May Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
May Ventures is an early-stage, AI-native venture capital firm based in Münster, Germany, founded by Maximilian Derpa and Dominik Lohle and publicly launched in September 2025. The firm's stated mission is to provide "early-stage venture capital for founders in the greatest technological shift in human history," positioning itself as a first-check partner for visionary founders building through the AI transition. Both founders are experienced VC investors in their mid-30s, each bringing experience from three prior venture funds, and describe themselves as operating "at eye level with founders." The firm has built an AI-native operating model, using AI agents and automated workflows across deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio support.
Sector Focus
May Ventures concentrates on vertical and applied AI, AI infrastructure, and industry innovation for humanity, with a B2B tilt. Portfolio evidence spans several sub-themes: mobile AI agent infrastructure (Mobilerun/Droidrun), AI-native ERP and vertical SaaS for traditional industries (Conmeet, targeting craft and trade businesses), agentic commerce infrastructure for e-commerce (ShopAgentic), and humanoid robotics for industrial deployment (Nucleus). The common thread is applied AI reshaping traditionally offline or legacy-software industries rather than pure consumer AI plays.
Stage Focus
The fund is a first-check, pre-seed and seed investor. It positions itself as the earliest institutional check, often before a company has fully exited stealth (as with Conmeet).
Check Size
Initial check size is €500,000–€1,000,000 per the firm's own site (some third-party sources cite an initial range as low as €250,000), with the ability to commit up to roughly €5,000,000 across a company's life through follow-on participation.
Lead Tendency
Mixed but active as a lead. May Ventures led Conmeet's €1.3M pre-seed round (Managing Partner Maximilian Derpa as lead investor) and co-led ShopAgentic's €1.9M pre-seed alongside Greenfield Capital. It is comfortable both leading and co-leading first checks.
Recent Activity
Fund I held its first close in September 2025 at over €30M against a €50M target, backed by regional institutional investors including NRW.BANK and banks from the Sparkassen and Volksbanken group, plus Helaba. The fund has been actively deploying since: a pre-seed backing of Mobilerun (Droidrun) in 2025, a led €1.3M pre-seed in Conmeet announced February 2026, and a co-led €1.9M pre-seed in ShopAgentic announced June 2026, alongside a pre-seed in humanoid-robotics startup Nucleus. Four disclosed portfolio investments in roughly nine months of active deployment.
Portfolio Highlights
- Mobilerun (Droidrun) — open-source framework giving AI agents the ability to operate any smartphone, real or simulated; Osnabrück-based.
- Conmeet — all-in-one AI-native ERP platform for craft and trade businesses; exited stealth with its pre-seed announcement.
- ShopAgentic — agentic commerce infrastructure for AI-led e-commerce, founded by NewStore veterans.
- Nucleus — end-to-end deployment of humanoid robots for industrial applications.
As a Fund I still in its first year of active deployment, the disclosed portfolio is currently small (4 companies) relative to more mature funds.
Team
- Maximilian Derpa — Managing Partner; led the Conmeet investment.
- Dominik Lohle — Managing Partner; (LinkedIn).
- David Volkinshteyn — Investment Team.
- Jan Eggebrecht — Investment Team.
- Niklas Wirsching — Platform Team.
- Dr. Alex von Frankenberg — Venture Partner; former Managing Director at High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF).
- Nils Engelking — Venture Partner; former Co-Founder & CEO at Egoditor.
- Jannis Johannmeier — Venture Partner; Co-Founder & CEO at The Trailblazers.
- Prof. Dr. Feiyu Xu — Venture Partner; University Professor of Industrial AI at Saarland University (UdS).
- Prof. Dr. Hans Uszkoreit — Venture Partner; Scientific Director at DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence).
Decision Process
Two Managing Partners (Derpa, Lohle) plus a small investment and platform team, supported by a bench of five venture partners with domain expertise (venture capital, AI research, operator backgrounds). Structured as a partnership decision process rather than a solo-GP or large investment-committee model.
Founder Preferences
The firm looks for bold, technical founders "taking new paths," particularly those building applied AI into traditionally offline or legacy-software industries (trade/craft, robotics, commerce, mobile infrastructure). The firm accepts unsolicited deck submissions via its website, suggesting warm intros are not required.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Germany and the broader DACH region, with an explicit European lens; headquartered in Münster.
Fund
Fund I: >€30M first close (September 2025) against a €50M target, backed by NRW.BANK, Sparkassen/Volksbanken-affiliated banks, and Helaba. Actively deploying as of mid-2026.