Berlin-based VC firm Merantix Capital has closed a €103 million fund focused on early-stage artificial intelligence startups across Europe, according to the firm. The vehicle targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies and is expected to back around 40 startups.
- The new fund will focus on applied AI across industrial and enterprise sectors, including logistics, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, finance, and enterprise software. It will also invest in so-called “physical AI” applications alongside software-based use cases.
- Merantix Capital will deploy capital through a dual model combining direct investments with companies developed internally via its venture studio. The structure continues the approach used in its previous fund, which blended incubation with traditional venture investing.
- Its earlier fund backed companies such as revel8, Deltia, Vara, and Cambrium, many of which were developed through the studio model before raising external capital.
- Limited partners in the new fund include institutional and corporate investors such as Union Investment, Jungheinrich, and KPMG Germany, as well as foundations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
- The new fund has already invested in Droidrun, Arqh, and Outpost Bio, and includes several undisclosed companies operating across logistics, manufacturing, recruiting, and energy.
- Alongside its investing activity, Merantix Capital operates within a broader ecosystem that includes the Merantix AI Campus in Berlin, the London AI Hub, AI House Davos, and Merantix Momentum, an enterprise AI services company.
