NLND Breakfast Club: The Great Funding Trap
Germany hands out billions in grants, scholarships, and non-dilutive funding every year — yet most hardware and deep tech founders still default to the same instinct: raise venture capital as early and as fast as possible. The result is often equity given away too soon, milestones misaligned with investor timelines, and founders locked into a growth curve their technology isn't ready for.
This edition of the NLND Breakfast Club brings together pre-seed investors, non-dilutive funding experts, and startups to unpack the real decision founders face.
We'll dig into the funding logic that's specific to hardware and deep tech ventures — long R&D cycles, capital-intensive prototyping, and technology risk that doesn't fit a typical SaaS funding timeline:
When grants and loans buy you the runway to de-risk technology before you talk to investors
How to read the signals that tell you it's time to bring in equity capital
How to sequence non-dilutive and dilutive funding so each stage sets up the next
Join us at NLND Breakfast Club to build a funding strategy that matches your technology, not the other way around.
Speakers
Kai Malzer, Founder & Managing Director at NDF
Tobias Ahrens, Head of Startup Germany at Commerzbank
Fatma Akyel, Head of R&D at Weldnova
Markus Börner, General Partner & Co-Founder at Prequel Ventures
Agenda
09:30: Doors Open
10:00: Keynote: Kai Malzer
10:10: Panel: The Great Funding Trap
10:30: Audience Q&A
10:40: Open Networking
11:00: End of Event (Optional: Campus Tour)
About NLND Breakfast Club
NLND Berlin is built for those who see the world as it could be. Bold, fearless, and always evolving, we create with purpose to leave a lasting impact.
Join us for our monthly NLND Breakfast Club — a morning gathering for people who challenge the status quo.
About NLND Berlin
NLND (Neuland) Berlin is a 150.000 sqm innovation district catalysing industrial transformation. We bring together industry and SMEs with universities, startups and government to create a European lighthouse project for AI, Deep Tech, Industry 4.0 and future city technologies.
Programming includes early-stage founding programming, as well as venture-clienting and accelerator programs hosted in partnership with Plug and Play and JUNI. The district hosts an Innovation Hub, a 5000-person Conference Center, Production Space, and a Prototyping Hall, as well as Cafés, a restaurant, and a sports park.
NLND Berlin is a project of Philip Morris GmbH, strategised, developed and operated in collaboration with Green City Development GmbH.
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Photography Notice
Please note there’ll be a photographer at the event. By attending, you agree that NLND Berlin and partners may use photos for marketing and communications. If you prefer not to be photographed, please let a member of the event team know.