As emerging venture managers face buyouts and fundraising struggles across Europe, Switzerland’s leading pre-seed fund demonstrates enduring investor confidence.

Zurich, Switzerland – 14 November 2024: As Europe’s venture capital market grapples with widespread consolidation and emerging manager buyouts, Founderful has closed an oversubscribed $140 million Fund II. The fund’s success stands in stark contrast to the broader market, where many emerging managers face mounting pressure to consolidate or struggle with depleted dry power. Founderful’s proven thesis on Swiss tech and talent has already seen Fund II back 15 companies featuring breakthrough technologies, from Chiral Nano’s alternative silicon chips to Eigthinks’ advances in lithium-ion batteries.

This momentum builds on Founderful’s track record with $90m Fund I, which has been fully deployed across 40 startups. These investments have already demonstrated remarkable results, with portfolio companies creating over 1,100 jobs and securing more than $450 million in follow-on funding from leading international venture firms. Notable successes include manufacturing analytics startup Ethon AI (raised $16.5m from Index Ventures), Corintis, who are breaking boundaries in chip cooling technology, Grape Insurance (raised $10m from Spark), and DePoly, who are building a commercial demonstration plant able to recycle 500 tons of plastic waste per year, among others.

Established in 2019 by a trio of successful entrepreneurs and investors – GetYourGuide co-founder Pascal Mathis, former Creathor Ventures Switzerland Lead Alex Stöckl, and EAT.ch co-founder Lukas Weder – Founderful has maintained its founding vision of transforming Swiss tech startups into global market leaders.

Alex Stöckl, Partner at Founderful, commented: « From day one, we have been relentless in our efforts to create a foothold for the Swiss tech ecosystem on the global stage. Fund II is evidence that we have walked the talk, and investors have taken note. This was no easy win, but we fought hard. We’re deeply grateful to our LPs, both existing and new, for recognizing our drive and sharing our conviction in the Swiss tech ecosystem—a powerhouse that’s only just starting to claim its place in the global tech industry. »

Founderful’s new Fund II is backed by a range of institutions, family offices, and founders who have successfully scaled their startups into global unicorns such as Duolingo, Climeworks, GetYourGuide, On, Proton, and Scandit.

Severin Hacker, CTO and co-founder at Duolingo, added: « Building Duolingo, I’ve seen my fair share of VC firms, and it is rare to collaborate with an investor who is as meticulous and relentless toward creating value to the founders they backed, as the team at Founderful. Their approach, combined with the unfolding potential of the Swiss tech ecosystem, probably makes them one of Europe’s most promising VC firms these days. »

The fund’s strategy is laser-focused on leading first rounds in Switzerland’s tech landscape, where Founderful works in close partnership with leading academic institutions and industry players to identify and nurture breakthrough technologies.

Notably, Founderful’s thesis on Swiss tech and talent has been proven by three megatrends:

  • For the 13th consecutive year, Switzerland has ranked first in the Global Innovation Index – topping the lists for technology, knowledge, and creative output. It also has the world’s highest patent per capita ratio, and ETH Zurich produces more university spin-outs than any other university worldwide.
  • Big tech is fascinated by Switzerland, which is why Google has 5,000 developers there (its largest tech office outside the US), while Disney, Nvidia, Meta, Huawei, and Intel have consistently grown their local R&D teams over the past years.
  • Switzerland is a Unicorn state – there are more billion-dollar tech startups per capita in Switzerland than anywhere else in Europe. Recent unicorn graduates like Scandit (logistics software), Climeworks (carbon capturing), and SonarSource (code security), and bootstrapped under-the-radar success stories like Proton (internet privacy) underline Switzerland’s rising global prominence in B2B technologies.

Looking ahead, Founderful will build on its position as Switzerland’s leading pre-seed investor, leveraging its strong ties with academia and industry to identify promising breakthroughs at their earliest stages. Against the backdrop of the European venture landscape, Founderful’s successful close signals enduring investor confidence in the fund, its team, and its all-star lineup of portfolio founders.

About Founderful

Founderful is Switzerland’s leading pre-seed fund, backing founder teams building tech companies with the potential to become global market leaders. Founderful has a track record of supporting exceptional founders in creating breakthrough companies and has the passionate conviction that the Swiss startup ecosystem is just starting to write its best success stories.

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