Fund profile / Germany

Nucleus Capital

Geography: Germany
Stage: Pre-Seed
Fund size: €40M
Focus: AI/ML, Climate & Sustainability, Deep Tech and SaaS
Signals: Published

N°01 / About

About Nucleus Capital

Nucleus Capital is a venture capital firm based in Germany, focusing on Pre-Seed stage investments. The fund actively supports founders building innovative solutions in AI/ML, Climate & Sustainability, Deep Tech, SaaS, providing strategic guidance and capital to help startups scale.

N°02 / Thesis

Investment Focus

Location / RegionGermany

Funding StagePre-Seed

Industry Focus

AI/ML

Climate & Sustainability

Deep Tech

SaaS

Investor Signals Profile

active

Sweet Spot

Technical founder in bio, food, industrials at direction stage

programmable biology

food technology

neo industrials

deep-tech Europe/US

frontier science

Bullish Signals

83% portfolio founders technical backgroundwebsite

51% portfolio cos have female co-founderwebsite

43% founders are repeat entrepreneurswebsite

Leads/co-leads first checks up to €1Mwebsite

30+ portfolio companies across 3 sectorswebsite

World-class advisor bench: scientific + industrywebsite

Portfolio spans EU & US geographieswebsite

Founders only meet decision-makers directlywebsite

Deep-tech tailored model for frontier innovationwebsite

Early hire model: guidance, structure, execution claritywebsite

Fiercely supportive, founder-first, lean on hard problemswebsite

Portfolio: sensory AI, microbial mining, cocoa-free chocolatewebsite

Breadth: neuromorphic, bioreactors, DAC, methane ops, roboticswebsite

Engage at direction-encoding stage, not post-momentumwebsite

European-made tech excellence flagship positioningwebsite

Founder testimonials: most valuable partner, first hirewebsite

Contrarian Signals

Very concentrated, selective portfoliowebsite

Europe/US only — limited geographic scopewebsite

Small team — bandwidth risk at scalewebsite

Advisors unpaid/community — depth unclearwebsite

Founder Do's

Have strong technical / scientific background

Build in bio, food, or industrial systems

Engage at direction-encoding stage, pre-momentum

Show viable unit economics + lower footprint

Work directly with decision-makers only

Founder Don'ts

Apply SaaS playbook to deep-tech

Expect passive, hands-off investor

Come without technical team at core

43 signals on Nucleus Capital

16 bullish · 4 contrarian · 5 pitch do's · 3 don'ts · 15 GP profiles, each with its source. From €9/month, cancel anytime.

See a signal free View Plans Browse all Signal Profiles →

Facts

Fund Overview

Fund Size€40M

Saves0

Website

People

Key People

Sabella Fandrych, Maximilian Schwarz

Dr. Isabella FandrychGeneral Partner

Maximilian SchwarzGeneral Partner

Dr. Carolina VillaPrincipal

Raffael WohlgensingerVenture Partner

Martin WeberVenture Partner

Daniel CasparHead of Finance

Dr. Patricia BubnerScientific Advisor

Dr. Mazen RizkScientific Advisor

Prof. Ian MarisonScientific Advisor

Christian OhlshausenIndustry Advisor

Andreas BergerIndustry Advisor

Kamel ChidaIndustry Advisor

Marc PenkalaVC Advisor

Dominik ZalewskiFinance Advisor

Aaron SuriInvestment Team

Backers

Known LPs

KfW CapitalPublic / State institution

N°04 / See also

Related Funds

Fresenius Ventures

Fund size€200M

Location: Germany
Stage: Series A
Focus: Digital Health, Biotech
Manager: Thomas Michael Thestrup

Series A

Digital Health

Biotech

DTCP European Defence VC Fund

Fund size€500M

Location: Germany
Stage: Seed
Focus: Manufacturing, Defense, Space, Cybersecurity, Ai Ml
Manager: Thomas Preuss, Philipp von Bismarck, Jack J. Young

Seed

Manufacturing

Defense

Space

Cybersecurity

Ai Ml

E2D European Defence & Dual-Use Fund

Fund size€500M

Location: Germany
Stage: Growth
Focus: Semiconductors, Defense, Deep Tech, Ai Ml, Space

Growth

Semiconductors

Defense

Deep Tech

Ai Ml

Space