Kibo Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Kibo Ventures is a Madrid-based European technology investment platform founded in 2012 by Aquilino Peña, Javier Torremocha and José María Amusátegui. It says it exists to empower European founders to tackle major technology challenges and scale globally. The firm runs two strategies under one philosophy, "the power of entrepreneurship, and technology as a differentiator": Kibo Ventures (venture capital) and Kibo Nzyme (private equity, which buys established companies and accelerates them through technology and market consolidation). This profile covers the venture side. The website describes a B2B focus with a bias for deep tech, AI and cybersecurity, and Fund IV is explicitly framed as a way to participate in the opportunity around AI.
Stage Focus
Kibo leads or co-leads pre-Series A and Series A rounds, and the firm's own copy and press coverage describe the target as seed and Series A. Earlier funds also backed true early-stage companies, so the portfolio includes pre-seed and seed positions, and third-party trackers list recent pre-seed activity in 2026.
Check Size
The website states an initial investment of €2M to €6M, targeting 10 to 20 percent ownership. Reserves for follow-ons come from the same funds.
Lead Tendency
The firm says it leads or co-leads. Its own wording ("we lead or co-lead pre-Series A or Series A rounds") and press coverage support a lead or co-lead posture, so the lead tendency is recorded as leads.
Recent Activity
Fund IV is a €120M vehicle. A first close of €80M was announced in December 2025, and the firm's X account later said Fund IV passed €100M within six months. The fund is backed by Spanish public innovation capital (CDTI Innvierte) among other LPs, per CDTI coverage in October 2025. Sunir Kapoor joined as Non-Executive Chairman in October 2025. The portfolio page lists recent additions dated 2026, including NeuralTrust (May 2026), FOSSA (June 2026) and Fermat (September 2026). A third-party tracker lists a $4.5M pre-seed in MITO AI in January 2026. Fund status is actively deploying.
Portfolio Highlights
The site reports more than 80 companies backed and about 22 exits, including the first Spanish startup IPO on Nasdaq (Flywire) and exits to Apple (Vilynx), Airbnb (Trip4Real), CrowdStrike (Onum), PayPal (Jetlore), Aon (Coverwallet), Groupon (Blink), New Relic (Ducksboard), Renault (Bipi) and Zur Rose (PromoFarma). Other well-known names include Sorare, Belvo, Capchase, Job&Talent, Clarity AI, Carto, Tier Mobility, Paack and Mitiga. The mix shows a long history in B2B software, fintech, marketplaces and security, with the newest bets in AI infrastructure, AI security, robotics and deep tech.
Team
- Sunir Kapoor, Non-Executive Chairman (since October 2025)
- Aquilino Peña, Co-founder and Managing Partner
- Javier Torremocha, Co-founder and Managing Partner
- José María Amusátegui, Co-founder and Partner
- Sonia Fernández, Partner (since 2016)
- Valeria Loewe, COO and Partner
- Juan López, Partner at Kibo Ventures and Managing Director of Nzyme
- Jordi Vidal, Partner (since 2017)
- Joaquín Rebuelta, Operating Partner
- Covadonga García-Valdés, Principal
- Sara Tamames, Inés Antoñanzas and Nacho Alfeirán, Investment Analysts
The firm is about 25 professionals across the Kibo Ventures and Nzyme teams, with offices in Madrid and Barcelona.
Decision Process
The firm presents itself as a partnership of operators and investors with several managing partners. No public detail on committee mechanics or decision timeline was found, so those fields are left unset.
Founder Preferences
Founder testimonials stress long-term, entrepreneur-friendly support through good times and difficult ones (Job&Talent, Flywire, Mitiga, Devo and Onum). Kibo often is the first institutional investor and stays involved through scale-up. It favors technical founders in B2B, deep tech, AI and cybersecurity, and it markets a global network of founders, tier-1 co-investors and corporates.
Geographic Focus
Europe, with a Spanish core (Madrid and Barcelona) and a stated aim to back the next generation of global technology companies built in Europe. Several portfolio companies expanded into the US and Latin America (Belvo, Capchase, Flywire).