Germany’s Uplift Ventures unveils €100m deep-tech fund

Germany’s Uplift Ventures has unveiled an €100 million fund aimed at backing deep-tech start-ups across Europe and the US. The fund, founded and supported by the German intralogistics company Jungheinrich, seeks to invest in seed and series A rounds of 20 start-ups over the next few years. Jungheinrich operates in more than 40 countries and generates over €5 billion in annual revenue.

The venture platform, based in Hamburg and Berlin, focuses on physical AI, energy, enterprise AI, and logistics. Jungheinrich CEO Dr Lars Brzoska emphasized the importance of patient capital and understanding both industrial challenges and entrepreneurial ambition. Uplift Ventures, a subsidiary of Jungheinrich, has also developed an AI-powered compliance platform called Turnus.AI and invested in other European deep-tech funds.

As European deep-tech start-ups face a shortage of investments compared to their US counterparts, the €5 billion Scaleup Europe Fund was launched last month to support ventures like Swedish AI start-up Lovable and Finnish space intelligence start-up Iceye. Uplift Ventures' founding general partner, Christian Noske, highlighted the need for dedicated deep-tech investors who are committed to the long run, offering resources, experience, and a global perspective to help founders build exceptional companies.