Cusp Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Cusp Capital is an Essen, Germany based software and technology investor built around the idea of investing "on the cusp of breakthroughs: in science, technology and society." The firm distinguishes company-level breakthroughs, where a new product or technology outpaces the market, from market-level breakthroughs, where the new becomes the norm. Its view is that the strongest companies ride both, and it invests early, while the breakthrough is still not obvious. The website describes the firm as built on a joint core belief in the power of entrepreneurship, and it explicitly invites founders to get in touch before they are fundraising.
Stage Focus
Cusp invests early. The firm describes itself as a lead investor and long-term partner making initial investments in early-stage companies, then following on over multiple stages. Portfolio companies were typically founded one to a few years before the investment, and several were backed in the year they were founded (Delta Labs, Ahorn, Laborai, Immerok, Hivebuy). The team's track record page shows a heavy skew to Seed and Series A entries, with later entries (Series B to D) in earlier-career investments by individual partners.
Check Size
According to the About page, Cusp makes initial investments of up to EUR 10M as lead investor and can invest up to EUR 35M in total over multiple stages. No minimum check is published.
Lead Tendency
The firm positions itself as a lead investor. The About page states that it acts as lead investor on initial investments.
Recent Activity
The firm is actively deploying from Cusp Capital Fund 2021, which had a first close of EUR 300M in 2021 (reported fund size per third-party profiles is roughly EUR 300M to 361M; this was not confirmed on the firm's own site). Recent investments listed on the portfolio page include Ahorn (Munich, AI agents for HR, 2026), Delta Labs (Zurich, customer simulation, 2026), Laborai (Madrid, AI financial companion for low-income consumers, 2026), 2501.AI (Paris, autonomous IT incident resolution, 2025), CertHub (Munich, medtech certification automation, 2025), ONE WARE (Brakel, AI model configuration for resource constrained hardware, 2025), Payflow (Madrid, earned wage access, 2025), and Leadity (Hamburg, ESG for mid-sized companies, 2025). Recent follow-on rounds publicized in the press include CertHub's EUR 6.2M seed (January 2026), Payflow's EUR 10M round (June 2025), ONE WARE's EUR 2.5M round (June 2025), and akeno's EUR 4.5M round (May 2025).
Portfolio Highlights
- Immerok (stream processing cloud, acquired by Confluent)
- Hero Handwerk (vertical software for craftsmen)
- Fixably (repair operating system for electronics service providers)
- Hivebuy (procurement and approvals)
- Mainteny (software for maintenance companies)
- CarbonCloud (food production climate footprint)
- Sides (restaurant delivery operations software)
- Payflow, akeno, ONE WARE, CertHub, Delta Labs
The partners' earlier careers include investments in Zalando, Delivery Hero, Klarna, Scalable Capital, data Artisans, Wunderlist, Data Virtuality and Global Fashion Group. The firm states that its team has invested more than EUR 600M in more than 100 companies over 15 years. The track record page lists exits to eBay, Alibaba, Pro7Sat1, CData, Cegid, Microsoft and Confluent, plus several IPOs.
Team
- Dr. Carolin Althoff, General Partner, Head of ESG. Background in ESG consulting; PhD in economics.
- Jan Sessenhausen, General Partner. In European venture since 2010; led 15 investments including data Artisans and immerok. Focuses on enterprise and infrastructure software, especially open source.
- Christian Winter, General Partner. 20+ years in European venture; led 30+ investments including Zalando, Delivery Hero and Klarna; supported six IPOs.
- Dr. Maximilian Rowoldt, General Partner. Investing since 2018; former strategy consultant and investment banker.
- Matthias Müller, General Partner. Venture building and early-stage investing background.
- Helmut Klawitter, General Partner and General Counsel. Runs legal, finance and operations.
- Johannes Behringer, Principal (currently on educational leave).
- Matteo Stegner and Yannick Harkner, Senior Associates; Yannick focuses on the energy transition.
- Holger Temme, Venture Partner; founder and CEO of Immerok.
- Wilken Engelbracht, Venture Partner.
Decision Process
A partnership of several General Partners. No public detail on committee mechanics or timeline.
Founder Preferences
The firm is drawn to entrepreneurs with an obsession for the breakthrough, whether creating it in research or applying it to change how an industry works. It favors relationships built early, even before a founder is raising. Portfolio themes lean toward industry-specific operating systems and vertical software, AI agents for enterprise workflows, infrastructure and open source, climate and ESG, and financial inclusion.
Geographic Focus
Continental Europe: Germany, Spain, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and Portugal all appear in the portfolio, with a clear concentration in Germany and Spain. A small number of companies have a US presence (turbalance, Mountain View and Heidelberg). Cusp also manages a dedicated fund of funds that invests in regional and sector-specialist early-stage funds across Europe, with offices in Essen and Berlin.
Gaps
AUM and exact check size minimum are not published on the firm's site. Stage at investment per company is not documented with a source and is omitted.