Matterwave Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Matterwave Ventures is a Munich-headquartered European venture capital firm backing early-stage hardware and software companies that reshape industrial value chains. The team's stated core belief is to "find, fund, and empower entrepreneurs who turn technological advancements into hardware and software products fundamentally improving industrial value chains," aiming to build category winners that form the backbone of a thriving European industrial ecosystem. The firm's mission is explicitly tied to fostering resilient supply chains and technological sovereignty for Europe, and it frames its returns objective alongside a broader impact goal of regaining European technology leadership, production capacity, and energy/raw-material autonomy.
Matterwave organizes its thesis around three pillars: Industrial Tech (digital transformation of industry, upskilled local workforces, competitive high-value exports), Deep Tech (frontier technologies, resilient supply chains, sovereign dual-use capabilities), and Climate Tech (smart industrial decarbonization at scale). The firm evolved out of the btov Industrial Technologies team — most of its Founding Partners (Benedikt Kronberger, Christian Reitberger, Robert Gallenberger) previously ran btov's industrial tech practice before spinning out as Matterwave.
Sector Focus
Portfolio breadth spans semiconductors and photonics (Akhetonics' all-optical processor, Codasip, equal1's quantum computing coprocessors, TUSK IC's CMOS beamformer ICs for satcom, Effect Photonics), robotics and industrial automation (Fruitcore Robotics, Cybus), space technology (Infinite Orbits' in-orbit servicing, OKAPI:Orbits' space traffic management, LiveEO's satellite infrastructure monitoring), additive manufacturing (BigRep, Headmade Materials), industrial software and asset management (ToolSense, DessIA, Sensolus, Ventory, Visplore), climate and energy (Orcan Energy's waste-heat recovery, Electrochaea's power-to-gas, ecoLocked's carbon-sequestering concrete), diagnostics/health (Amplifold, GNA Biosolutions, LynxCare, Semalytix), cybersecurity/privacy (eperi, Roseman Labs), and connectivity (Firecell's private 5G). This is a generalist deep-tech/industrial-tech/climate-tech firm rather than a single-vertical specialist.
Stage Focus
Matterwave states it invests at Seed and Series A. Initial ticket sizes are quoted at €1M–4M on the firm's own site metrics, consistent with the firm's description in third-party press materials ("Matterwave typically participates in Seed and Series A financing rounds across Europe").
Check Size
Typical initial investment: €1M–€4M, with reserves for follow-ons (evidenced by continued participation in later rounds, e.g. Ventory's 2026 round alongside existing investors Finindus and Delaware).
Lead Tendency
Mixed. Matterwave has led/co-led rounds directly (Aves Reality's €2.7M seed, January 2026; TUSK IC's round, September 2026, alongside FORWARD.one and Flanders Future Tech Fund) and has also participated as a follow-on/syndicate investor in rounds led by others (Ventory's seed extension led by KBC Focus Fund, May 2026).
Recent Activity
Fund is actively deploying. Recent disclosed activity:
- September 2026: Co-led a funding round in TUSK IC (semiconductor beamformer ICs for satellite comms), bringing the company's total new funding to €15M, alongside FORWARD.one and the Flanders Future Tech Fund (PMV).
- July 2026: Promoted Silviu Apostu to Partner and Mia Brzakovic to Associate.
- May 2026: Participated in Ventory's seed round led by KBC Focus Fund, following >6x ARR growth in 2025.
- February 2026: Backed the Firecell/Accelleran merger with a €7.9M round (alongside BPI France, Qbic, Cogito Capital Partners) to launch a full-stack private 5G platform.
- January 2026: Led Aves Reality's oversubscribed €2.7M seed round for AI-generated 3D digital twins.
Portfolio Highlights
The team states it has invested in over 70 companies across ClimateTech, DeepTech, and IndustrialTech over roughly 25 years (spanning predecessor btov funds and Matterwave itself), across Fund 0, Fund I, and Fund II. Notable exits/de-listed portfolio companies visible on the site include eperi (encryption/data security, Darmstadt, founded 2003) and GNA Biosolutions (molecular diagnostics, Martinsried, founded 2010), both marked "Exited." project44 — the global supply chain visibility platform — acquired former portfolio company Synfioo GmbH in March 2022. Active highlights include Akhetonics (world's first all-optical digital processor), equal1 (Dublin-based quantum computing coprocessors), TUSK IC (satcom semiconductor spin-out of KU Leuven), Infinite Orbits and OKAPI:Orbits (space servicing/traffic management), and Ventory (enterprise field-inventory software, >6x ARR growth in 2025).
Team
- Benedikt Kronberger — Founding Partner. Ex-btov Industrial Technologies; enterprise software focus; prior M&A at Rothschild and OMV; board seats at Roseman Labs, OKAPI:Orbits, Ventory, Innerspace, Ninox, Sensolus, Testbirds, ToolSense, Visplore.
- Dr. Christian Reitberger — Founding Partner. Ex-btov, Wellington Partners, Apax Partners; 25+ years in electronics/photonics/quantum and industrial AI/robotics; PhD in physics (Univ. of Vienna); boards at Codasip, equal1, LiveEO, Innatera, HQS, Effect Photonics, Electrochaea, micropsi Industries, Orcan Energy.
- Robert Gallenberger — Founding Partner. Ex-btov, BMW production, BCG, Gimv; mechanical engineer (TU Munich/Ecole Centrale Paris); boards at DyeMansion, Cybus, Headmade Materials, Threedy, DessIA, Fruitcore Robotics, TVARIT, Ask for the Moon.
- Ines Kolmsee — Partner. Former Executive Board member at Aperam SA, CTO at EWE AG, CEO at SKW Stahl-Metallurgie; energy, resource-efficiency and climate tech focus.
- Silviu Apostu — Partner (promoted July 2026). Ex-McKinsey; works closely with Akhetonics, ZeroPoint Technologies, Firecell, Roseman Labs.
- Bruno Bernard — Venture Partner, French market; ex-CEO of Michelin JV AddUp and Safran Aerospace Engineering; board at DessIA.
- Julian Riebartsch — Venture Partner, Swiss deal flow; ex-btov investment manager; observer at Innatera and equal1.
- Lorenzo De Angeli — Principal; ex-BCG (energy/utilities decarbonization), advised Italy's Hydrogen Strategy.
- Eduardo Marino — Associate; medtech/ML background.
- Mia Brzakovic — Associate (promoted July 2026); ex-Atlantic Bridge, deep-tech growth investing.
- Ute Theel — Investment Professional & IR; covers AgriTech, SpaceTech, DefenseTech deal flow.
- Barbara Christen — Office Management.
Decision Process
Partnership model with five Partners/Founding Partners (Kronberger, Reitberger, Gallenberger, Kolmsee, Apostu) plus Venture Partners covering specific geographies (France, Switzerland) and a dedicated investment team (Principal, Associates, IR).
Founder Preferences
The firm looks for "world-class teams combining ambition, execution power, technical prowess, and domain knowledge," values strong, defensible technology IP, and emphasizes capital efficiency so companies can stay flexible and resilient across cycles.
Geographic Focus
Pan-European, with the site citing 12 countries invested in. Portfolio companies are concentrated in Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, with additional investments in Austria, Ireland, the UK, Switzerland, and at least one U.S. company (project44).