Kembara Research
Investment Thesis
Kembara is a European deep-tech growth fund. Its pitch is that Europe does not have a science problem, it has a scale-up problem: the continent produces roughly 28% of global deep-tech innovation, yet only about 3% of European deep-tech companies raise a Series B or C. Kembara exists to fill that growth-stage financing gap with dedicated lead capital and active involvement, taking companies from a verified technical breakthrough to industrial scale, which means building factories, scaling complex supply chains, and competing globally.
Focus Areas
Kembara names four focus areas on its site:
- AI & Computing: new compute architectures, including silicon-spin quantum processors, photonics, analog compute, and domain-specific AI for physics, materials, and chemistry.
- Climate & Energy: fusion and next-generation fission, long-duration storage, grid management, hydrogen production, and heavy-industry decarbonisation.
- Robotics & Automation: industrial manipulators, vision-guided automation, and collaborative field robotics.
- Space & Aerospace: propulsion, responsive launch, low-Earth-orbit constellations, and zero-emission aviation.
Stage Focus
Series B and Series C only. The firm describes itself as partnering with proven science and engineering companies at the point of scale, so it is not an early-stage or pre-revenue seed investor.
Check Size
No check size is published. The fund is described as making lead cheques. Its two disclosed deals, a co-led $160M Series C in Quantum Motion and a $175M Series B in Reverion, imply rounds large enough that Kembara's own tickets are likely in the tens of millions, but this is inferred and not stated.
Lead Tendency
Leads. The site lists the investment role as lead cheques, and both disclosed deals were led or co-led by Kembara (Quantum Motion alongside DCVC).
Recent Activity
- February 2026: announced a EUR 750M first close of Kembara Fund I toward a EUR 1B target, billed as Europe's largest dedicated deep-tech growth fund.
- May 2026: co-led Quantum Motion's $160M Series C with DCVC. Quantum Motion is a London company building silicon-spin quantum processors on standard CMOS.
- September 2026: led Reverion's $175M Series B to scale production and build a first Megafactory in Germany. Reverion is a TUM spinout with a reversible gas-to-power system.
The fund is in active deployment.
Portfolio Highlights
Two portfolio companies are disclosed: Quantum Motion and Reverion. The logo strip on the homepage (Palantir, OpenAI, Lilium, Graphcore, RobCo, Ceres Power, Hysata) is labelled Investment Experience and reflects the partners' prior investments, not Kembara's own portfolio.
Team
- Javier Santiso, Partner: former CEO of Khazanah Europe, founder and CEO of Mundi Ventures (EUR 1.5B AUM). Prior investments include Palantir and Submer.
- Yann de Vries, Partner: former Partner at Atomico and VP Corporate Development at Lilium. Prior investments include Lilium, SpaceX, OpenAI, Groq, Anduril.
- Robert Trezona, Partner: founder of Kiko Ventures, former Head of Cleantech at IP Group. Prior investments include Ceres Power, Hinge Health, Hysata, OxCCU.
- Pierre Festal, Partner: Partner at Promus Ventures, former Portfolio Manager at ACE & Company. Prior investments include The Exploration Company, Fernride, RobCo.
- Siraj Khaliq, Senior Strategic Advisor: founder and CTO of The Climate Corporation (acquired for $1.1B), former Partner at Atomico. Prior investments include PsiQuantum, Graphcore, CloudNC.
Decision Process
Not published. A partnership of four partners plus a senior advisor. The management company is Mundi Ventures, which supplies the platform, compliance, and institutional infrastructure.
Founder Preferences
Science and engineering founders whose technology is already validated and who now need capital to industrialise: manufacturing, supply chain, and global commercial expansion. Many targets are university spinouts (for example Reverion from TUM).
Geographic Focus
Europe. Offices in Barcelona, London, and Zurich, with a network built around the continent's strongest technical universities and research hubs. Deals so far are in the UK and Germany.
Gaps
Check size, fund size at final close, decision timeline, and warm-intro requirements are not published.