German medium-sized companies are also so successful because they have been consistently developing their own products for decades and have been constantly expanding their enormous technical know-how. But it is only because the DS Group has also been daring to do something new for decades that it has been successful for so long. We have intensified this in recent years - albeit with a new intention: We want to become younger as a group of companies, modernise our way of thinking and let the impulses of fresh female founders into our processes. For this we need the young and wild. The start-ups with that one excellent idea, with the sparkling eyes behind which a vision has been created. We call this "Young Business".
Search: young, innovative, with passion for technology. Offer: long-term intentions, experience, stable structures.
We have serious intentions and we are curious. We are looking for ideas that are "green tech" in the broadest sense and/or that will further develop our energy and chemical sectors. Examples are new recycling methods, sustainable energy and innovations for low-emission production and mining processes. If you and your start-up company feel addressed, we should talk. Because you could help us to discover new paths - and to go with us together.
6 advantages that our start-ups enjoy with us
- We have the resources to turn groundbreaking ideas into reality. We want paradigm shifts and have the investment capital.
- We have the long-established networks to create connections: Our venture capital firms are active around the world.
- We have the infrastructure to enable start-ups to live out their creativity and energy to the full: Our start-ups can let accounting, bookkeeping, IT landscape and many aspects of business administration be our concern.
- We have overarching strategies to become better together: All of DS' investments follow an overarching strategy. All companies of the DS Group are included in this strategy. If our start-ups have excellent ideas, we incorporate them into our strategy.
- We think in terms of decades of partnerships rather than exits: We want to learn from you and grow with you.
- We want an honest transfer of knowledge at eye level: knowledge becomes more when it is shared. We have no secrets from our young businesses. We are happy to share our vast sales experience.
If you are looking for a strategic partnership, please send us a short e-mail.
We want to rejuvenate our way of thinking through new impulses
The world is changing fast. And we look forward to these changes. To completely new, well thought-out products, new technologies and processes. New, future-oriented business models will make us even more agile and diversified.
„Like they say in real life, kids keep you young. And that also applies to us as a company, our new start-up daughters keep us young!“
Jan Christiansen, CEO Diersch & Schröder GmbH & Co. KG
Not just thinking something new, but daring to try it out, to learn from it and grow with it - that's what distinguishes start-ups. "Fail fast, fail often, fail early" sums up this corporate culture.
And this is our chance as an established, almost one hundred year old company to merge our strengths with those of the start-ups - learn faster and succeed faster!
„We learn from the culture of good start-ups. This also includes that something goes wrong and we draw conclusions from it. After all, continuous innovation can only work agilely and in open structures.“
Jan Christiansen, CEO Diersch & Schröder GmbH & Co. KG
When we participate in a start-up, open communication with each other is a prerequisite. We have to talk to each other. About everything and as often as possible. This is the only way we can support young partners with our structures - and they support us. In doing so, a very basic approach of DS Group always remains the same:
We let our Young Businesses do what and how they do best. As a member of the DS Group, the founding team also keeps the reins in its hands. Because we need this driving, creative force.
Henning D. Thiele (CFO) Diersch & Schröder
Why should we bring creative, young companies into DS Group only to rein them in, regulate and slow them down? We do not have "managers in stock" that we send to our young investments. In our subsidiaries we need entrepreneurially thinking doers, strong minds, visionaries who have a desire for the future.
At DS, start-ups are always a matter for the boss
Some large companies have set up their own departments that spend all day looking for start-ups and making contacts. Our approach is different. For us, building new partnerships is always a top priority. Our managing directors drive personally to the start-up, get to know the founders, look at the production or laboratory. This is important, because for a good cooperation with new partners we have to understand each other
Young Business = Young Minds x Young Ideas
- On the one hand, we understand young business quite literally as young companies with a fresh spirit and zest for action.
- On the other hand, we also mean young technologies and business models in the broadest sense.
Two of our young holdings are examples of this: Sustainable Coating Systems GmbH and Lynatox GmbH.
Health safe and environmentally friendly liquid plastics made from sustainable materials for a wide range of applications in the fields of structural waterproofing and damping compounds for the automotive industry: SCS Holding GmbH
SCS Holding GmbH, standing for Sustainable Coating Systems, is our first investment project together with Nehlsen AG. In the spirit of "shared risk" we have decided together with Nehlsen AG to support SCS with investment capital.
Peter Hoffmeyer, CEO of Nehlsen AG, says: „We do not want to rush into short-term trends. We want to think, analyse, act and then act consistently. That is the strength of this partnership. That's why SCS will not be a one-time action, but the beginning of a highly exciting cooperation“.
For structural waterproofing, SCS has developed its product portfolio under the „Elapro“ brand.
ELAPRO specialises in the development and manufacture of liquid plastics that are harmless to health, particularly environmentally friendly and safe to process, for the long-term, reliable sealing of flat roofs and balconies. In its development, ELAPRO relies strictly on the use of particularly sustainable and environmentally friendly raw materials, from the binder to the filler. With its headquarters in Wolfsburg and the main factory in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, the company is located at two sites with German industrial tradition.
Wherever possible, SCS relies on the use of native, renewable raw materials.
At the moment we are supporting SCS in placing their product on the market nationwide. The aim is to establish the liquid plastic not only in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but also in the short to medium term throughout Europe. For the construction industry, this offers the opportunity for a real change of heart, for SCS it is a huge untapped market.
Clean water and air cost-efficiently and sustainably: Lynatox achieves technological breakthrough with significant improvement in photocatalysis
Lynatox simply delighted us. After seeing a small demonstration of the technology, it was clear: we definitely want Lynatox GmbH to become part of the DS Group. In addition, the founders of Lynatox recognized the synergies of an investment by DS and made a significant contribution to the acquisition.
Lynatox GmbH has further developed a catalyst with which water and also air can be cleaned of organic pollutants. Examples of pollutants are odorous substances, paint residues, poisons, drug residues, herbicides, pesticides or multi-resistant germs. For this purpose Lynatox GmbH develops the basic technology and advanced applications for various industrial sectors. The process of photocatalysis initiates chemical reactions through UV exposure. The pollutants are converted into harmless end products.
Both companies have inspired us and are a great enrichment for DS Group. Therefore we interviewed two of the founders for our digital magazine – you can find the interview here.
