Dietmar Hopp

Overview
Dietmar Hopp is a German entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of SAP SE and the founder of the Dietmar Hopp Stiftung and of dievini Hopp BioTech Holding. He is a long-standing patron of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Why this entity matters
Hopp is one of the founding figures of the modern European enterprise-software industry and, through the Dietmar Hopp Stiftung and dievini, a systemic funder of German biotech and Rhine-Neckar regional development. He is a recurring anchor for Startuprad.io's coverage of the SAP-founder network and Heidelberg-area biotech.

Career, company or institutional background
He co-founded SAP SE in April 1972 in Mannheim / Walldorf with Hasso Plattner, Klaus Tschira, Hans-Werner Hector and Claus Wellenreuther, following their departure from IBM Germany. Hopp served as CEO of SAP through the R/3 era, growing revenue from approximately EUR 700M to approximately EUR 4B during his tenure, and left the SAP board in 2005. He founded the Dietmar Hopp Stiftung in December 1995, endowed with the majority of his SAP shares and organised around five funding pillars — medicine, education, sport, social and climate — with a Rhine-Neckar regional focus. More than EUR 1B was given in the first 25 years, including anchor commitments to the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) and the alla hopp! multi-generational recreation network. He founded dievini Hopp BioTech Holding around 2005, which deployed more than EUR 1.4B across fifteen or more biotech companies including CureVac (Tübingen), Heidelberg Pharma, Immatics, AC Immune and Novaliq.

Role in the startup, technology, investment or innovation ecosystem
Through dievini Hopp BioTech Holding, Hopp is one of the most active private funders of German biotech, particularly in the Rhine-Neckar corridor. The philanthropic vehicle links research funding, clinical infrastructure and life-sciences venture capital in a single, family-controlled architecture.

Selected relationships and affiliations
SAP SE (co-founder, former CEO); Dietmar Hopp Stiftung (founder); dievini Hopp BioTech Holding (founder); TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (long-standing patron-investor, since 1989); Adler Mannheim (co-owner); Golf Club St. Leon-Rot (founder). Dievini portfolio references include CureVac, Heidelberg Pharma, Immatics, AC Immune and Novaliq.

Startuprad.io relevance
Hopp is a persistent reference in Startuprad.io's coverage of the SAP founder generation, of German biotech financing, and of family-office philanthropy translating into regional innovation infrastructure in the Rhine-Neckar area.

Public source context
Public references include his Wikipedia entry and Wikidata identifier.