While deep tech is booming, now accounting for 44% of all tech investments in Europe, most technical founders still face a familiar challenge: raising capital at the pre-seed stage from investors who understand the science and the scale of what they’re building. Focusing on this growth, First Momentum has grown from a student initiative into one of Europe’s most active early-stage deep tech investors.
First Momentum has closed its second fund at €35 million, representing a nearly tenfold increase over its €4 million debut fund, launched in 2018. The new fund reflects growing investor confidence in the firm’s thesis of backing technically sophisticated B2B startups at the very earliest stages, particularly those emerging from research-heavy environments.
With this fund, First Momentum plans to back up to 35 companies, having already invested in around 20. It typically deploys pre-seed cheques ranging from €200,000 to €1 million. A mix of family offices, industrial companies, fund-of-funds, and public institutions supports the fund.
Although the firm hasn’t disclosed its LPs, the backing from industrial players hints at a strategic alignment with European innovation priorities in hard tech and deep science.
Navigating geopolitical headwinds and market uncertainty
The fundraising effort, initiated in 2022, coincides with a volatile global investment environment. Rising geopolitical tensions and the growing threat of tariffs from the US have injected new complexities into cross-border tech investment. This backdrop presents a challenge, especially for VCs focused on capital-intensive, slow-to-commercialise technologies that often rely on international collaboration and supply chains.
In this context, First Momentum’s strategy appears to hedge against global instability by concentrating on resilient sectors such as grid infrastructure, industrial automation, novel materials, and energy storage — critical areas with growing relevance in a decoupling global economy.
Founders with research and engineering roots
First Momentum’s founding team stands out for its academic and technical pedigree. The partners – Sebastian Boehmer and Andreas Fischer are engineers, operators, and researchers from top-tier institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and the Max Planck Institute. This technical depth enables the firm to understand and assess highly complex technologies that more generalist investors might overlook.
That technical fluency is reflected in both their diligence process and their approach to sourcing deals. In addition to its internal team, the firm relies on a network of over 100 venture scouts, who are embedded in European universities and deeptech ecosystems.
Investment focus
While deeptech is broadly attractive, First Momentum is cautious about entering sectors where hype may outpace near-term commercial reality. One such area is robotics, specifically robotics startups riding the current wave of AI enthusiasm. The firm has taken a conservative stance, wary of inflated growth assumptions surrounding concepts such as humanoid robots and large language models applied to physical systems.
Instead of pursuing these high-profile but speculative plays, First Momentum has chosen to invest in startups with more immediate use cases and commercial clarity.
Portfolio of investments
Some of the standout companies in First Momentum’s new fund include:
- Daedalus (Germany): Autonomous manufacturing solutions integrating AI and robotics to streamline industrial production.
- ContextSDK (Germany): Mobile SDK that uses real-world context data to optimise app engagement and conversions.
- SDA – Software Defined Automation (Germany): Industrial DevOps platform bringing software agility to factory automation.
- Ninetailed (Germany): Personalisation API infrastructure for web and e-commerce platforms (acquired by Contentful).
- Atlas Bio (Germany): AI-driven platform accelerating drug discovery by predicting molecular interactions.
- Unikraft (Germany): Lightweight operating systems for high-performance cloud computing and serverless environments.
- Quantum Diamonds (Germany): Quantum sensing technology for ultra-precise measurements in semiconductor manufacturing.
- ISPTech (Germany): In-space propulsion systems enabling satellite mobility and maneuverability.
- Forward AM (Germany): Advanced materials and solutions for additive manufacturing across industries.
- Octomind (US/Germany): Autonomous software testing using machine learning to improve speed and reliability in deployment cycles.
These investments underscore the fund’s focus on foundational technologies that address pressing environmental, industrial, or computational challenges without relying on speculative narratives.
Future outlook
First Momentum’s second fund arrives at a time when deep tech investment is both vital and challenging. The technical complexity, long time horizons, and uncertain geopolitical context make early-stage B2B deeptech a challenging space to operate in. However, the firm’s engineering-led approach, combined with a cautious stance toward overhyped sectors, positions it to navigate these headwinds with discipline.
While firms like General Catalyst are also moving into structured financing for industrial and energy startups, First Momentum’s local presence, sector focus, and technical lens provide a distinct advantage in identifying and nurturing Europe’s next generation of industrial innovation. The true test will be whether these bets can scale meaningfully amid tightening capital markets and increasing regulatory scrutiny.
“We’re entering a decade where the biggest opportunities lie in reinventing the physical world — how we produce, move, and power things. Compute, energy, and industrial systems are all hitting tipping points at once, and founders with deep technical insight are the ones unlocking that potential. We believe the next European unicorns won’t come from incremental software — they’ll come from rethinking infrastructure, atoms, and electrons. That’s exactly where we invest,” said Andreas Fischer, Partner at First Momentum Ventures
