPHP+24 | — | — |
Top 10 Chemicals and Materials Tech companies in North Rhine Westphalia
#1
Series C · Gronau, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2007 · 85 employees$660.8Mraised▾
Provider of an AI-powered platform for creating and delivering educational content. The platform offers tools for educators and institutions to design personalized learning experiences. It includes features such as AI course generation, adaptive learning management, and content publishing. The platform aims to make education more accessible and scalable.
- Aug 2012Conventional Debt$50.1M
- Nov 2011Series C$200M
- May 2010Series C$350M
- May 2009Series C$110.8M
#2
Series A · Dusseldorf, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2016 · 23 employees$14.5Mraised▾
B2B marketplace to buy and sell metals and ferroalloys. It offers metals like chrome, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, niobium, boron, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur, titanium, tungsten, copper, vanadium, aluminium, and more.
- May 2021Series A$11M
- Sep 2018Seed$3.5M
#3
Public · Dortmund, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2005 · 65 employees$3.7Mraised▾
Temicon GmbH (previously called Holotools) develops and manufactures micro and nanostructured products serving as key components for applications like light management, displays, solar technology, or life science. Temicon's core business is the development and production of nanoimprint tools, injection molds, precision components, and stencils with functional micro and nanostructured surfaces. Temicon uses lithographic methods, thin-film technologies, and electroforming for the production of micro and nanostructures with extensive patterning.
- Apr 2020Grant (prize money)$409.7K
- Jan 2020Grant (prize money)$417.4K
- Nov 2014Series A$3.7M
#4
Funding Raised · Dortmund, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 1980 · 11 employees$475.9Kraised▾
Provider of nanofabrication systems and characterization solutions for industry and academia. The company offers electron beam, focused ion beam, and laser lithography products. Also available are imaging and analysis tools for process control and material analysis. Solutions include patterning, mix and match, digital, and holography workflows.
- Apr 2021Grant (prize money)$176.6K
- Jan 2018Grant (prize money)$299.3K
#5
Public · Essen, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2007$2.5Mraised▾
Developer of green specialty chemicals. It manufactures and supplies sustainable chemicals for various industries. It caters to industries like paint, automobiles, agriculture, construction, communication, food and beverage, healthcare, and mining.
- Jun 2008PE—
- Grant (prize money)$2.5M
#6
Seed · Cologne, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2017 · 17 employees—raised▾
BluCon is a developer of bio-based and biodegradable thermoplastic. It offers PLA(polylactic acid) to replace petroleum-based plastics including polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) & polystyrene (PS). It offers Lactic acid(2-hydroxy propionic acid) used in the food industry, chemical industry, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic products. The company collaborates with Shanghai Tong Jie Liang Biomaterials Ltd. (TJL) for the production of PLA.
- Mar 2023Seed—
- Dec 2021Grant (prize money)—
#7
Funding Raised · Cologne, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2016 · 24 employees—raised▾
Provider of life cycle assessment data, consulting, and training services. The company offers data products for life cycle assessment and carbon footprints. It also provides expert guidance to map out product value chains. The company delivers training to bring new skills and knowledge to teams.
#8
Seed · Dusseldorf, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2015 · 33 employees—raised▾
Simreka offers AI and ML-based simulation software for the discovery of the new materials. It provides a platform with high-quality data and advanced analytics. Its features include supply chain transformation, integrated & advanced decision support, simulation using unique public and proprietary data collection and curation systems, and analytics powered by advanced scientific algorithms. Rabobank, SAP Run Simple, and NSF are part of its clientele.
- Jun 2019Seed—
- 2017Seed—
#9
Funding Raised · Dortmund, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 1975 · 25 employees—raised▾
Provider of thermal coating technology
#10
Acquired · Bonn, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2011 · 9 employees—raised▾
Provider of phase plates and phase contrast systems for transmission electron microscopy. It offers a product for cryo-TEM applications in structural biology and is meant to replace defocusing as a way to gain contrast while preserving resolution.
- Apr 2012Seed—
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Chemicals and Materials Tech coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Advanced Materials is moving in Germany
A read on the academic research around Advanced Materials — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 461 Germany-affiliated papers.
- Technische Universität Dresden35
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology30
- Saarland University24
- Chemnitz University of Technology20
- TU Dresden20
- Nanotechnology4→18
- Smart material21→33
- Elastomer4→13
- Actuator19→27
- Polymer6→14
- Shape-memory alloy13→18
- 3D printing1→4
- Elastomer5→8
- Self-healing hydrogels4→6
- SMA*6→8
- Smart material1→5
Where advanced materials is researched across Germany
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing advanced materials patents in Germany
Germany advanced materials patent filing is cooling — 27,694 filings from 8,000 assignees (2016–2025), led by BASF SE, Siemens, Fraunhofer GES Forschung; annual filings 3096→1972.
- BASF SE2645
- Siemens2092
- Fraunhofer GES Forschung1469
- Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe1264
- Constr RES & TECH1183
- Thyssenkrupp1112
- Robert Bosch1101
- Merck Patent1053
Common questions
Rohit lives in the feed. He covers what's moving right now — the funding rounds, launches and shifts breaking across the trade press — and ties them back to where the sector is heading.