Founderful Research
Investment Thesis
Founderful (rebranded from Wingman Ventures in February 2024) is Switzerland's leading pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital firm, based in Zurich. The firm's thesis is that Switzerland produces world-class technical founders, drawing on the country's top academic institutions (ETH Zurich, EPFL) and deep-tech research base, but that these founders have historically lacked access to founder-friendly, fast-moving early capital. Founderful positions itself as "first, fast, and founder-friendly," aiming to be the first institutional check into Switzerland's most ambitious founder teams and to provide the majority (or all) of the capital needed to cover a startup's first 18-24 months. Beyond capital, the firm provides hands-on formation support: hiring, first customer introductions, and connections into Swiss university labs and research networks.
Stage Focus
Founderful is a dedicated pre-seed and seed investor, and explicitly aims to lead the first institutional financing round. It occasionally participates in Series A rounds as a follow-on investor in existing portfolio companies (e.g., its participation in Corintis's 2025 Series A), but new relationships are almost always initiated at pre-seed or seed.
Check Size
Typical first checks run from roughly $1M at pre-seed up to around $2M at seed. The firm reserves capital for follow-on participation in later rounds of existing portfolio companies.
Lead Tendency
Founderful leads the large majority of its initial investments — being the first institutional partner into a company is central to its positioning. It also participates as a non-lead follow-on investor in some portfolio companies' later rounds.
Recent Activity
Founderful raised a $90M (CHF ~85M) Fund I in 2020, which was fully deployed across 40 startups, generating over 1,100 jobs and more than $350-450M in follow-on funding from international VCs. In November 2024, the firm closed an oversubscribed $140M Fund II (~€133M), which it has been actively deploying since. Recent activity includes a $2.2M investment in AI hotel-booking platform Lobby (March 2026, with founding partner Pascal Mathis joining the board), participation in chip-cooling startup Corintis's ~€20M Series A (September 2025), the June 2026 acquisition of portfolio company MiraEx (quantum photonics) by SEALSQ Corp, and a $2.7M pre-seed lead investment in workforce-upskilling startup Anthropos (May 2024). The firm also runs "Founderful Campus," a student-led, non-profit pre-seed initiative that made CHF 25,000 micro-investments into nine student-founded startups in July 2025.
Portfolio Highlights
Founderful has backed more than 70 companies since 2019. Notable portfolio companies include Wingtra (aerial mapping drones, ~200 employees, $20M+ revenue), EthonAI (AI-powered manufacturing quality management, backed by Index Ventures and General Catalyst, customers include Siemens and Roche), Archlet (AI-native eSourcing/procurement software, ETH Zurich spin-off, customers include Walmart and FedEx), Corintis (microfluidic chip cooling for AI data centers, EPFL spin-off, collaborating with Microsoft), DePoly (chemical recycling of PET plastics), Oxyle (water treatment for PFAS/micropollutants), Chiral Nano (alternative silicon chip materials, ETH Zurich spin-off), 9T Labs (additive manufacturing of carbon-fiber composite parts), AirConsole (browser-based multiplayer gaming platform), Room Price Genie (hospitality revenue management SaaS), nsave (fintech offering stable-currency accounts for people in distressed economies, later raised an $18M Series A led by TQ Ventures with Sequoia and Y Combinator participating), and Grape Insurance. Notable exits include MiraEx (acquired by SEALSQ Corp, June 2026), Bring! (acquired 2021), and Ava (acquired 2022).
Team
Founderful was founded in 2019 by three operators-turned-investors:
- Pascal Mathis, Founding Partner — co-founder of GetYourGuide (Swiss unicorn)
- Alex Stöckl, Founding Partner — formerly Switzerland lead at Creathor Ventures
- Lukas Weder, Founding Partner — co-founder of eat.ch
The broader team includes:
- Gabriel Wildberger, Partner & General Counsel — oversees legal matters, background in corporate law
- Edouard Treccani, Partner — venture capital and startup growth strategy
- Emily Kruse, Chief Financial Officer — financial operations and strategy
- Antonia Albert, Principal — sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities
- Herbert Bay, Principal
- Michaela Ulicna, Principal
- Sila Awad, Principal
- Maximilian P. Rothenberger, Principal
The firm has ~11-14 people across its Zurich headquarters (Badenerstrasse 608, 8004 Zurich) and a Luxembourg office.
Decision Process
With five partners plus a team of principals, Founderful operates as a partnership rather than a solo-GP shop; investment decisions appear to be made collaboratively among the partner group rather than through a formal, multi-tier investment committee.
Founder Preferences
Founderful gravitates toward technical founders emerging from Switzerland's top academic and research institutions (ETH Zurich, EPFL), particularly deep-tech, industrial, robotics, and AI teams, as well as ambitious B2B software founders. Several portfolio companies are direct university spin-offs (Archlet, Corintis, Chiral Nano, 9T Labs, EthonAI).
Geographic Focus
Founderful is laser-focused on Swiss founders and the Swiss tech ecosystem, working closely with academic institutions (ETH Zurich, EPFL) and industry players to identify and back breakthrough technology teams, while helping portfolio companies expand internationally (e.g., nsave's UK/US expansion, Lobby's push beyond hospitality).