Like most startups with a promising business idea, entrepreneurs in the life sciences and high-tech sustainability sectors are constantly engaged in trying to secure seed funding options from angel investors, venture capital firms and similar entities. This function is also selectively available via Wlanholding, Dr. Werner Lanthaler’s privately owned company offering active business investment and advisory services. New enterprises that meet Wlanholding’s stringent investment criteria will gain access to a range of high-value resources and best-in-class expertise, and enjoy the benefits of a long term entrepreneurial partnership. So let’s explore Werner Lanthaler’s investment philosophy at Wlanholding in detail to learn more about how his blueprint for nurturing early-stage high-tech startups is designed to guide their fortunes, cut out unnecessary trial and error, and ultimately transform smart and innovative businesses into scalable, long-term enterprises.
Quite naturally, startup enterprises in their early phase tend to focus strongly on finance. After all, founding teams have to deal with all aspects of bringing an idea to fruition: perhaps conducting trials, building and refining prototypes, and/or researching markets and hiring high-caliber staff in order to assemble an elite talent pool to facilitate growth and development. As a result, many early stage entrepreneurs do not have a particularly nuanced understanding of all that is really required to lay the foundations of a disciplined business equipped and ready for a journey to profitable and sustained growth. Crucially, Wlanholding is set up to adopt a much broader strategic approach, blending essential financial backing alongside deep operational support. This template is designed to help early-stage businesses navigate those critical early growth phases while gaining initial market traction and developing a viable plan for sustainable growth.
One practical example of Werner Lanthaler’s exemplary commitment to the success of Wlanholding’s business partnerships is the quality of support readily available to aligned partners. In the case of HAL Allergy, now one of Europe’s top players in the field of allergy immunotherapy, Dr. Werner Lanthaler has been appointed Chairman of the company’s Supervisory Board (as of December, 2024). As the former CEO of Evotec SE, a world-leading biotech company, and CFO of Intercell AG, a leading vaccine provider, Lanthaler’s corporate expertise is clearly an invaluable asset. Commenting on Dr. Lanthaler’s appointment, Dr. Ernest-W. Droege, CEO of the Droege Group – itself a HAL Allergy shareholder – endorses the value of this input: “His strategic vision, his extensive expertise in the biotechnology sector and his comprehensive international network will make a significant contribution to further strengthening HAL Allergy’s position in existing markets and continue to position the company for international success.”
While the role of equity finance in providing seed funding to develop a promising business concept to the stage where it becomes a going concern is generally well understood, the quality of support available for the subsequent transitional periods – potential growth and development through the Series A, B and C phases of the business, perhaps leading eventually to an Initial Public Offering (IPO), with M&A transactions driving further growth along the way – has generally attracted rather less discussion. Even so, it is arguably the case that such transitions may ultimately have the greatest bearing on the sustainable long-term growth of almost any venture, which may also help to explain why so many companies fail to progress beyond the startup phase.
Wlanholding is aware of the essential groundwork any company must do to prepare for scaling a business. This process likely involves expanding operations, acquiring further equipment, hiring more people, gaining a greater market share, and much more. Having a broad, high-level experience of more than 15 M&A scenarios and four successful IPO undertakings, Lanthaler is optimally placed to guide promising high-tech life sciences and sustainability startups on their way to becoming industry leaders. In practice, Wlanholding’s active investment blueprint involves a close collaboration with founders and key management, typically both inside and outside the boardroom, to sustain the substantial growth required to drive this process and transform the company into a large enterprise.
The following real-world examples illustrating the development achieved by three Wlanholding portfolio companies – Proxygen, Solgate, and Cerabyte – will demonstrate exactly why Lanthaler’s company is now regarded as a key player in transforming similar high-tech life sciences and sustainability startups into industry leaders in their respective fields while simultaneously maintaining their innovative edge.
As leading company in the discovery and development of molecular glue degraders, Proxygen is a pioneer in a new, cutting-edge field of science. Flexible innovation underpins every aspect of their work as the discovery of glue degraders is simply unprecedented. Werner Lanthaler serves as Chairman on the Proxygen Supervisory Board, where he oversees a diverse array of accomplished experts with broad expertise right across the life sciences whose brief is to offer Proxygen bespoke strategic guidance. Since its inception in 2020, Proxygen has advanced its own internal programs while also seeking and maintaining external strategic partnerships which aim to create new drug development synergies. As Werner Lanthaler himself has recently noted, Proxygen’s leadership in the glue-hunting field “is unlocking massive potential”.
Solgate is another cutting-edge biotech enterprise dedicated to unraveling “the delicate metabolic equilibria of our bodies” to explore and discover “therapeutic modalities”. The purpose of Solgate’s quest is to contribute to next-generation precision medical care which seeks to consistently “bring the right drug candidate to the right patient”. From a science perspective, Solgate’s primary focus is the development of selective drugs targeting solute carrier (SLC) proteins. Controlling these chemical transporters has significant potential applications in the battle against neurological diseases, metabolic disorders and cancer. This painstaking work carried out in a niche field which reluctantly yields a gradual stream of priceless scientific knowledge to inform and refine our treatment of life-threatening illnesses is not only high-value in its own right, the continuing advantage of Solgate’s strategic alliance with Wlanholding also leaves the company well-placed to transition into a scalable organization.
Cerabyte, yet another flagship enterprise, creates sustainable data storage solutions based on ceramic nanostructures designed to archive cold data of all kinds for periods of “decades to centuries”. Here again, our digital age continues to generate unimaginable data volumes with relatively little thought given to how such an invaluable human heritage can ever be reliably and economically preserved for future generations. Cerabyte’s new technology combines technological efficiency with ecological responsibility, offering an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional, shorter-term, high-maintenance storage options, leaving the company “uniquely positioned to deliver sustainable, accessible, and affordable storage solutions”. Meanwhile, the recent advent of AI simply adds to the “exploding demand” for cost-effective, energy-efficient storage technology. With such future potential, Cerabyte’s founders must be extremely grateful for the reassuring presence of Dr. Werner Lanthaler in the boardroom.
Werner Lanthaler’s approach through Wlanholding represents a paradigm shift in high-tech entrepreneurship support. By combining strategic financial investment with deep operational expertise and industry-specific guidance, Lanthaler has created a blueprint that addresses the critical gaps many startups face when transitioning from innovative concept to scalable enterprise. The success stories of Proxygen, Solgate, and Cerabyte demonstrate the effectiveness of this comprehensive approach. As the life sciences and sustainability sectors continue to evolve at unprecedented speeds, Wlanholding’s model offers a promising pathway for visionary entrepreneurs to navigate the complex journey from seed to scale while maintaining their innovative edge and ultimately achieving lasting market impact. This unique blend of financial acumen and strategic mentorship positions Wlanholding not merely as an investor, but as a transformative partner in building the next generation of industry leaders.
