Ex-Google Moonshot X Advisor Launches €50M Cloudberry Ventures DeepTech Fund With 86% Gross IRR Track Record
TL;DR
Mahir Sahin, a former senior Google executive (2009-2025) and lead advisor at Alphabet's Moonshot X Factory, has launched Cloudberry Ventures with a €50M fund targeting seed-to-Series A deeptech startups across industrial infrastructure, compute infrastructure, and financial infrastructure. The London-based firm's predecessor vehicle, Cloudberry Pioneer Investments, delivered an 86% gross IRR and 2.4x MOIC in just 16 months, and the new fund has already backed companies including Quantum Brilliance and Xavveo with €1-2M initial checks.
Key Takeaways
86% gross IRR in 16 months is an attention-grabbing debut. Cloudberry Pioneer Investments, Sahin's predecessor vehicle, posted an 86% gross IRR and 2.4x MOIC in just 16 months. While early-stage IRR figures should always be taken with a grain of salt (unrealized gains, small sample size), the pace of value creation suggests strong deal selection and entry pricing. If this performance holds, LP demand for subsequent funds will be significant.
The "SaaSpocalypse" thesis is a smart contrarian framing. While most VC dollars continue flowing into AI software and SaaS, Cloudberry is explicitly betting that the physical infrastructure underpinning AI - semiconductors, photonics, quantum computing, advanced materials - is where the durable value creation will happen. The argument is simple: without continued advances in compute hardware, AI progress will plateau. It's a thesis that's gaining traction across European deeptech but few funds are as focused on it.
Google X pedigree brings unique sourcing and evaluation skills. Sahin's 16 years at Google, including a stint advising Alphabet's Moonshot Factory (the division behind Waymo, Wing, and other ambitious hardware projects), gives him unusual pattern recognition for deeptech bets. He's seen what it takes to move frontier technology from concept to product at the world's most ambitious technology lab.
Three-pillar thesis covers the full infrastructure stack. Industrial infrastructure (advanced materials, energy, manufacturing), compute infrastructure (quantum, photonics, edge AI), and financial infrastructure (blockchain, digital assets) - Cloudberry's three pillars are distinct enough to avoid overlap but connected by a common thread: foundational technologies that other startups build on top of.
Fund Overview
Fund Name: Cloudberry Ventures (Fund II)
Fund Size: €50 million
Stage: Seed to Series A
Check Size: €1M - €2M
Geography: Global with European sourcing focus
Focus: Industrial infrastructure, compute infrastructure, financial infrastructure
Key LPs: Mark Bennett (VP, Google Partnerships), Neil Ventura (ex-De Beers), Ehsanul Islam (VP, Qualcomm), Julia Holze (CosmicGold)
Why This Fund Matters
The venture capital industry has a hardware problem. After a decade of software-eating-the-world, the most important technological challenges of the next decade are increasingly physical: building better chips, developing quantum computing, creating sustainable energy systems, and manufacturing advanced materials. These are hard problems that require patient capital and deep technical expertise, which is exactly the gap Cloudberry Ventures is designed to fill.
Sahin's Google background is genuinely relevant here, not just as a brand name but as operational experience. Alphabet's X division is one of the few places in the world that systematically attempts to commercialize frontier hardware technologies. The lessons learned from that environment - how to evaluate deep technical risk, how to identify the commercial applications of research breakthroughs, how to build teams that can bridge the gap between lab and market - are directly applicable to deeptech venture investing.
The fund's global investment scope (Europe, North America, Asia, Australia) with a European sourcing focus is a practical recognition that deeptech innovation is geographically distributed. Quantum computing breakthroughs might come from Australia (Quantum Brilliance, already in the portfolio), while photonics innovation might emerge from Berlin (Xavveo). A fund that can source globally but leverage European pricing advantages is well-positioned.
At €50M with €1-2M checks, Cloudberry can build a portfolio of 25-35 companies while maintaining meaningful ownership stakes. This is the right fund size for seed-stage deeptech, where companies need enough capital to de-risk technology but not so much that they lose discipline.
The Team
Mahir Sahin is the founding partner of Cloudberry Ventures. Before launching the firm, Sahin spent 16 years at Google (2009-2025), culminating in a role as lead advisor at Alphabet's Moonshot X Factory. His experience spans the full spectrum of Google's technology ambitions, from core products to frontier hardware projects. Ehsanul Islam, VP Engineering at Qualcomm, serves as VP at Cloudberry Ventures and advisor, bringing deep semiconductor and compute expertise to the firm's investment decisions.
Early Portfolio
Cloudberry's portfolio across its predecessor vehicle and the new fund includes Quantum Brilliance (quantum computing), Xavveo (360-degree photonics radar for robotics, Berlin), Keyrails, RootCause.ai, Matoha, HYDGEN, Syntiant Corp., Fisent Technologies, Arf, Belfort, and Voltai. The breadth of the portfolio reflects the three-pillar thesis, spanning quantum, photonics, energy, and fintech infrastructure.
What This Means for Founders
If you're building deeptech at the intersection of hardware and software - think quantum computing, photonics, advanced materials, edge AI silicon, or next-generation energy systems - Cloudberry is a natural fit. The fund explicitly targets the physical layer of the technology stack, which means they understand that your development timelines will be longer and your capital needs different from a typical SaaS company.
The Google X and Qualcomm connections in the LP base and advisory network are a real asset for deeptech founders. These relationships can help with technical validation, customer introductions in enterprise and industrial markets, and recruiting specialized engineering talent. For a seed-stage deeptech company, having investors who can credibly evaluate your technology and open doors at major corporates is often more valuable than the capital itself.
Fund Momentum Take
Cloudberry Ventures represents the kind of fund we love to see in the European ecosystem: a technically credentialed GP with genuine operational experience launching a focused deeptech vehicle at the right size. The 86% gross IRR from the predecessor vehicle is early but impressive, and the thesis that physical infrastructure will be the bottleneck for AI progress is one we share.
The risk is execution at scale. Moving from a small predecessor vehicle to a €50M fund means Sahin needs to build a team and institutional processes while maintaining deal quality. Solo GP deeptech funds are demanding because the diligence burden is high and the companies require hands-on support through long development cycles.
Our bet: the deeptech infrastructure thesis is correct, and the timing is favorable. As AI companies discover that model improvements are increasingly constrained by hardware, capital will flow downstream to the physical infrastructure layer. Cloudberry is positioned to benefit from this shift, and the Google X pedigree gives Sahin credibility that most emerging managers lack. Worth watching closely.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cloudberry Ventures?
Cloudberry Ventures is a London-based deeptech venture fund launched by Mahir Sahin, a former senior Google executive and advisor at Alphabet's Moonshot X Factory. The fund manages €50M and invests at seed to Series A stage.
What does Cloudberry Ventures invest in?
The fund focuses on three pillars: industrial infrastructure (advanced materials, energy, manufacturing), compute infrastructure (quantum computing, photonics, edge AI), and financial infrastructure (blockchain, digital assets, cross-border settlement).
What is Cloudberry Ventures' track record?
The predecessor vehicle, Cloudberry Pioneer Investments, achieved an 86% gross IRR and 2.4x MOIC in 16 months. Notable portfolio companies include Quantum Brilliance and Xavveo.
What check sizes does Cloudberry Ventures write?
Initial investments range from €1M to €2M, targeting seed to Series A stage companies across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia.
Is Cloudberry Ventures related to Cloudberry VC?
No. Cloudberry Ventures (cloudberry.ventures) is a separate entity from Cloudberry VC (cloudberry.vc), which is Europe's first dedicated semiconductor venture fund. Despite similar names, they are distinct firms with different teams and strategies.
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