Merantix Capital’s €103M Fund Breaks the Studio Mold to Hunt European AI Startups

After a decade of exclusively incubating and funding startups from its own Berlin venture studio, Merantix Capital is making a decisive pivot. According to a Handelsblatt report from June 4, 2026, the firm has closed a new €103 million fund—its largest to date—and will begin investing directly in existing early-stage AI companies across Europe .

The move marks a significant expansion beyond the venture studio model that has defined the company since Rasmus Rothe and Adrian Locher founded it in 2016. The previous fund totaled roughly €30 million, making the new vehicle more than three times larger .

How the fund is structured

The €103 million fund is split roughly in half, according to fund partner Rasmus Rothe. One portion continues to back Merantix’s own startup studio, where the company founds and builds new ventures at its AI Campus in Berlin. The other half is reserved for external investments in pre-seed and seed-stage startups located anywhere in Europe .

Each external investment is expected to range between €1 million and €3 million . The firm focuses on companies building B2B AI-native applications with vertically integrated business models, data flywheel effects, and multidisciplinary founding teams .

Target sectors and investment thesis

Merantix Capital invests in AI’s application layer, concentrating on sectors where deep domain expertise and proprietary data create enduring advantages. The firm’s stated areas of interest include healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and logistics . Its investment thesis emphasizes category-defining companies that use AI as a general-purpose technology to unlock exponential leverage .

Limited partners and strategic backing

While the complete limited partner list for the €103 million fund has not been disclosed, two strategic investors are confirmed from earlier partnerships:

• KPMG invested in the Merantix AI fund as part of a long-term strategic partnership announced in December 2024. That collaboration also includes joint customer projects, knowledge transfer, and KPMG’s participation across the broader Merantix group .
• Jungheinrich invested €5 million in Merantix Capital’s AI fund as part of a strategic partnership announced in May 2025. The industrial truck manufacturer focuses on AI applications in robotics, sustainability, enterprise AI, energy, and logistics .

Earlier reporting from Sifted in November 2023 noted that Merantix was targeting €100 million for the fund and was in talks with existing LPs including SoftBank, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Kellogg Foundation . The final closed amount of €103 million and the confirmed LP composition as of June 2026 come from the Handelsblatt report .

Portfolio and track record

The Handelsblatt announcement did not name specific new portfolio companies connected to the €103 million fund . Historically, Merantix’s portfolio has been built entirely from its in-house venture studio. The firm backs pre-seed and seed-stage AI-native companies, with biotech and life sciences representing roughly one-third of its historical portfolio .

Merantix’s official portfolio page describes partnerships with founders building AI applications across health care, manufacturing, and tech bio . For the most current list of active investments, Merantix’s website is the primary source.

The broader Merantix platform

Merantix Capital sits inside the larger Merantix group, which positions itself as Europe’s largest AI platform . This integrated structure is a core part of the firm’s value proposition for portfolio companies.

Three platform components stand out:

• Merantix Momentum — an AI solutions business that collaborates with portfolio companies on commercial projects and implementation .
• The AI Campus in Berlin — a physical hub where incubated startups develop their ideas before formal founding .
• Strategic partner access — portfolio companies benefit from relationships with KPMG (professional services, market access) and Jungheinrich (industrial AI applications), among others .

By combining direct venture investment with an in-house studio and a services arm, Merantix offers portfolio companies more than just capital, aiming to provide the talent, networks, and operational support needed to scale AI-native businesses in Europe’s industrial economy.