Heartfelt Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Heartfelt Capital (styled HEARTFELT_) positions itself as "Europe's First Cheque Fund" — the first institutional check into exceptional founders building transformative companies across Europe and the US, often before an angel round has closed. The firm is the direct successor to APX, the earliest-stage venture joint venture between Axel Springer and Porsche, and Heartfelt now manages the APX legacy portfolio alongside its own new fund. Its stated mission is to help founders go from 0 to 1 and reach product-market fit, backed by a team of investment professionals with early-stage venture backgrounds from around the world.
Sector Focus
Heartfelt is an explicit generalist. Its public portfolio page is organized into more than 20 category buckets spanning Consumer Internet & Consumer Products, Cybersecurity & Fraud Detection, Defence, DevOps & Data/Infrastructure, Education, Energy/Climate/Sustainability, Finance & Insurance, Food & Beverage, Gaming & eSports, Healthcare, Human Resources, Heavy Industry & Manufacturing, Life Sciences, Logistics & Supply Chain, Marketing, Media & Publishing, Productivity, Public Sector & Government, Real Estate & Property Management, Sales, Space & Aviation, and Transport & Mobility. AI/ML shows up as a horizontal theme across nearly every category (AI copilots, AI agents, AI-native vertical software), and there is a smaller but recurring cluster of crypto/tokenization bets (Xelio, Iqana, Trusset, Kenomic) and deep-tech/hardware bets (Snap Fusion's chip-based nuclear fusion, Floxmind's warehouse robots).
Stage Focus
Heartfelt invests at the earliest institutional stage — pre-seed, seed, seed-extension, and selectively into Series A follow-ons as portfolio companies gain momentum and raise outside capital. The firm explicitly aims to be a founder's first institutional check, frequently investing before a formal angel round.
Check Size
Initial checks range from €100K to €400K. The firm both writes solo checks and invests alongside other early backers, then reserves capital for follow-on participation in subsequent rounds as companies mature.
Lead Tendency
Mixed — Heartfelt describes investing "either solo or alongside other early backers," and its recent behavior bears this out: it has been the sole/first check for many portfolio companies at the earliest stage, while also taking smaller participant tickets in larger syndicated seed rounds led by other funds (e.g., Cato's €6M seed, led by Keen Venture Partners).
Recent Activity
Heartfelt closed the first close of a new €80M early-stage fund in June 2023, with anchor investors Axel Springer and Porsche returning to back the vehicle as it succeeded APX's Berlin unit. The firm remains active: in September 2026 it participated in Cato's €6M seed round (Milan-based AI platform for public-sector tender sales), alongside Vento, Moonstone, BHeroes and other funds. Third-party trackers show continued deal velocity into 2026 (e.g., a reported $1M seed in Cendra in February 2026), consistent with a firm that is actively deploying.
Portfolio Highlights
Over the past decade (as APX and now Heartfelt), the firm has made initial investments in 300+ startups. Flagship / scaled outcomes referenced on its own site include N26 (challenger bank), DeepL (AI translation), Colossyan (AI video), Charles, Greenlyte (Direct Air Capture), getquin (investment tracking app), and Qualifyze (life-sciences supply-chain audits). Its companies have gone on to raise from Insight Partners, Index, Benchmark, Bessemer, Left Lane, IVP, Lightspeed, General Catalyst, Balderton, and Google Ventures, among others — evidence of a strong pass-the-baton reputation with top-tier follow-on investors.
Team
- Dr. Henric Hungerhoff — Co-CEO / General Partner. Long-tenured leader of the APX/Heartfelt platform; holds a doctorate in law.
- Jörg Rheinboldt — Co-CEO / General Partner. Also a Managing Director at APX and Axel Springer Plug and Play; entrepreneur and investor.
- Daniela Machado — Partner, focused on early-stage investments.
- Axel Roselius — Investment team.
- Gregor A. Erkel — Investment team.
- Marcus Willand — Investment team.
- Manuel Späder — Investment & Finance Associate.
Decision Process
With two co-CEOs / General Partners plus a Partner and a broader investment team (publicly described as 9-11 full-time investment professionals), decisions appear to run through a partnership model rather than a single solo GP.
Founder Preferences
Heartfelt looks for exceptional, often first-time or early-career founders building transformative, high-growth companies from Europe (or European-origin founders operating abroad, including in the US). Its value-add centers on 0-to-1 support: help reaching product-market fit, warm introductions to its dense European corporate and follow-on-investor network (built up via anchor relationships with Axel Springer and Porsche), and hands-on early support rather than late-stage capital.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Europe, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with an explicit secondary focus on the US and on European-origin founders building companies abroad.