Trumpf said yesterday that it launched a venture capital investment arm looking to fund tech startups effective July 1.

The newly formed arm aims to invest approximately $45 million (€40 million) in “promising young companies that want to play a major role in shaping the future of industry” over the next 5 years, Trumpf said.

The venture group said it’s focused on tech companies in the fields of photonics and digitally connected production, as well as new manufacturing processes, smart components and high-tech materials.

“Once we get into our stride, we plan to participate in around five startups per year. As a strategic investor, we want to use our network, our industrial production expertise and our technological know-how to assist startups with market launch and successful growth. We’re already having discussions with 1st startups, and assuming that we’ll be able to make investments relatively soon. As a partner of the forthcoming CODE_n new.New Festival in Karlsruhe, we’ll soon be making contact with further interesting startups,” technology management head Christof Siebert said in prepared remarks.