Project Name | VC Fund | Description |
"Hard" AI applications in industry and science | BlueYard | How can we unlock the potential of AI in harder / edge use cases with surprisingly large markets - chemical processes and production, heavy industry, other industrial processes etc |
AI Agents | APEX Ventures | Agentic AI systems will automate repetitive tasks and complex workflows, enabling a more personalized experience. While there is a natural place for players like NVIDIA and OpenAI to generate business out of these technologies, we aim to find out, if there are European early-stage venture capital opportunities in this sector. For this, we need to map out the technology and business opportunity space |
AI Model Efficiency | APEX Ventures | Smaller, more specialized models will lead to more efficient compute at lower energy consumption. We are looking to better understand the main drivers of model efficiency, map out the benefits for humans and the environment, and identify the five best early-stage venture capital investment opportunities |
Bio defense | BlueYard | The next pandanemic will come for sure. What bio-defense technologies should we be developing and investing in |
Cybersecurity of grid | World Fund | Cybersecurity for the renewable grid structure. Assessment of the risks and how to mitigate them. |
Industrial Heat | Leitmotif | Industrial heat is responsible for a significant paert of Co2 emmissions in Europe and to procure clean and affordable heat is required for our industrial strength. Create a comprehensive overview of venture capital opportunities in these sectors and identify five viable investment targets. |
Lithium in grid scal energy | Vsquared Ventures | Is Lithium the best solution for grid scale energy storage? While other technologies outperform on the lab scale, the massive production scale and further committed investments might make Lithium the winner. Is there a chance for a deep tech company to contribute to the energy storage solution of the future at any point in the value chain? |
Low capex synthetic fuels | Possible Ventures | We believe that using free solar energy in combination with low capex carbon capture and electrolyzers to produce synthetic fuels is a promissing approach to power our world. |
Next game-changer in AI | Vsquared Ventures | Transformers and attention have been the driving force behind the massive success that AI has been able to enjoy in the past years. But today’s architectures suffer from exponential error progression and are reaching the end of the scaling model. What will be the next gamechanger in AI that continues the progress? |
Non-invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces | First Momentum | How do we interact with technology in a future where robots and AI are omnipresent? We belive that brain-computer interfaces are an exciting opportunity to augment human capabilities. But nobody wants to have a brain surgery. What breakthroughs in signal processing and AI can enable truly seamless, non-invasive brain-computer interaction? How can these technologies be translated into real-world applications? |
Novel memory & data storage technologies | First Momentum | What are the limitations of current memory technologies? How do we store and retrieve ever increasing data volumes at the highest speed (e.g. for AI applications in data centers)? What is the most efficient way to store critical data for a very long time? We want to investigate the bottlenecks and new opportunities for both volatile and non-volatile data storage. |
Physics-informed neural networks for physical reasoning | Spacewalk VC | We believe that Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs), which integrate machine learning with governing physical equations like Navier-Stokes and Maxwell's laws, have the potential to transform complex physical reasoning. By enabling real-time, high-fidelity modeling of phenomena such as fluid dynamics, heat transfer, and electromagnetics, PINNs can unlock unprecedented efficiency and precision in industries like automotive, energy, and aerospace. |
Quantum Technologies | APEX Ventures | Quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum sensing has been evolving fast over the recent years. We want to create a comprehensive overview of venture capital opportunities in these sectors and identify five viable investment targets |
Rare earth elements recycling | World Fund | How can we make the supply chain of rare earth elements more resilient. Map out the recycling technologies that increase recovery rates and are economically viable |
Robotics in construction | World Fund | How can we make advantage of the new robotics wave (onsite and offsite construction). Map out the space and the low hanging fruit in the market |
Rocket-based point-to-point transport for responsive logistics | First Momentum | The emergence of re-usable rockets is revolutionizing the space industry. We believe that the same is possible for logistics on earth. A ballistic rocket can reach any point on earth in almost 90 minutes. We want to investigate if and how reusable rockets can enable point-to-point transfer of time critical payloads. |
Scaling spatial omics for broader applications | Vsquared Ventures | Genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and other omics modalities, when applied individually, have unveiled the immense complexity of human health and disease, facilitated by advanced technologies. Multiomic approaches have become pivotal in driving precision and personalized medicine, improving disease diagnosis, and accelerating drug discovery. Key technologies driving these advancements include single-cell and spatial omics, enabling the exploration of cellular and tissue-specific disease complexities. What are the current technological bottlenecks in spatial omics? What specifications are needed to scale spatial omics for broader applications? What technological components are required to meet these specifications? |
Smart Grid | Leitmotif | How can the energy system in Europe be rebuilt for renewable electricity most effectively? Assuming long distance transmission lines will take too long and be too expensive, what is the plan B? What is the required investment for Grid level battery storage, Smart grid infrastructure, what role will car batteries play in this, etc. to create a locally stable grid. For this, we need to map out the technology and business opportunity space |
Smart Grid | Leitmotif | What technologies for smart grid management are going to be required for the energy transition, what software is there and what needs to be built? What business models are most promising. Identify the five best Series B-stage venture capital investment opportunities. |
Software-defined factories | First Momentum | Software-first companies like Andruil, Tesla, and Daedalus are building manufacturing from the ground up and design being driven by software and it’s opportunities. How do software-defined production setups look like outside of the defense sector & do you need to build the entire factory or can you also deliver individual systems? What does this look like for an AI-first company? |
Space based solar power | Possible Ventures | Could orbital solar farms beam energy to Earth and solve our energy crisis? |
Space Ventures in a Starship & Lunar age | First Momentum | What type of new ventures are being created in a time when the Starship is flying regularly and decreases launch costs by two orders of magnitude? Which opportunities emerge? How is that changing the current boundary conditions of space? Will startups also join the race to conquer the moon or even mars? |
Sustainable Mining for the Energy Transition | Possible Ventures | How can AI, automation, and novel extraction methods reduce the environmental impact of critical mineral mining? |
True bottlenecks in next-gen chips | Vsquared Ventures | As Moore’s law is ending, the semiconductor industry is constantly coming up with new ideas to keep scaling – even if they cannot further shrink feature sizes. There is a wide array of novel methods to enable the next breakthrough such as novel manufacturing methods of 3d stacked chiplets, on-chip cooling, etc. What are the true bottlenecks for the next generation chips that the industry has not solved yet? How can we overcome them? |
Ultra-deep Geothermal Energy | First Momentum | We believe the solution to the planet’s energy problems lies beneath us. Geothermal is an almost abundant green energy source that is, unfortunately, currently limited to specific geological conditions. How do we overcome that? By drilling very, very deep - deeper than ever before. This way, we can unlock geothermal energy everywhere on the planet on a massive scale. The physics check out - it’s a pure engineering challenge. |
Upcoming large-scale innovation in space | Vsquared Ventures | More and more Launcher businesses are going to come online and democratize access to space. Many businesses are emerging that are focusing on small components and incremental change, but there might be a bigger prize to reap: Based on new infrastructure and tools, what are the big innovations that can drive large step changes going forward? |
VPP | Leitmotif | Technology assessment and market map of Virtual Power Plant technologies. What is the role of automotive batteries in VPPs and what business models will likely emergy. Identify 5 compelling investment opportunities for the scenario. |