Vsquared Ventures

📰 Media analysis: As the start of the Ariane is highlighting the importance of a strong and independent European space industry, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung analyses the impact of German New Space start-ups on on the European ecosystem. 🚀 🇪🇺 In Germany a small but rapidly growing sector of young space companies has emerged in recent years. Many of the German hopefuls within the space industry are New Space startups, who are leading the charge with their cutting-edge launch technologies. Great to see some of the founders we get to partner with in conversation with FAZ's tech editor Maximilian Sachse: Hélène Huby and The Exploration Company, which is paving the way for future space logistics through its reusable cargo capsule. Also constellr Co-Founder and CEO Max Gulde, who is leveraging satellite data to revolutionize industries such as agriculture. "The increased private sector interest in space companies in Europe has helped to awaken the local space industry," emphasizes our GP Thomas Oehl. "It's amazing to see the progress achieved over the last 5-10 years." Read the full article to find out more about the ecosystem: https://lnkd.in/ex6PMPJ5

Isar Aerospace has extended its Series C funding round to over EUR 220m with strong commitment from NATO Innovation Fund (NIF).   The investment by the NATO Innovation Fund in Isar Aerospace is a strong sign of confidence in our approach and underlines the fundamental role of space technologies for our economies and societies. Based on automation technologies and scalability we will build-up a new 40.000m2 series production to industrialize the production of launch vehicles for serving the increasing demand for flexible and cost-efficient access to space.   Link to press release and more information: https://lnkd.in/dBj93PVq

𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲... 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗘𝗣 𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗛 𝗨𝗡𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗩𝗢𝗟. 𝟮 🚀 We are ready to catalyze change together at this years Deep Tech Unconference, hosted by the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, 𝗙𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗭𝘂𝗸𝘂𝗻𝗳𝘁, Vsquared Ventures, DTCF | DeepTech & Climate Fonds and Yttrium. The next global #DeepTech leaders can and will come out of #Europe - however there is an urgent need to collectively evaluate key topics that have a huge impact on their future! How do we need to adapt to support the growth of industry leaders? Which role does unity across the sector play? What best public policy practices from across the globe should Europe adapt? And what impact does the currently shifting geopolitical landscape have? 𝗕𝗨𝗧: 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. After an impactful first edition in 2023, this second edition brings together the driving forces in European deep tech. As a pre-event to Munich’s most exciting tech gathering, the Festival der Zukunft by 1E9 and Deutsches Museum, this Unconference allows the exact agenda to be set collaboratively by the participants, with impulses from select industry leaders. Places are severely limited, but we want to open some last spots up to our network. So if you are a deep tech investor, in Munich next week, and interested in joining, apply to join here: https://lu.ma/b3u175zp. Afterwards, meet some of the brightest founders in deep tech at the 1E9 #SpeakersDinner. 🗓 Wednesday, June 26th ⏰ 11:30 - 22:00 📍 Munich (exact details to be shared with the confirmation)

Major milestone reached, announcing Germany’s first hybrid quantum computer! We are proud to announce that IQM-led consortium Q-Exa has successfully integrated a 20-qubit quantum computer into a supercomputer, SuperMUC-NG, at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Germany. Key highlights: ◾ The test runs were successful and show that both technologies work together.   ◾ The 20-qubit quantum processor unit delivered by IQM is based on superconducting circuits. ◾ LRZ will soon open the system for research purposes. ◾ The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) of Germany funded this milestone in technology called Q-Exa with more than 40 million euros. ◾ Q-Exa strengthens Germany’s position as a technology hotspot and, in particular, promotes development work on future technology within the Munich Quantum Valley. Q-Exa benchmarks: ◾ 20-qubit quantum processor unit ◾ Quantum Volume (QV) 32  ◾ Entangled Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state of 19 qubits without readout error mitigation ◾ Fully entangled 20 qubit GHZ state with readout error mitigation ◾ A median two-qubit (CZ) gate fidelity of 99.46% across 30 qubit pairs, with maximum fidelity over a single pair reaching as high as 99.74%.  ◾ A median single qubit gate fidelity of 99.94% across 20 qubits, with maximum fidelity over a single qubit reaching as high as 99.95%. Speaking at a press conference in Munich, Markus Blume, Bavarian State Minister for Science and the Arts, said: “The quantum computing mission is flying at a high pace in Bavaria: the world's first full integration of a quantum computer into a conventional supercomputer is an international breakthrough and strengthens Bavaria's position as a global hotspot for one of the defining technologies of the 21st century." Read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/d7EsqzfJ #IQM #QuantumComputing #Germany #LRZ Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung Eviden HQS Quantum Simulations Dr. Peter Eder Markus Bendele, PhD Jan Goetz Mikko Välimäki Juha Hassel Inés De Vega Juha Vartiainen Bayern Kapital European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) OurCrowd Varma Maki.vc MIG Fonds OpenOcean SALVIA GmbH  Tesi Vsquared Ventures World Fund Sierk Poetting Daria Saharova Axel Thierauf Ekaterina Almasque Helmut Jeggle Sylwia Barthel de Weydenthal (she/her) Jan Goetz Hermanni Heimonen Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts

𝗔 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀: 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 €𝟮𝟱𝟰.𝟰𝗺 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱, 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲! 🤖 The round marks one of the largest ever for a European deep tech chip manufacturer, combining private and public funding. With new investors, including Porsche Ventures, joining existing investors, including Project A and Vsquared Ventures, the company also managed to receive €228.7m in public funding via the IPCEI ME/CT program. The goal: establish independent chip capabilities in Europe to further resilient supply chains and European technological sovereignty! How? Leveraging a novel material, graphene, Black Semiconductor is developing a new way to build networks of chips. Their hardware and technology allows for the facilitation of optical chip-to-chip connections, allowing them to interact almost as if they were one. This new generation of chip networks enhances computing power and enables efficiency and will also solve connectivity barriers. Black Semiconductor will now tackle the first semiconductor mass production based on graphene, which will hugely support the European semiconductor value chain! Congratulations to Daniel Schall, Sebastian Schall, Cedric Huyghebaert and the entire Black Semiconductor team for this amazing achievement! You can read more about the company's plans in the articles linked in the comments. CC: East Hill Equity - Managing Scania Growth Capital, Capnamic, TVF | TechVision Fonds, NRW.BANK, Cambium Capital Management, Onsight Ventures, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Industrie, Klimaschutz und Energie des Landes NRW

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻: 𝗪𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗩𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝗜 𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗽 𝗮𝘁 𝟮𝟭𝟰𝗺 𝗘𝗨𝗥!🚀 🌍 We are thrilled to announce that Vsquared Ventures has successfully closed our second fund at €214 million, significantly surpassing our initial target of €165 million! This new fund will fuel Europe's #DeepTech boom, supporting early-stage startups with investments ranging from €500k to €5m. Right now there is immense opportunity for #Europe to become a global deep tech powerhouse. Companies that solve real problems through real technology on a global scale will be successful and these are the ones we partner with. As we continue to drive forward with #VsquaredII, we remain dedicated to leveraging not only capital, but also our expertise and extensive network for our founders, with the goal in mind to prove that the next global deep tech leaders can and will be European. With this fund, we've already made eight strategic investments in groundbreaking companies like NEURA Robotics, a pioneer in cognitive robotics; cylib, innovators in next-generation battery recycling technology; Quantune Technologies GmbH, which is developing the world’s first wearable laser-based biomarker measurement system; bioscience company Atrandi Biosciences | Droplet Genomics, which is enabling next-gen sequencing at scale; Dynelectro, which is enabling cost-efficient and sustainable hydrogen production; Lace Lithography, focused on advancing chip patterning technology; leading provider of space-based insights constellr; and Synthara AG, at the forefront of integrating in-memory computing. We are proud to be backed by prominent pan-European LPs, cementing our mission, and are excited to leverage this momentum to build a resilient and competitive deep tech ecosystem in Europe. Want to find out more? Then take a look at what Handelsblatt’s Nadine Schimroszik and Sifted's Miriam Partington reported: Handelsblatt: https://lnkd.in/e3faffnK Sifted: https://lnkd.in/e_UrVP-Q

We are honoured to greet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during the official opening of ILA Berlin - Pioneering Aerospace at our booth today. Our Co-Founder and CEO Ivor van Dartel had an opportunity to present the latest progress on our battery electric Microliner and the positive impact it will have on short haul aviation and the connectivity of regions. Exhibited are our aircraft model as well as a full scale Cabin Mock-Up. #Microliner #ILABerlin2024 #BDLI #eCTOL

𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗩𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮’𝘀 $𝟭𝟭𝗺 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻-𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴!🚀🚀 Remember when we went live with our research on memory centric computing, “WHY MEMORY MATTERS” (link in comments)? Well, while we were researching we met Synthara AG and were inspired by their incredible technology. The Zurich-based startup has developed a drop-in solution, ComputeRAM, to bring in-memory computing to mass markets, enabling portable devices like wearables and sensors to handle AI-workloads efficiently. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: The escalating demand for extensive data use, especially in AI, poses a major challenge for standard computing architectures. In-memory computing offers a solution, but existing approaches are often complex and costly to integrate. Synthara has developed an easy to integrate solution that enables these chips to achieve 100x better energy efficiency and latency. This innovation promises to revolutionize data-intensive applications with unparalleled performance and simplicity. Leading this round, Vsquared joins forces with OTB Ventures, Onsight Ventures, and Deeptech Labs , alongside European and Swiss grant funding. We're excited to support Synthara in their mission to make AI accessible and efficient for all portable devices. Looking Ahead: With plans to expand their team and hit the market with their first product, Synthara is poised to collaborate with industry giants like Bosch, enhancing various AI applications. This funding round is a significant step towards their goal of becoming the "Arm of small chips" in the AI era. Congratulations to Manu V Nair and the entire Synthara team! Stay tuned for more updates from Synthara and Vsquared and read more about it in the Sifted article by Tim Smith! 🚀 https://lnkd.in/eyDG-N9A

Exploring the Future of #DeepTech: GP Lise Rechsteiner, PhD and Maybrit Martschin from Gründerszene talked about key insights into deep tech investing, which companies, who are not in our Portfolio, you should watch, and what an #AIStartup has to possess for her to consider it deep tech. At Vsquared Ventures we examine companies where groundbreaking innovation meets global impact 🚀 But what makes a #deeptech startup truly exceptional? Lise shared her key takeaways and how we analyse and examine the incredible technology companies we get to meet on a daily. Here are some insights: 🔍 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Vsquared Ventures seeks technologies that are not only innovative but also uniquely defensible and scalable. This involves for example new algorithms, hardware, datasets, or a combination of these elements. 💡 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘀: We invest in areas that will drive significant change for generations, including #NewSpace, #EnergyTransformation, #AIAndNextGenSoftware, #RoboticsAndManufacturing, #NewComputing, and #TechBio. 🌍 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲'𝘀 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲: While the US leads in global deeptech investments, Europe is catching up with a surge in growth funds and supportive policies. Notable European startups like Isar Aerospace and IQM Quantum Computers are making significant strides. But there is still room for more: US investors are responsible for 60% of all deep tech investments (Boston Consulting Group (BCG)) and there were roughly 154 IPOs on Wall Street in 2023 compared to 79 in Europe (@Stockanalysis). 📈 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮: Vsquared looks for startups with unique, scalable technologies that solve real problems, have a potential for global growth, and possess a well-rounded, ambitious team. Here are five promising deeptech startups from the DACH region that we recommend watching: 🔋 Dunia: Transforming energy by AI-driven materials discovery ⚡ Lightium: Building "All-optic" chips for faster data processing. 💡 Akhetonics: Creating ultra-fast, energy-efficient computer chips. 🤖 Flink Robotics: Enhancing industrial robots with advanced AI. ✈️ Metafuels: Producing sustainable aviation fuel from renewable electricity. The future of deeptech is bright, and Europe's role is becoming increasingly pivotal. It is our mission at Vsquared Ventures to continue to empower founders building companies based on groundbreaking technologies, creating new markets and becoming global leaders out of Europe to make the region future-proof. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eNbjxhEy And reach out if you are a founder who is building a company in this space! #Deeptech #Innovation #Startups #VsquaredVentures #Technology #Investment #Europe

It's a wrap – our first DeepTech founders and investors BBQ on Tuesday evening was a great success, with over 80 people maxing out the capacities of our office and terrace. 🙌 A big thanks to our co-hosts First Momentum Ventures and Vsquared Ventures, and to everyone who joined us on this early summer evening in Berlin. We are excited to see how the DeepTech ecosystem is growing and still a bit overwhelmed by the great energy you brought after a long conference day at Deep Tech Momentum. See you next time! cc Pablo Karnbaum Thomas Oehl Dr. Maximilian Ochs