197 lines
9.6 KiB
Markdown
197 lines
9.6 KiB
Markdown
# Sovereign Tech Fund / Assembled Parts UG / Government Funding Investigation
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## Executive Summary
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The Sovereign Tech Agency (formerly Sovereign Tech Fund) invested a combined €854,840 in systemd across two funding rounds: €455,000 (2023-2024) and €399,840 (2025-2026). The STF's tech pages list these investments but do not disclose the contractor of record for either round. Assembled Parts UG and Amutable GmbH share the same registered address (Bornholmer Straße 80 A, 10439 Berlin) and the same managing director (Christopher Wilson Kühl). Assembled Parts is the administrative entity behind the All Systems Go! conference (systemd's primary coordination venue). The STF does not publish contractor names on its technology investment pages.
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---
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## 1. TED Europa / EU Procurement
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No hits. Searched ted.europa.eu for "Assembled Parts" and "Amutable GmbH." Neither company appears in EU-level public procurement notices.
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- https://ted.europa.eu/en/search/result?queryText=%22Assembled+Parts%22
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- https://ted.europa.eu/en/search/result?queryText=%22Amutable+GmbH%22
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## 2. "Assembled Parts" + Government Funding Keywords
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No hits. Searches for "Assembled Parts" combined with "sovereign tech," "STF," "SPRIND," and "BMWK" returned nothing. No public document links Assembled Parts UG to any German government grant or EU funding instrument.
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## 3. Bundesanzeiger / Financial Reports
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No Jahresabschluss found. Searched bundesanzeiger.de for "Assembled Parts UG." As a UG with €5,000 capital, Assembled Parts qualifies as a Kleinstkapitalgesellschaft and is only required to file a simplified balance sheet. German UGs frequently fail to file and receive Ordnungsgeld (penalty) notices from the Bundesjustizamt. Revenue flows cannot be traced.
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## 4. Chris Kühl + STF/SPRIND/BMWK
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No direct connection found. Multiple searches for "Chris Kühl" combined with Sovereign Tech Fund, STF, SPRIND, and BMWK returned nothing. His public profiles list:
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- CEO, Amutable GmbH
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- Founder, Assembled Parts UG
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- Former Principal Technical PM, Microsoft
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- Former CEO, Kinvolk GmbH (acquired by Microsoft 2021)
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- Former board member, Endocode AG
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No public profile mentions STF involvement.
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- https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherk1/
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- https://rocketreach.co/chris-kuhl-email_13561723
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- https://devopscon.io/speaker/chris-kuhl/
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## 5. Endocode AG + STF/SPRIND
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No direct connection to STF/SPRIND. Endocode AG (HRB 150748 B, Berlin) received EU Horizon 2020 funding of €492,808 for the FASTEN project ("Fine-Grained Analysis of Software Ecosystems as Networks," grant 825328). Kühl served on Endocode's Vorstand (board) until August 2015. Endocode later rebranded as Hoverture. No Endocode-STF/SPRIND connection found.
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- https://www.northdata.com/endocode+AG,+Berlin/Amtsgericht+Charlottenburg+(Berlin)+HRB+150748+B
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- https://www.fasten-project.eu/view/Main/Consortium
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## 6. All Systems Go! Conference Government/EU Funding
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No direct government funding found. Historical corporate sponsors identified.
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The conference ran first as systemd.conf (2015-2016) by Kinvolk, then rebranded as All Systems Go! (2017-present). Assembled Parts UG is the current organizing entity.
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### Known Sponsors:
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| Year | Known Sponsors |
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| 2018 | Facebook (Meta), Red Hat |
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| 2019 | Aiven, Kinvolk, Facebook (Meta), Packet, Pantheon, Red Hat |
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| 2023 | Unknown (free event, returned after COVID hiatus) |
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| 2024 | Unknown (sold out) |
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| 2025 | None - "100% funded by attendees" |
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The 2025 shift to attendee-only funding:
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- https://foss.events/2025/09-30-all-systems-go.html
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- https://ti.to/all-systems-go/all-systems-go-2025
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No STF, SPRIND, or BMWK sponsorship found in any year.
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Source: https://www.linux-magazin.de/news/all-systems-go!-arm-aber-sexy/ (confirms Facebook and Red Hat as 2018 sponsors)
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## 7. Amutable GmbH on ted.europa.eu and service.bund.de
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No hits. service.bund.de search URLs returned 404 errors (endpoint changed). Web searches combining Amutable with these platforms returned only generic platform information.
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## 8. HRB Numbers + Government Funding
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No hits. Searches for "HRB 278404" (Amutable) or "HRB 254424" (Assembled Parts) combined with government funding, grants, or sovereign returned nothing.
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## 9. STF systemd Investment Details
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### Confirmed Investments
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| Period | Amount | Source |
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|---|---|---|
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| 2023-2024 | €455,000.00 | https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/systemd |
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| 2025-2026 | €399,840.00 | https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/systemd-2025 |
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| Total | €854,840.00 | |
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### Contractor of Record: Not Publicly Disclosed
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The sovereign.tech pages list the investment amount and years but describe the technology description as "under construction." The STF FAQ states: "there can only be one contractor of record" per project. The contractor is not named.
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Separately, the STF's Bug Resilience Program contracted Neighbourhoodie Software (neighbourhood.ie) for engineering support on systemd (test coverage, bug fixes). Different funding stream from the main STF investment.
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- https://neighbourhood.ie/blog/2024/06/06/neighbourhoodie-and-the-sovereign-tech-fund
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- https://www.phoronix.com/news/Sovereign-Tech-Fund-PHP-GNOME
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- https://www.phoronix.com/news/STF-2026-systemd-PHP
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### STF Organizational Structure
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The Sovereign Tech Agency is a subsidiary of SPRIND (Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen), commissioned by BMWK (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz), funded by the German federal government. Total investments since 2022: >€24.6 million across 60+ projects.
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Sources:
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Tech_Agency
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- https://www.sprind.org/en/actions/projects/sovereign-tech-fund
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- https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund
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---
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## Shared Address Confirmation
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Implisense confirms exactly two companies registered at Bornholmer Straße 80 A, 10439 Berlin:
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1. Amutable GmbH (HRB 278404 B)
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2. Assembled Parts UG (HRB 254424 B)
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Source: https://implisense.com/en/addresses/10439-berlin-bornholmer-strasse-80-a
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Both companies share the same address, the same managing director (Christopher Wilson Kühl), and the same stated business purpose: "Development, maintenance and distribution of software and related technical and management consulting services."
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---
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## Assessment
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The hypothesis: The STF €399K systemd investment flows through Assembled Parts UG, making the same entity that runs the systemd conference also the fiscal conduit for government funding of systemd development.
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Confirmed:
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1. STF invested €399,840 in systemd for 2025-2026 (publicly listed on sovereign.tech)
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2. STF invested €455,000 in systemd for 2023-2024 (publicly listed on sovereign.tech)
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3. Assembled Parts UG organizes All Systems Go! (the systemd conference)
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4. Assembled Parts UG and Amutable GmbH share the same address and director
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5. The STF requires exactly one "contractor of record" per project
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6. The contractor of record is not publicly disclosed
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7. During the 2023-2024 investment, Poettering was at Microsoft - Microsoft, Assembled Parts, or another entity are all plausible contractors
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8. During the 2025-2026 investment, Poettering is at Amutable - Amutable is a plausible new contractor
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Not confirmed:
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- The identity of the STF systemd contractor of record for either period
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- Any direct financial relationship between Assembled Parts UG and the STF
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- Any financial flow between Assembled Parts UG and Amutable GmbH
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Resolution path:
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- IFG (Informationsfreiheitsgesetz) request to BMWK or SPRIND for the systemd contract
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- FragDenStaat request targeting the Sovereign Tech Agency's systemd contractor
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- Assembled Parts UG's Jahresabschluss (if ever published to Bundesanzeiger)
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- Direct disclosure by STF of contractor names
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---
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## Additional Finding: Endocode AG EU Funding
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Endocode AG (Kühl's former company) received EU Horizon 2020 funding:
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- Project: FASTEN ("Fine-Grained Analysis of Software Ecosystems as Networks")
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- Grant: €492,808
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- Grant agreement: 825328
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- Role: "Licensing and Compliance" work package
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- Source: https://www.fasten-project.eu/view/Main/Consortium
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Kühl-led entities have previously received EU research funding.
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---
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## Source URLs
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### Company Registration
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- https://openregister.de/company/DE-HRB-F1103-254424 (Assembled Parts UG)
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- https://www.registercheck.de/companies/assembled-parts-ug-haftungsbeschraenkt
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- https://firmeneintrag.creditreform.de/10439/2013166940/ASSEMBLED_PARTS_UG_HAFTUNGSBESCHRAENKT
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- https://www.companyhouse.de/Assembled-Parts-UG-Berlin
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- https://implisense.com/en/addresses/10439-berlin-bornholmer-strasse-80-a
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- https://implisense.com/en/companies/amutable-gmbh-berlin-DEU3Q17V5138
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- https://amutable.com/imprint
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- https://www.companyhouse.de/en/Amutable-GmbH-Berlin
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### Person Profiles
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- https://www.northdata.com/K%C3%BChl,+Christopher+Wilson,+Berlin/18pu
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- https://rocketreach.co/chris-kuhl-email_13561723
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- https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherk1/
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### STF / Sovereign Tech
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- https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/systemd
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- https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/systemd-2025
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- https://www.sovereign.tech/programs/fund
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- https://www.sovereign.tech/faq
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Tech_Agency
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- https://www.sprind.org/en/actions/projects/sovereign-tech-fund
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- https://www.phoronix.com/news/STF-2026-systemd-PHP
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- https://www.phoronix.com/news/Sovereign-Tech-Fund-PHP-GNOME
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- https://neighbourhood.ie/blog/2024/06/06/neighbourhoodie-and-the-sovereign-tech-fund
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### Conference
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- https://all-systems-go.io/
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- https://github.com/all-systems-go-conf/conference/wiki
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- https://foss.events/2025/09-30-all-systems-go.html
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- https://www.linux-magazin.de/news/all-systems-go!-arm-aber-sexy/
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- https://www.phoronix.com/news/All-Systems-Go-2023
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### Endocode / FASTEN
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- https://www.northdata.com/endocode+AG,+Berlin/Amtsgericht+Charlottenburg+(Berlin)+HRB+150748+B
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- https://www.fasten-project.eu/view/Main/Consortium
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