Michael Hochholzer

Dr. Michael Hochholzer is Managing Director at G+D Ventures, the venture capital arm of Giesecke+Devrient. G+D Ventures was founded in 2018 and invests in TrustTech: technologies that promote and protect trust across digital infrastructure, identity, regulation, and ethical layers of the digital ecosystem.

Hochholzer studied electrical engineering and earned a PhD at the Technical University of Munich. His G+D biography also lists management education at Babson and the Kellogg School of Management. Earlier in his career, he worked in optoelectronics research during his PhD, helped bring the first security ICs to market at Infineon, and was co-founder and CEO of a corporate-internal RFID startup.

He has been a venture capitalist since 2001 across both financial and corporate funds. In a 2020 Munich Startup interview, he said he had worked as a partner at Infineon Ventures, then at BayTech Venture Capital, and before G+D as Managing Partner of the industry fund at Siemens Venture Capital, later Next47.

At G+D Ventures, Hochholzer describes his role with founders as a “sparring partner.” His G+D profile says his experience includes investments in more than 25 companies and more than 15 exits, including acquisitions by corporates or private equity sponsors and one IPO. His listed portfolio includes Blockbrain, Build38, Brighter AI, IDnow, Salv, Tenzir, Verimi, and Yields.

• G+D Ventures’ stated thesis is early-stage European TrustTech: companies “whose innovations promote and protect trust in digital ecosystems.”
• The fund invests at Seed and Series A, selectively Series B, with EUR 200k-EUR 2m initial tickets and follow-on capacity.
• Hochholzer’s stated personal focus is “the broader cyber security area,” including cybersecurity across heterogeneous infrastructure, fraud in financial services, and compliant use of big data/AI.
• He looks for startups where G+D Ventures can add more than capital through G+D’s trust network, including CISOs, universities, clients, partners, and internal experts.
• In a 2020 interview, he said G+D Ventures is strongest when investing in G+D’s core areas: payments, connectivity, identities, and safeguarding digital infrastructures.
• He has said the team looks for “highly scalable business models,” such as SaaS, primarily B2B, with a focus on Europe and Israel.
• He has said G+D Ventures avoids areas where it lacks access or expertise, naming biotech, pharmaceuticals, and consumer marketing as examples.