Vanagon Ventures Raises €20M to Back Pre-Seed AI & Deeptech Founders in Europe

Vanagon Ventures’ €20 million Fund I reflects a growing recognition in Europe of an undercapitalized early-stage segment where AI-native and deeptech founders confront scaling logics that diverge from traditional SaaS models. By anchoring Fund I with Allocator One and tapping into a diverse LP base including tech executives and unicorn founders, Vanagon secures both credibility and network leverage—important differentiators when backing hard-science or industrial tech early on.

Strategically, Vanagon’s focus areas—spatial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics, frontier software, and applications in nature, industrial systems, and sustainability—align closely with Europe’s policy priorities around technological sovereignty and climate resilience. This positions the fund to benefit from regulatory tailwinds, public R&D funding, and potential industrial partner co-investments or contracts. The emphasis on “non-SaaS” business models suggests confidence in hardware, advanced materials, and other capital-intensive categories typically avoided by many seed-stage VCs.

The leadership team combines operating, entrepreneurial, and strategy experience: Roitzsch is a serial entrepreneur; Stark comes from technology strategy roles including Microsoft; Fromm has experience in corporate innovation and investment. This mix likely helps in due diligence for deep domain founders and in providing value beyond capital—critical when market traction is slow and technical risks dominate. However, risk remains high in deeptech—longer development cycles, capital intensity, and technical risk make portfolio diversity and high conviction important.

Another strategic dimension is the fund’s size (about €20 million), ticket size (up to €500,000), and target number of portfolio companies (~30). This implies moderate bets per company, sufficient to support early proof-of-concept but will require strong follow-on rounds for portfolio companies to reach commercial inflection. The fund’s ability to lead those rounds or provide introductions will be key.

Open questions include: how Vanagon will manage follow-on capital and ownership continuity across rounds; what is the timeline for exits in such non-SaaS deeptech businesses; how regulatory changes (on AI, hardware, supply chains) might affect their investment theses; and how competitive pressure from other early-stage deeptech funds in Europe will impact valuation, deal flow, and LP expectations. Moreover, fundraising terms, team incentives, and industrial partnerships will be important to monitor as indicators of success.