Building a company around breakthrough research
Industrial manufacturing depends on process heat. Across sectors such as paper, food, chemicals, and metalworking, heating systems are typically designed around a single energy source, limiting flexibility as energy prices fluctuate and decarbonization requirements increase.
During his doctoral research at the Institute for a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy (IHE) and the Helmholtz Institute for Renewable Energy (HIERN) at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Dr. Simon Hahn developed a technology designed to address this challenge. The system combines specially coated heating elements with proprietary control software, enabling industrial users to switch between electricity, natural gas, and green hydrogen without modifying the underlying hardware.
The technology became the foundation of Hyca Heat, a venture developing flexible industrial heating systems that help manufacturers reduce costs and emissions while preparing for a lower-carbon future. Yet turning a promising technology into a successful company required more than scientific excellence. It required a founding team with the complementary expertise to bring the innovation to market.
Read the full case study
This webpage highlights the key stages of Hyca Heat's journey. For the complete case study, including detailed founder profiles and the full commercialization story, download the PDF.
Engineering the right founding team
Scientific breakthroughs alone rarely become successful companies. Deep-tech ventures require complementary expertise in research, entrepreneurship, technology, and business, yet bringing together the right people at the right stage of commercialization remains one of Europe's biggest challenges.
DEEP πoneers addresses this challenge by identifying promising deep-tech technologies and matching the researchers behind them with experienced commercial founders and operators. Over six months, newly formed teams receive structured coaching to build the relationships, communication, and decision-making practices needed to navigate the long journey from research to commercial impact.
For Hyca Heat, this approach meant building a founding team around a breakthrough technology rather than expecting one individual to carry every aspect of commercialization alone.
Before entering the matching workshop, both Simon Hahn's technology and Richard Büssow's application had been selected through DEEP πoneers' scouting and evaluation process. The workshop marked the point at which those two carefully curated pathways came together.
Building the company
The first DEEP πoneers matching workshop took place in Potsdam, bringing together researchers and experienced entrepreneurs from across the DACH region. It was here that Simon Hahn and Richard Büssow met for the first time.
Over two days, participants took part in a series of structured conversations designed to identify complementary skills, shared motivations, and the potential for long-term collaboration. By the end of the workshop, Simon and Richard had formed an initial founding team with a third participant. Within a few weeks, however, it became clear that the three-way match was not the right fit, and the third co-founder decided to leave the team.
Coaching continued with Simon and Richard as a pair. Alongside discussing business models or investment strategies, they focused on building the foundations of an effective working relationship: how they would communicate, make decisions, resolve disagreements, and collaborate while working from opposite ends of Germany. These early conversations established routines and expectations that would become essential as the company developed.
Several months later, Simon and Richard concluded that the venture would benefit from a third co-founder with commercial expertise. Through a separate co-founder matching platform, Simon was introduced to Henning Hatje. Recognizing the value of his experience, the DEEP πoneers team integrated Henning into the ongoing coaching process, allowing the newly formed trio to revisit roles, decision-making, and team dynamics before formally founding the company.
Three to four months into the program, the team established Hyca Heat in Berlin. The remaining coaching period focused on strengthening the habits, trust, and ways of working that would support the founders as they transitioned from a newly formed team to an operating company. By the end of the six-month program, three people who had never met before had become co-founders of a deep-tech venture with clearly defined roles, established working practices, and a shared commitment to bringing the technology to market.
Where they are now
Since completing DEEP πoneers, Hyca Heat has continued to build momentum. In early 2026, the company received the Startupland Award in the Green Tech / Climate Tech category, recognizing its approach to decarbonizing industrial process heat. Shortly afterwards, the team presented its technology at Hannover Messe, the world's largest industrial trade fair, as part of the Forschungszentrum Jülich exhibition, introducing the solution to potential industrial customers and partners.
The company's first demonstration project is now being prepared with a regional paper manufacturer, where Hyca Heat's hybrid heating system will be tested in a real industrial environment. At the same time, the team is actively engaging with additional pilot customers and industry partners to support future deployments.
Alongside these commercial milestones, Hyca Heat has formalized its relationship with Forschungszentrum Jülich through an exclusive licensing agreement covering the underlying technology, providing the foundation for continued commercial development.
Hyca Heat is still in the early stages of its commercialization journey. Like many deep-tech ventures, success will be measured over years rather than months. What DEEP πoneers helped establish was the foundation: a complementary founding team, clear roles, and the working relationships needed to navigate the long path from research to commercial impact.
Why this story matters
Hyca Heat is not presented as a finished success story. Like many deep-tech ventures, the company is still at the beginning of its commercialization journey. What makes the story significant is not that every challenge has been solved, but that the right foundations have been put in place.
For researchers developing breakthrough technologies, finding the right commercial co-founder is as important as the technology itself. Hyca Heat demonstrates how complementary expertise, structured founder matching, and long-term team development can help transform scientific innovation into a venture with the potential to create lasting economic and societal impact.
The three founders arrived through different paths, but together they built more than a company. They built a team with the resilience, trust, and complementary expertise needed to navigate the long and uncertain journey of deep-tech commercialization.
Build your founding team
Whether you're a researcher with breakthrough technology or an experienced entrepreneur looking to build your next venture, DEEP πoneers helps create high-performing founding teams for deep-tech commercialization.