- Auxxo completed raising its second fund of €33.3 million after three difficult years of fundraising.
- The Berlin VC has likewise launched a matchmaking platform to help founders find co-founders.
- Female-only founding teams still receive only about 2% of global VC funding.
Dr Gesa Miczaika began raising funds for Auxxo’s second fund in 2022, and the process took three years to complete. Its Female Catalyst Fund II totals €33.3 million, 75% higher than the €19 million it raised for its first fund in 2021.
“It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my career,” she tells Tech Funding News.
The Berlin-based VC invests in European startups that have at least one female founder with at least 20% equity. The European Investment Fund remains the principal investor.
Marjut Falkstedt, EIF’s chief executive, stated, “We are glad to be continuing the drive for greater gender diversity in European venture capital alongside Auxxo. Diversity and financial return can go hand in hand – and we look forward to this new fund making exactly that a reality.”
EnBW New Ventures, the venture division of the German utility EnBW, has become a new partner in Fund II. Anke Gratz, EnBW New Ventures’ investment manager, noted, “Given the existing funding gap for female founders, we feel a responsibility and a strategic opportunity to actively broaden the diversity of our portfolio. Diversity isn’t just a KPI for us; it’s been shown time and again to correlate with stronger business performance.”
Aurum Impact, Cherry Ventures and Speedinvest have also joined, together with family offices and angel investors. More than half of the limited partners are women.
A pitch focused on impact as well as returns
According to Miczaika, Auxxo initially focused on returns but later placed greater emphasis on impact as public opinion on diversity evolved.
“We do want excellent returns; that’s the foundation. But ultimately, we want to do it because we believe it’s beneficial for the whole world,” she says.
Auxxo’s co-founder and general partner Bettine Schmitz added: “Our network is growing not only in size but also in influence and impact. The fact that more than half of our LPs are women shows that the industry is moving towards the future we have always envisioned.”
The notion began in 2018 when Miczaika and Schmitz discussed the importance of being themselves at work. “We wanted to come to our jobs as a whole person,” says Miczaika. Auxxo was launched the following year.
Focus on deep tech, with investments averaging €500,000
Even though the fund is allowed to invest in any sector, the majority of its investments are in deep technology. Auxxo typically invests around €500,000 for a 3%-8% shareholding, with a target of about 25-30 companies in total.
In Fund II, it has so far made 11 investments, including Marble Imaging, which is developing a German satellite network for Earth observation and defence; Delta Labs, whose Elaiia platform simulates customer behaviour; and BioOrbit, which is working on producing medicines in microgravity. The companies are located in Germany, the UK, Sweden, Finland and France.
“If you look at the portfolio, it’s very deep techy and very scientific. That’s where we see the best founders at the moment,” Miczaika says.
Two of the companies have already secured additional funding, one being Marble Imaging’s $6.14 million seed round, which was supported by High-Tech Gründerfonds.
A platform developed in response to requests from male-led teams
When the fund was closed, Auxxo also launched a Europe-wide Founder Matchmaking Platform. According to Miczaika, the platform was not originally intended as a diversity initiative, but was developed since a number of male-led teams had requested assistance in finding female co-founders or female executives.
The platform formalises these referrals and provides services for three categories of people: individual founders seeking technical or operational co-founders, operators considering taking on a founding role, and existing teams seeking a co-founder and access to Auxxo’s capital. It leverages Auxxo’s existing network, including the Evangelistas and EncourageVentures angel groups.
“We have always seen ourselves as a bridge, and with this platform we are laying the foundation for that bridge,” Miczaika notes.
She views the interest shown by male-dominated teams as a major shift, even though the funding figures haven’t yet reflected it.
Persistent funding gaps remain
The problem remains serious since the key figures have not changed. Female-only founding teams receive around 2% of global VC funding, whereas mixed teams having at least one female founder secure about 5%.
“The figures prove that real progress is not being made. It’s consistently the case that female-only teams are getting much less,” she says. When TFN previously reported on Auxxo’s €26 million first close, this gap was already a major point in the firm’s presentation to investors.
While most funds raise money and then wait for investment opportunities to arise, Auxxo continued raising funds over a three-year period even though this was difficult, and then applied the funds to address a problem that male founders had previously identified. It has not yet become clear whether this strategy will be more effective than simply supplying capital to close the funding gap.
Nevertheless, it represents a more active stance than most fund announcements, and Miczaika acknowledges that the data does not currently support her view.
