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Our Mission
The Payments Group Holding (PGH) is a holding company founded in 2012 and headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. PGH will propose to its Annual General Meeting on 19 August 2026, the company be renamed German Tech Holding GmbH & Co. KGaA.
During its active period as a leading German venture capital provider under the name German Startups Group, PGH invested with great success in Chrono24, Delivery Hero, Fiagon, MisterSpex, Remerge, and Scalable Capital, among others. To this day, it holds stakes in AuctionTech, SoundCloud, Thinksurance and more. AuctionTech is the European market leader with its SaaS-based white-label solution PropNow for digital bidding and offer processes in the real estate market.
PGH is pursuing opportunities in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Biotechnology. Cognicare AI, a spin-off from PGH’s investment in the company builder Softmax AI, addresses the structurally growing market for senior care facilities with highly demanded AI applications. Softmax AI plans to launch several additional spin-offs over the next twelve months for various product families already in advanced development stages, targeting specific customer groups.
In addition, PGH is working to recover its receivables from the SGT Capital Group in the amount of 6.2 million euros.
MANAGEMENT
Christoph GerlingerCEO
Christoph is CEO of SGT German Private Equity GmbH & Co. KGaA, which he founded in 2012 which until October 2020 operated under the brand of German Startups Group and was a leading German VC provider in Germany with investments in start-ups such as Delivery Hero, Chrono 24, MisterSpex and Scalable Capital.
In 2020, German Startups Group merged with SGT Capital Pte. Ltd. and became SGT German Private Equity GmbH & Co. KGaA. Christoph has gained over 20 years of management experience in the Internet industry, in which he has founded and brought to life a number of businesses. Amongst these is Frogster Interactive Pictures AG, founded in 2005, which he took public and managed as CEO for seven years. Prior to that, he was Head of Germany for Infogrames/Atari and CFO of CDV, which he took public as well.
Christoph was named one of the 50 most interesting founders by the German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche, was appointed external expert of the network 'Digitalization' and member of the digital commission by the federal board of the CDU. He holds a graduate degree in Business Administration from Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt and is a graduate of the artificial intelligence executive program of MIT Sloan School / CSAIL, Cambridge. He also is alumnus of Singularity University’s 'Executive Program 2017' and 'Future of AI Program 2024' in Silicon Valley, USA. Christoph occasionally releases own articles and gives interviews in various publications.
Supervisory Board
Fund and capital markets expert
Co-founder and supervisory board chairman of Shareholder Value Management AG, an owner-managed investment specialist with focus on value stocks, based in Frankfurt
Roughly 20 years of expertise as executive board member and fund manager
Accredited advocate
Capital Markets Expert
Long-standing seats on various supervisory boards, 35 years of banking experience in leading positions
More than 10 years as CEO of AXG Investment Bank and Head of Corporate Finance Commerzbank
Significantly involved in more than 40 IPOs
Law and Corporate Finance Professional
Financial expert in accounting and auditing (pursuant to § 100 (5) German Stock Corporation Act), certified business valuator (EACVA)
Over 20 years of experience as CEO, CFO, and supervisory board member in various companies