First Momentum Ventures

💫 Big news - Today, we are launching our new visual identity! The new look reflects the incredible journey we have embarked on since our start in 2018 and the momentum we want to generate for our founders, our LPs, our community, and the ecosystem as a whole. It perfectly embodies our dedication to technical founders and our core essence as engineers turned investors. A huge shoutout to everyone who contributed to bringing this vision to life, particularly the phenomenal team at Embacy (shoutout to Andrew Kravtsov and Anastasia Starodubtseva) and Sam Pak for the logo animation and launch video. 🤟 Don't forget to check out our new website. #FirstMomentum #BrandRefresh #VisualIdentity #VCNews

📣 The Deep Tech Hardware Napkin is out! 🤖 💸 Founders and investors alike wonder what it takes to build a successful hardware company. Until now! Inspired by Point Nine 's famous SaaS Napkin (shoutout to Christoph Janz), the Deep Tech Hardware Napkin provides a clear, data-driven guide to the milestones for each stage, from Pre-Seed to Series B. Read the full report here: bit.ly/3zMnhjm We have collected and analyzed over 100 data points on fundraising rounds from more than 30 VCs across Europe, and the Napkin is its essence. A heartfelt thanks to all the VCs who contributed the data and to Dealroom.co, which provided us with data to cross-check our findings! TechCrunch coverage in the comments 👇 A big 🙏 to Verve Ventures Possible Ventures Extantia Vsquared Ventures Intel Ignite Übermorgen Ventures Speedinvest Nucleus Capital Earlybird Venture Capital Seedcamp Kindred Capital VC Founderful Project A Voima Ventures Supernova Invest IQ Capital World Fund VIGO Ventures Atomico LEA Partners Elaia Matterwave Ventures Seraphim Space Saxovent Creator Fund Freigeist Unruly Capital Runa Capital Positron Ventures XAnge Tiny Supercomputer Investment Company APEX Ventures 7percent Ventures #firstmomentum #deeptech #deeptechnapkin #saasnapkin

🪐 Join First Momentum Ventures as our new VC Investment Intern! 🪐 Do you have a passion for startups and Venture Capital? First Momentum Ventures, one of Germany's most renowned pre-seed and Deep Tech investors is looking for a new VC Investment Intern to join our team starting in autumn. This opportunity is available either in Munich or remotely for at least 6 months. Any of you interested, or do you know someone? 👉 Apply here: 2ly.link/1wFgV We're looking for people with… 🦸♀️ A strong academic background 🦸♀️ Practical experience in startups 🦸♀️ Exceptional analytical skills 🦸♀️ Fluency in German and English 🦸♀️ Passion for the startup industry You'll… ⭐️ Source exciting startups ⭐️ Conduct screening calls with startup founders ⭐️ Assist our team in due diligence ⭐️ Participate in Investment Committee meetings ⭐️ Support portfolio activities Join us for hands-on experience, remote work with occasional team gatherings, and inclusion in our team retreats and social events. Apply now to shape the future of venture capital in Europe with us! #FirstMomentum #VCInternship #vcjobs #VentureCapital

A cozy 👋 to our newest Venture Scouts, Thoralf Leisten and J. David Reyes! Thoralf is in his last semester of Industrial Engineering at RWTH Aachen University and has already gained some consulting experience at McKinsey & Company and corporate experience at AUDI AG. Originally from Colombia, David is in the third semester of his Management and Technology Master's at the Technical University of Munich. He gained experience in data roles during his studies at startup Wemolo and is part of TUM.ai, an AI-focused student initiative at TUM. Thoralf and David are great examples of our powerful Venture Scout community. They support First Momentum in sourcing (deep) tech startups and helping founders build successful companies, and give Scouts the opportunity to learn hands-on about venture capital. If uncovering Europe's upcoming startup gems and delving deep into Venture Capital excites you, consider joining us as a Venture Scout. The link to apply is in the comments! 👨💻🚀 #firstmomentum #venturecapital #venturescouts #phd #founders #students #studentjobs #startupjobs #startupcommunity #startup

🗞 Our portfolio company, enneo.AI, was featured in a Handelsblatt article on the market for AI-assisted customer support. “Developing your own language model is expensive for companies, and training is time-consuming. Specialist knowledge is required, as well as hardware and software such as AI chips. This is where enneo.AI comes in: With a clear industry focus, the company wants to offer energy suppliers the solution to digitize and accelerate customer service.” Read more in the full Handelsblatt article: https://2ly.link/1yh9Y #enneo #ai #customersupport #firstmomentum

🪐 Fueling a Greener Space Economy 🛰️ We're ecstatic to unveil our investment in ISPTech, Germany's pioneer in eco-friendly propulsion systems that are revolutionizing spacecraft of all sizes! The team around founders Felix Lauck and Lukas Werling raised a €2m Pre-Seed round from lead investor HTGF | High-Tech Gründerfonds, other investors Possible Ventures, and us. ISPTech's technology is based on more than ten years of R&D by the two founders at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). It uses non-toxic green fuels, which reduce overall costs, allow rapid availability, and simplify spacecraft operations. The team has developed two technologies: one is space-ready (HyNOx), and one offers unique advantages (HIP_11). HyNOx offers unique advantages for smaller spacecraft. It runs on Ethane and Nitrogen Oxide and, unlike competitors, allows continuous operation at high performance without overheating issues. HIP_11 is a unique propulsion technology for large spacecraft like landers, capsules, and satellites. It offers less complexity and cost than other systems with similar thrust levels and will be refuellable. HIP_11 also allows hybrid operation, i.e. electric and chemical propulsion simultaneously. ISPTech's technologies will already be used on the first flights at the end of next year. Congratulations to the ISPTech team on their Pre-Seed Round, and welcome to the First Momentum family! 👏 Announcement & press coverage in the comments 👇 #firstmomentum #isptech #spacetech #sustainability #deeptech #fundingannouncements #startupnews

📝 Meet the Winners of our Poster Session at the Spinoff Summit 2024 👏 ℹ️ The poster session was a key highlight. Around 20 participants presented their research or science-based businesses, engaged with attendees, and received votes for their visionary projects. Who won? 🔎 Here’s a closer look at our three winners with a tie for second place: 🥇 Sakari Syväniemi and Wouter Dirk Badenhorst - CuRen 🥇 Sakari and Wouter are PhD researchers in Chemical Engineering at Aalto University. They are currently working on CuRen, a project that aims to revolutionize energy storage through its copper-redox flow batteries. These batteries offer scalable power and capacity, high cycling life, and cost-efficient manufacturing. Aiming at the €53bn European energy market, CuRen is preparing for a spinoff and a seed funding round in Nov 2024, with plans to start manufacturing in 2025. Prize: Tickets to the Falling Walls Conference 🥈 Maike Kaufman, Claudio Michaelis, and Wieland Brendel - polybot 🥈 Maike, Claudio, and Wieland are a group of current and former researchers from Baden-Württemberg with stints at the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS), the University of Oxford, or Amazon. They aim to revolutionize sustainable farming with small, autonomous-legged robots called polybots. These robots can replace large machinery in monoculture farming, handling tasks like seeding, planting, weeding, and harvesting. This innovation paves the way for new sustainable farming practices. Prize: Three essential startup books: 📚 The Hard Thing About Hard Things, 📚Venture Deals, and 📚 Innovator's DNA. 🥈 Timo Eckstein - Large-scale simulations of Floquet physics on near-term quantum computers 🥈 Timo Eckstein, who handed over the poster representing a group of researchers, is a PhD student at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and studies quantum assembler algorithms to explore the advantages of quantum algorithms over classical ones. His work introduces the QHiFFS algorithm for simulating the dynamics of fast-driven Floquet systems on quantum hardware. This approach shows significant advantages in simulation time and frequency scaling compared to traditional methods. The algorithm leverages a kick operator to transform the system into a basis governed by a time-independent effective Hamiltonian, allowing for efficient simulation of Floquet systems. Prize: Three essential startup books: 📚 The Hard Thing About Hard Things, 📚Venture Deals, and 📚 Innovator's DNA. 🙌 A big thank you to everyone who participated in the poster session and all attendees who placed their dots. Special shoutout to the Falling Walls Foundation for sponsoring the first prize. Wanna join the Spinoff Summit in 2025? Pre-register here: 2ly.link/1ydWw #SpinoffSummit2024 #DeepTech #FirstMomentum

💡Why is the semiconductor industry undergoing a groundbreaking transformation? 💡 In our latest industry briefing, Benjamin Wolba from Lunar Ventures broke it down with us at First Momentum Ventures. As we move from general-purpose CPUs to specialized processors, the future of computing is becoming more diverse and powerful than ever. From AI-specific chips to revolutionary quantum and photonic computing, we're on the cusp of a new era. 🌟 👉 If you want to see the full recording, check out the YouTube video: 2ly.link/1ySKL 🔥Key Findings 🔥 🧠 Rise of AI-Specific Chips AI has become a driving force for chip specialization. Companies like NVIDIA and Google are developing processors tailored for machine learning tasks, indicating a trend likely to continue. #AIChips #FutureOfAI 🔥 Heat Challenge As the transition to specialized chips happened, the issue of heat dissipation became critical. New technologies, such as liquid cooling and diamond-based solutions, are being developed to address this. In Europe, startups like Phononics, Corintis, and Incooling are creating advanced cooling technologies. #TechInnovation #ChipCooling 📊 Memory Challenge Memory technology is a major challenge in modern computing. New types of memory, like on-chip and photonic memory, are key for making progress, allowing for faster and more efficient data access. #MemoryTech #DataEfficiency ⚡ Exploring New and Old Paradigms Analog computing is making a comeback, offering energy efficiency for certain tasks. Neuromorphic computing, which mimics the human brain, is also gaining traction, promising to revolutionize AI. Quantum and photonic computing represent the frontier of possibilities, offering leaps in processing power and efficiency by leveraging fundamentally different physical principles. Companies like IBM and Lightmatter are pioneering these technologies. #QuantumComputing #PhotonicComputing #AnalogComputing #NeuromorphicComputing 🌍 European Leadership in Semiconductor Innovation With its leading research institutions and emphasis on next-gen technologies, Europe is set to drive the future of semiconductor innovation. #EuropeTech 🤝 A special thanks to Benjamin Wolba for sharing his expertise and insights with us. For more deep dives and industry insights, follow First Momentum Ventures on LinkedIn! #FirstMomentum #DeepTech #FutureOfComputing #ChipTechnology #Semiconductors #QuantumComputing #AnalogComputing #AI #VentureCapital

We are excited to welcome Lukas Dorna to our team! 🚀 Lukas joins us from the Tomorrow University of Applied Sciences, where he is pursuing his Bachelor's in Responsible Entrepreneurship. He brings experience from startup Enpal and VC Project A, where he supported scaling departments and teams, optimized operations, integrated new business processes, and led recruitment. Lukas is also active in the Event Team at START Berlin, organizing impactful events. At First Momentum Ventures, Lukas will support our platform team in building and managing our Venture Scout Community, marketing efforts, and portfolio company support, helping us back Europe's most promising Deep Tech and B2B startups. Welcome aboard, Lukas! 🎉 👉 If you want to join one of Europe's most active Deep Tech VCs, apply as an intern (link in the comments). #team #firstmomentum #vcnews #vcjobs

🎓 Navigating the Future of Science Startups: Top Moments and Lessons from the Spinoff Summit 2024 🎓 Last week’s Spinoff Summit 2024 set out to battle scientists' uncertainties around turning their research into companies through a day of insights, upskilling, and support. And how well it played out! Seeing everyone come together with such enthusiasm and passion was nothing short of magical. Here's what made the Spinoff Summit 2024, in our opinion, a standout event: 🎤 Speakers and Content We had the privilege of hosting a group of outstanding speakers who are not only leaders in their fields but also passionate about sharing their knowledge. Ingmar Hoerr's (CureVac) keynote started the day by encouraging scientists to persist with their unique and innovative ideas despite any dismissal. During fireside chats, Michiel Scheffer (EIC) mentioned getting comfortable when startups applying for the EIC grant have over 10 patents (!), and Dr. Michael Baumann (TWAICE) emphasized the significance of a strong company culture: "Idiots will find a way into your company, but if you build the right culture, they will get washed out." Two other highlights were the design thinking and prototyping workshop with Thomas Kirchner (ProGlove) and the open dialogue between VCs and TTOs to create a more effective spinoff ecosystem. Congrats also again to Sakari Syväniemi and Wouter Dirk Badenhorst for winning the poster competition and presenting their Copper Redox Flow Batteries! Thanks again to all speakers for contributing your time and expertise to make the Spinoff Summit 2024 such a success. 🎓 People Participants included research scientists, PhDs, VCs, founders, innovation leaders at universities and research institutes and many more from organizations like Technical University of Munich, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Max Planck Society, Falling Walls Foundation, World Fund, Fresenius, DTCF | DeepTech & Climate Fonds, Vsquared Ventures, YPOG, and many others. Each individual brought unique insights and aspirations, creating a rich tapestry of experiences that propelled the discussions. 🤝 Intimacy and Interaction With just 150 hand-selected attendees, each moment was a chance for deep, meaningful interaction. Our goal was to create a space where every conversation and connection was impactful, and we achieved just that. 🪐 Venue Hosting at ESO Supernova allowed us to blend cutting-edge science with the awe of the cosmos, providing a backdrop that was both inspiring and profoundly memorable. We are immensely grateful to everyone who joined and supported us, from speakers and partners to collaborators. Special thanks to everyone involved at First Momentum Ventures and our co-hosts SPRIND - Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen and Cyber Valley. 👉 If you want to join next year's event, register on the waitlist: 2ly.link/1ySHM 📸 Here are some moments captured from the event! #FirstMomentum #ScientistFounders #SpinoffSummit2024