Lunar Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Lunar Ventures is a Berlin-based deep tech venture fund that backs technical founders from "day zero," the earliest possible founding stage. The firm's self-described mandate is "hard problems, real tech, zero hype" - it looks for teams turning genuine technical breakthroughs (cryptography, novel materials, quantum hardware, orbital robotics) into commercial companies rather than thin software wrappers. Its public positioning leans on simplicity and speed: "Zero BS. Standard terms. Clear feedback," with the entire partner team engaging directly in company building rather than delegating to junior staff.
Stage Focus
Lunar invests almost exclusively at pre-seed, typically as the first institutional check into pre-revenue, technical founding teams. Fund II explicitly targets 25-30 companies at the pre-seed stage.
Check Size
Published check size is $500K-$2M, leading rounds. Fund II press coverage narrows the typical initial check to EUR750K-EUR1M, consistent with a fund built to write 25-30 checks from a EUR50M vehicle.
Lead Tendency
Lunar positions itself as a lead investor in the rounds it enters, consistent with its "day zero" first-institutional-check thesis.
Recent Activity
Lunar closed Fund II at EUR50M in May 2025 (LPs include Isomer Capital, Lingotto/Exor, Intesa Sanpaolo Endowment, and Grinnell College Endowment), three and a half years after its EUR40M Fund I (announced October 2021). Combined AUM across both funds is roughly EUR90M (~$97M). Recent portfolio financings include Neurolabs ($7.8M, April 2025), Wasp ($3.7M, April 2025), and Fund II's first checks into Bruin (Berlin data stack) and Lodestar Space (autonomous orbital robotics). Portfolio company Zama became the first fully homomorphic encryption unicorn in June 2025 on a $57M raise led by Pantera and Blockchange.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable companies span cryptography/PET (Zama - homomorphic encryption for AI and blockchains, now a unicorn), AI infrastructure (Deepset - sovereign AI/MLOps infrastructure, Unify - LLM routing, Otera formerly DeepOpinion - agentic process automation), techbio (iLoF - photonic AI for drug discovery with an Alzheimer's research contract, Axiom Therapeutics - AI drug discovery), new space/robotics (Lodestar - orbital robotic arm for satellite servicing, Semiqon - silicon-based quantum computing chips), and decentralized science (Molecule/VitaDAO - $12.7M seed for decentralized biotech funding). The public portfolio lists 19 named companies plus 5 disclosed-as-stealth investments spanning cloud optimization, maritime sensing, physics foundation models, hypersonic cargo, and teleoperated robotics.
Team
- Elad Verbin, General Partner & Chief Scientist: 15+ years leading R&D in algorithms, ML, and cryptography
- Morris Clay, General Partner: 15+ years in big tech, ML/AI startups, computer vision, and web3
- Alberto Cresto, General Partner: Deep tech investor with 40+ investments across US and EU, M&A background
- Mick Halsband, General Partner: CTO/software architect, 20 years building mission-critical systems in AI, graphics, and medical devices
- Or (Luis) Shemtov, General Partner: 3x founder with a public company exit, product and growth background
- Eyal Baroz, Partner - Robotics: 25+ years across semiconductors, robotics, defense, and telecoms
- Peter Crane, Partner - TechBio: former chemical biologist focused on the digital/biological interface
- Lawrence Lundy-Bryan, Venture Partner: researcher in data, cryptography, and privacy (ex-Radicalxchange, Outlier Ventures)
- Florent-Aurelien Couturier-Crouzillac, Venture Partner: growth investor in infrastructure software
- Cindy Wei, Investment Team - TechBio: bioinformatician and cancer biologist
- Etel Friedmann, Associate: developer infrastructure operator, first hire at DigitalOcean
- Teddy Ramarotafika, Head of Finance: finance/audit/M&A leader, ex-Wefox
- Petra Jurlina, Operations Manager: 15 years in fundraising operations
Decision Process
Not publicly detailed, but the firm emphasizes direct, whole-team involvement and "clear feedback" over a multi-committee process, consistent with a small-partnership decision model.
Founder Preferences
Lunar explicitly backs technical founders - scientists, researchers, and engineers - building on genuine technical differentiation (cryptography, novel hardware, biology, orbital systems) rather than pure go-to-market plays.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Europe, with Fund II explicitly extending to select regions of the United States.