Thank you 2025!
A year full of progress, awards, and bold steps forward. We would like to look back on the year and present our highlights:
ILLUTHERM wins award
2025 was marked by competitions and recognition for our work.
Our highlights include the “Startup of the Year 2025” award from Frankfurt Forward, 2nd place in the HSG Alumni Founder Pitch , and reaching the top 20 in the international startup competition Slush 100.
These milestones encourage us to rethink industrial high-temperature processes—making them faster, more efficient, and sustainable.
The ILLUteam continues to grow
We are delighted that our team has continued to grow in 2025.
Since this year, Carla Volkert, Dana Windrich, Eric Pfeifle, Felicitas Topschall, Julia Barnikol-Oettler and Nikolas Hohmann ILLUTHERM.
This means that 12 team members are now working together on our mission.
At the same time, we have actively developed our team culture and established regular team days—because true innovation comes from working together.
More space to grow
With an additional office space in HUB31 – Technology and Start-up Center Darmstadt and another workshop at LAB³ e. V. , we have created new space for our growing team and for the next generation of our technology in 2025.
Speaking of prototypes:
With Epsilon, we have set a new standard.
With more than 10 kW of power and a light surface the size of a smartphone, it marks our latest prototype before the pilot plant—a decisive step toward industrial application.
Promoting young talent through cooperation
A particular highlight was our collaboration with the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM):
ILLUTHERM was the only hardware project in this year’s Managing Product Development (MPD) course.
Six highly motivated students worked with us to investigate a use case for our light ovens. We remain impressed by their commitment, independence, and analytical depth.
New financing
We were also able to set an important financial course for 2025.
In addition to a successful financing round at the beginning of the year, which enabled us to Lifeline Ventures as an investor, we also received a microproject handled by the project management agency Jülich.
In addition, we will continue to receive support from the SPRIND – Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovationsand the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) .
We are proud of what we have achieved together in 2025 – and eagerly anticipate everything that lies ahead in 2026.A big thank you to all our partners, sponsors, investors, companions, and our team who have supported us this year.
We continue to shape the future of industrial heat – with blue light.
We wish you happy holidays and a happy New Year!
