UNICA Entrepreneurship Competition 2011 runner-up receives funding from Frühphasenfonds Brandenburg

Investment fund “Frühphasenfonds Brandenburg” (BFB), issued by the German state of Brandenburg's investment and development bank “Investitionsbank” (ILB) has invested in 3D vegetation software start-up Laubwerk GmbH, which has recently moved their headquarters from Berlin to nearby Media City Babelsberg in Potsdam. Laubwerk GmbH is the runner-up of the 2011 UNICA Entrepreneurship Competition, sponsored by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation. The team composed of Philip Paar and Timm Dapper, Laubwerk's founders, had been endorsed by Freie Universität Berlin with a business plan "Laubwerk: Powerful 3D Plants Solutions for Architecture, Media, and Entertainment". They had been awarded a prize of €10,000. Established in 2010, Laubwerk specializes in developing solutions for the digital representation of vegetation in architecture, media and entertainment. It offers a line of easy-to-use software extensions for architects and CG artists requiring a variety of authentic-looking plants for their 3D scenes. With the funds from BFB, as well as additional capital raised from a private investor, Laubwerk will rapidly expand their product line as well as accelerate development of their own core technology for use in a wide range of diverse industries. Philip Paar, founding director of Laubwerk GmbH, explains: "Plant depictions in films, architectural visualizations and video games are ubiquitous. Digital plant solutions have to face increasing visual and technical requirements. Our interdisciplinary team has succeeded in simulating convincingly real plants in 3D, while minimizing the time and effort needed by users to render our realistic 3D trees. We are confident that we will benefit from the extensive experience of the bmp team and their excellent network to support our business development." Together with founder and technical director Timm Dapper, Philip Paar is actively planning for the company's expansion in the coming years, including an increase in the number of Laubwerk employees. Lars Michalak, partner in charge at bmp, sees great potential for the business concept: "Laubwerk has a scalable and powerful core technology, which, due to their software architecture and resulting technological aspects, will be superior to competitors. The feedback from pilot and test customers is very positive. We are pleased to be able to support the Laubwerk team in the marketing and development of their products and in establishing of an innovative and sustainable successful company in Potsdam-Babelsberg."  Source: Laubwerk/bmp press release, 28 January 2013