About Us

3M New Ventures

MissionStrategyOrganizationFocus AreasInvestment Portfolio

Mission

3M New Ventures was created to strengthen 3M's position at the leading edge of global innovation by complementing 3M's holistic innovation strategy with a focus on disruptive, early stage innovations outside of the company's existing portfolio. 3M New Ventures identifies and invests in the most promising new-to-3M technologies, services and business models with long term strategic relevance to 3M.

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Strategy

3M New Ventures seeks game changing opportunities, cutting-edge platform technologies, outstanding entrepreneurs and strong intellectual property positions in high-growth markets that are strategically important to 3M. With minority investments in start-up companies, 3M New Ventures creates not only financial value but most importantly strategic synergies between 3M and the venture.

As a strategic investor, 3M is an active partner of each portfolio company. Through constant interaction with the management and board of directors, active exploration of collaborative opportunities, and ongoing strategic counsel, 3M New Ventures aims to accelerate the portfolio company's growth and technical development, and to create value for both entities.

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Organization

As a part of 3M corporate, 3M New Ventures is headquartered in Munich, Germany and managed by its President Stefan Gabriel. All investment decisions are made by the New Venture Board, a committee of 3M C-level executives and other senior decision makers.

3M New Ventures’ global operations cover the major hotspots for innovation in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the Americas, and Asia Pacific (APAC) like the USA, Brazil, Western Europe, Israel, Singapore, China and Taiwan.

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Focus Areas

3M New Ventures focuses on disruptive technology and business model innovations in the following six strategic areas:

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Investment Portfolio

Since its start in 2008, 3M New Ventures has successfully completed over 20 transactions that are covering each of the strategic focus areas. The following list provides an excerpt of the portfolio:

Active Investments

	3M GTG GmbH 3M GTG develops innovative digital media solutions for outdoor advertising. The company combines moving display hardware with software and content synchronization tools into one of a kind advertising solutions for outdoor bill boards, TV studios, and lighting systems.
	7AC Technologies 7AC Technologies develops ultra high efficiency air conditioning systems that use up to 75 percent less electricity compared to conventional HVAC technologies. Our liquid desiccant and plastic membrane plate based air conditioning system licenses key technology from NREL/DoE and is designed to be a drop in replacement for existing rooftop HVAC systems on commercial and industrial buildings.
	Ecovative Design LLC Ecovative is a materials science start-up focused on the research and development of mycelium (the vegetative roots of mushrooms) as a new class of polymeric material, closing the gap between plastics and wood. The mycelium transforms local agricultural waste feedstock into filamentous low-cost structures made out of chitin, allowing for shock protection, insulation and flame resistance applications.
	Energy Inc. Energy Inc. is a developer of an energy management solution that allows residential and commercial users to precisely measure their energy production and consumption at device level, and to monitor such data in real-time over any internet-enabled device. As a result, Energy Inc. enables an improved management of energy loads, more control over devices’ energy consumption, and overall, the reduction of energy costs.
	HydroNovation Inc. HydroNovation develops next-generation water conditioning systems for residential and food service industry applications based on Electro Deionization technology. The systems enable high quality drinking water for whole homes or buildings by reducing hardness minerals and potentially hazardous substances without applying chemical additives.
	Mersive Mersive is a leading provider of visual computing software. By transforming hardware challenges into software solutions, Mersive has helped to create a new class of displays. Mersive driven products provide knowledge workers with affordable, easy-to-use visual display systems that foster interaction, facilitate decision making and cultivate creativity.
	motionID Technologies AG motionID develops a touchless identification system for cars. A passive RFID tag on the windshield of the vehicle enables access, payment, and automation services for B2C-applications like parking, car wash, or drive-thru.
	Naporo GmbH Naporo is a bio-based materials start-up focused on the utilization of cattail (Typha) as a renewable material that features advantageous properties (lightweight, insulation, surface finish) and does not compete with the agricultural food chain.
	Pixel Qi Corp. Pixel Qi designs unique, innovative LCD screens that simultaneously solve problems not addressed by conventional screens offering portability, connectivity, long battery life and excellent indoor/outdoor readability in one device.
	Printechnologics GmbH Printechnologics is a leading technology developer of electronic systems produced entirely by a common printing press. Key product: AirCode - invisible, digital information printed on paper, cardboard or foil that works as a unique key to unlock digital content via one single touch on a capacitive multi-touch device, such as a smartphone.
	txtr GmbH Txtr is a leading provider of a turnkey or modular global digital eReading platform including content services and ingestion, back-end services and front-end applications. Txtr’s platform complies with industry standards such as Onix, ePub and PDF formats, and provides Adobe DRM across the eco-system. It also includes B2C and B2B2C ebook shop facilities with check-out functionally and reporting.
	VocalZoom Systems Ltd. VocalZoom develops a novel opto-electric speech-enhancement microphone for voice communication and voice recognition applications. Its unique technology enables high recognition rates under any noisy conditions, a key element for realizing the potential of speech in next generation user interfaces.
	Zephyr Zephyr Technology was founded in 2003, and has been a pioneer in the use of physiological status monitoring in training and high stress operational environments. The company's ongoing collaboration with sports teams, hospitals, fire departments, NASA Ames Research Center, and multiple US Special Forces has been invaluable in the development and validation of Zephyr's technology.

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