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Wingman Ventures is seeking the best of Switzerland ’s startup , and its various portfolio already ranges from nomadic DoC to robotics . The Zurich - base speculation capital house , which focuses on pre - seed startups , announced today it is rebranding asFounderfuland has already elevate $ 85 million for its new Fund II , with a target of close $ 120 million in the next few months .
The fund ’s backers include institutional investors , family line offices and founders from unicorns like Duolingo , Climeworks , GetYourGuide , Delivery Hero and Scandit . So far it has had two exits : Insightness , a vision micro chip inauguration take by Sony , and Bring ! Labs , a mobile mercantilism startup acquired by Swiss Post . There are two other exits in Founderful ’s pipeline , both in the B2B software quad , that are expected to be in the double - digit millions .
Founding partner Alex Stöckl tells TechCrunch that when Founderful finished call down its first $ 90 million fund in 2020 , it was Switzerland ’s first devote independent venture capital firm , investing only at the pre - seed level .
“ With this , from day one to the other we disrupted old - fashioned business angels , accelerator and brooder programs and family offices that would hand beginner unfavorable price , cause early over - dilution and tone down ambition layer to cater to their materialistic risk - return profiles , ” he say .
Founderful was launched in 2019 by Pascal Mathis , the conscientious objector - founder of GetYourGuide , a local travel marketplacethat hit unicorn status in 2023 , and Eat.ch co - founder Lukas Weder .
Over the last four geezerhood , Founderful has made almost 50 investments , include eight Swiss investments in 2023 . Its Fund I invested $ 60 million into 40 startups , cover 109 founders who make 1,093 job . In total , Fund I ’s portfolio raised extra funding of over $ 350 million in three years .
Fund II ’s distinctive check size will be $ 1 million for pre - seed point startup and up to $ 2 million for source - degree ones .
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Founderful look for inauguration in the B2B software package and industrial space , and invests in their first financial backing rounds . Its portfolio includes society from sectors like robotics and industrial mechanisation , contrived news and machine encyclopaedism , estimator imagination technologies and material science like clean tech , clime tech and mental synthesis tech .
Many of its portfolio founders issue forth from universities and inquiry institutions likeETH Zurich , through the Founderful Campus program . It says about two - third base of its entrepreneurs are graduates , doctorates or researchers from Switzerland ’s top academic institutions and one - third are former founder or employee of successful startups .
Founderful has already started investing majuscule from Fund II , include alternate silicon chips maker Chiral Nano , ESG reporting platform Nala Earth , surety robotics startupAscento , manufacture robotics companySaeki , workplace acquisition weapons platform Anthropos , bimolecular analysis fellowship Isospec Analytics , Li - ion electric battery developer Eightinks and humanoid robotics Almighty Faive Robotics .
Some of Founderful ’s other portfolio companies let in study drone startupWingtra , with annual revenue of over $ 20 million , plastics recycling companyDePolyand sustainable computing - focused Corintis , a sustainable computing that works with orbicular big technical school and endeavor businesses .
Stöckl enjoin Founderful benefits startups because it commit over and over again in the country at the same microscope stage and has optimized its documentation function and processes “ like Swiss clockwork , pun intended . ” Because it has the same accounting system standards , inspection and repair providers and talent pool , it is able-bodied to standardise the value - add it give to founder and their company , aid them capture market lead . Founderful also connects the Swiss ecosystem and external venture capital community , infix laminitis teams to next - round investor .
In the hereafter , Stöckl sound out Founderful will continue to double down “ on Switzerland , investing in the 10 most challenging father teams each year as their lead investor for their first financing one shot . ”
In a inverted comma about why he went into Founderful ’s Fund II as a limited partner , Duolingo CTO and co - founder Severin Hacker said , “ Building Duolingo , I ’ve seen my own fair ploughshare of VC business firm and it is rarefied to join forces with an investor who is as punctilious and relentless toward creating a value to the founders they support , as the squad at Founderful . ”
