Gudrun Kuffner

Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (AWS) is the Austrian promotional bank, fully controlled by the Government of Austria. Based in Vienna, AWS emerged in 2002 from the merger of several government funding agencies including FGG-Finanzierungsgarantiegesellschaft mbH and BÜRGES Förderungsbank GmbH. The firm later absorbed Innovationsagentur GmbH. The Seed Financing division of AWS manages venture capital investments by way of mezzanine financing. AWS also comprises several divisions not directly involved in investment management, namely Tecma which is specialized in technology marketing support, Tecnet which supplies technology information, i²-Ideas & Investment which is a networking platform for business angels and Biotech, providing business support for biotechnology projects. AWS manages the university spin-off fund Uni Venture, sponsored by BAWAG-Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft.