Where fundamental science becomes industrial performance

Prof. Dr. Frank Mücklich is the inventor of Direct Laser Interference Patterning and one of Europe's most distinguished materials scientists. Professor of Functional Materials at Saarland University and Founding Director of the Material Engineering Center Saarland (MECS), he has spent decades at the forefront of laser-based surface engineering - recognised e.g. with the Berthold Leibinger Award for Laser Innovation and the Henry Clifton Sorby Award from the American Society for Materials. He co-founded SurFunction to complete what his research made possible.

Dr.-Ing. Andreas Leffer is Managing Director and owner of Stahl- und Apparatebau Hans Leffer GmbH & Co. KG - a family-owned precision engineering company founded in 1946, employing around 600 people and operating globally across pressure vessels, industrial machinery and deep foundation technology. With an engineering doctorate and decades of experience leading a complex international manufacturing business, Dr. Leffer brings what no academic or investor can: the unfiltered perspective of someone who has to make advanced technology work reliably, at scale, every day.

Niklas Raberg is Partner at Capnamic - one of Europe's leading early-stage venture capital firms, with a track record spanning more than 80 investments including successful trade sales and IPOs. Prior to Capnamic, Niklas worked as Investment Manager at High-Tech Gründerfonds and started his career at Accenture. He led Capnamic's investment in SurFunction - bringing institutional venture expertise, a broad technology network and a clear conviction in the platform's category-defining potential.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andrés Fabián Lasagni is co-inventor of Direct Laser Interference Patterning and one of Europe's foremost experts in laser-based surface manufacturing. Professor of Laser-Based Manufacturing at TU Dresden - a University of Excellence - and Head of the Centre for Advanced Micro-Photonics at Fraunhofer IWS, he has spent more than two decades advancing DLIP from a laboratory concept into an industrially deployable technology. His contributions are recognised with election to the Saxon Academy of Sciences and the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Prize of the Argentine Senate for outstanding achievements in engineering. He serves as observer and technical adviser to SurFunction - the direct bridge between the science he helped create and the platform that scales it.